Title: Impedance and radiation characteristics of circular patch wearable antennas at flat and bent positions

Authors: S. Sankaralingam; Bhaskar Gupta

Addresses: Department of Electronics and Tele-Communication Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India ' Department of Electronics and Tele-Communication Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India

Abstract: This paper describes design, development and evaluation of three electro-textile based circular patch wearable antennas for on-body wireless communications in the Bluetooth band. Performance characteristics are determined experimentally when these antennas are kept in flat position. All the three antennas are tuned to the desired frequency and they provide gain of 6.8-7.8 dBi. The performance characteristics of one of these antennas are analysed under bent conditions too, to check compatibility with wearable applications. The investigated antenna is robust against bending, yielding gain in the range 6.4-7.8 dBi. Results demonstrate the suitability of these fabric antennas for on-body wireless communications.

Keywords: electro-textiles; fabric substrate; circular disk antenna; microstrip wearable antenna; impedance; radiation; textiles; on-body wireless communications; Bluetooth; bending; flat fabric.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSISE.2012.050321

International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering, 2012 Vol.5 No.4, pp.274 - 283

Received: 05 Feb 2011
Accepted: 25 Mar 2011
Published online: 31 Dec 2014 *

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