Testing and Remote Communication of S-Parameters for Biomedical Applications Using Miniature VNA Hardware

Authors

  • Kenneth Y. Hora Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6411-8866
  • Lisa Elmiladi Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA
  • Atef Z. Elsherbeni Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8657-937X
  • Peter H. Aaen Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6696-0125

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/2025.ACES.J.401109

Keywords:

bluetooth, lactate, MATLAB, NanoVNA, noninvasive sensing, python, VNA, wireless communication

Abstract

Remote sensing of lactate is important in both healthcare settings and monitoring athlete’s performance. Many approaches for noninvasive remote sensing of lactate use on-body resonator circuits that measure changes in S-parameters to determine lactate concentration. However, due to their large size, most commercial vector network analyzers (VNAs) are impractical for taking on-body measurements of moving participants. This paper presents an approach that uses smaller, hobbyist, VNAs to create practical on-body measurement systems.

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Author Biographies

Kenneth Y. Hora, Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA

Kenneth Y. Hora received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2025 with minors in Computer Engineering and Public Affairs at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, USA. He is continuing his education at Mines, pursuing an M.S. in Electrical Engineering. His research interests include microprocessor VLSI design, embedded systems, antennas, and electromagnetic simulation.

Lisa Elmiladi, Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA

Lisa Elmiladi received her B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2024 and 2025, respectively, from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, USA, completing both degrees with distinction. Her research interests include VLSI circuit design, biomedical devices, antennas, computer architecture, and electromagnetics. With a keen interest in the practical and theoretical aspects of her field, Elmiladi is intent on furthering her education with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.

Atef Z. Elsherbeni, Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA

Atef Z. Elsherbeni received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Manitoba University, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1987. He started his engineering career as a part-time Software and System Design Engineer from March 1980 to December 1982 at the Automated Data System Center, Cairo, Egypt. From January to August 1987, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Manitoba University. Elsherbeni joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi in August 1987 as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and progressed to the full professor and the Associate Dean of the College of Engineering for Research and Graduate Programs. He joined the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Department at Colorado School of Mines in August 2013. Elsherbeni is an IEEE Life Fellow and ACES Fellow. He is the Editor-in-Chief for Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Journal, and a past Associate Editor to Radio Science. He was Chair of the Engineering and Physics Division of the Mississippi Academy of Science, Chair of the Educational Activity Committee for IEEE Region 3 Section, and past President of ACES Society. He recently received the 2023 IEEE APS Harington-Mittra Award for his contribution to computational electromagnetics with hardware acceleration and the ACES 2025 Computational ElectromagneticsAward.

Peter H. Aaen, Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA

Peter H. Aaen received the B.A.Sc. degree in engineering science and the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA, in 2005. He was the Manager of the RF Division, RF Modeling and Measurement Technology Team, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Tempe, AZ, USA, a company which he joined in 1997, then the Semiconductor Product Sector, Motorola Inc. In 2013, he joined the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, where he was a Reader of microwave semiconductor device modeling. He was also the Director of the Nonlinear Microwave Measurement and Modeling Laboratory, a joint University of Surrey/National Physical Laboratory, and the Director of National Physical Laboratory – South of England, Guildford UK. In 2019, he joined the Colorado School of Mines as a Professor and Head of the Electrical Engineering Department. He co-authored Modeling and Characterization of RF and Microwave Power FETs (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Aaen is a member of the Microwave Theory and Techniques and Electron Device Societies, served as an Executive Committee Member and Vice-President of the Automatic RF Techniques Group, and was the Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee (MTT-1) on Computer-AidedDesign.

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Published

2025-11-30

How to Cite

[1]
K. Y. . Hora, L. . Elmiladi, A. Z. . Elsherbeni, and P. H. . Aaen, “Testing and Remote Communication of S-Parameters for Biomedical Applications Using Miniature VNA Hardware”, ACES Journal, vol. 40, no. 11, pp. 1126–1132, Nov. 2025.

Issue

2025: Vol 40 Iss 11

Section

General Submission

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