volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

In this paper, a broadband reader antenna is designed and manufactured for wearable ankle strap applications. The frequency range covered for S₁₁ < -10 dB is from 850 MHz to 1650 MHz with dipole like radiation pattern in free space. The proposed broadband antenna is manufactured with a semi-flex (Taconic RF-35) and flexible (Kapton) substrates. A good agreement between simulations and measurements has been achieved. Prototypes performances have been tested by measuring the reading distance. The maximum reading distance obtained is about 1.46 m at 865 MHz with an output power of the transmitter (P_TX) of 25 dBm. Results of functional RFID test show that the proposed antenna can be used as an RFID reader antenna when it is placed on the ankle of the human body.

1. RFID system for amateur footballers, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Woa7mqThYgc.

2. Corchia, L., G. Monti, and L. Tarricone, "Wearable antennas: Nontextile versus fully textile solutions," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 61, No. 2, 71-83, 2019.
doi:10.1109/MAP.2019.2895665 Google Scholar

3. Paracha, K. N., S. K. A. Rahim, P. J. Soh, and M. Khalily, "Wearable antennas: A review of materials, structures, and innovative features for autonomous communication and sensing," IEEE Access, Vol. 7, 56694-56712, 2019.
doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2909146 Google Scholar

4. Kiourti, A., "RFID antennas for body-area applications: From wearables to implants," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 5, 14-25, 2018.
doi:10.1109/MAP.2018.2859167 Google Scholar

5. Flores-Cuadras, J. R., J. L. Medina-Monroy, R. A. Chavez-Perez, and H. Lobato-Morales, "Flexible thin antenna solution for wearable ankle bracelet applications with GNSS and BLE connectivity," Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, Vol. 60, No. 5, 1239-1245, 2018.
doi:10.1002/mop.31141 Google Scholar

6. Marques, D., M. Egels, and P. Pannier, "Broadband UHF RFID tag antenna for bio-monitoring," Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 67, 31-44, 2016.
doi:10.2528/PIERB16020103 Google Scholar

7. Ahmed, S., A. Mehmood, L. Sydanheimo, L. Ukkonen, and T. Bjorninen, "Glove-integrated textile antenna with reduced sar for wearable UHF RFID reader," 2019 IEEE International Conference on RFID Technology and Applications (RFID-TA), 231-235, IEEE, 2019.
doi:10.1109/RFID-TA.2019.8892251 Google Scholar

8. Psychoudakis, D. and J. L. Volakis, "Conformal asymmetric meandered are (AMF) antenna for body-worn applications," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 8, 931-934, 2009.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2009.2028662 Google Scholar

9. Garcia-Pardo, C., C. Andreu, A. Fornes-Leal, S. Castello-Palacios, S. Perez-Simbor, M. Barbi, A. Valles-Lluch, and N. Cardona, "Ultrawideband technology for medical in-body sensor networks: An overview of the human body as a propagation medium, phantoms, and approaches for propagation analysis," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 3, 19-33, 2018.
doi:10.1109/MAP.2018.2818458 Google Scholar

10. Fortino, G. and Z. Wang, Advances in Body Area Networks I: Post-conference Proceedings of Bodynets 2017, 2017.

11. Lovett, T., J. Flint, D. S. Fonseca, and I. H. Daniel, "Novel broadband antenna for wearables," 2014 Loughborough Antennas and Propagation Conference (LAPC), 178-181, IEEE, 2014.
doi:10.1109/LAPC.2014.6996350 Google Scholar

12. Gandhimohan, J. and T. Shanmuganantham, "CPW fed bud shaped antenna with DGS in UWB range for body area network," 2017 IEEE International Conference on Antenna Innovations & Modern Technologies for Ground, Aircraft and Satellite Applications (iAIM), 1-3, IEEE, 2017. Google Scholar

13. Kod, M., J. Zhou, Y. Huang, R. Alrawashdeh, and M. Hussein, "A dual broadband butter y loop antenna for body wearable applications," 2015 Loughborough Antennas & Propagation Conference (LAPC), 1-3, IEEE, 2015. Google Scholar

14. Keyrouz, S. and H. Visser, "Efficient direct-matching rectenna design for RF power transfer applications," Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 476, 012093, IOP Publishing, 2013. Google Scholar

15. Turkmen, C., Y. Bakirli, M. Secmen, and M. Altuntas, "Printed quasi yagi antenna with closely spaced and thick directors for triple ISM-band/wideband applications at UHF," 2018 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation & USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, 677-678, IEEE, 2018.
doi:10.1109/APUSNCURSINRSM.2018.8609205 Google Scholar

16. Zeng, R.-H. and Q.-X. Chu, "A broadband antenna for multi-standard UHF RFID tag applications," 2010 International Conference on Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology, 1898-1900, IEEE, 2010.
doi:10.1109/ICMMT.2010.5524893 Google Scholar

17. Sabaawi, A. M. and K. M. Quboa, "Wideband modified dipole antenna for passive UHF RFID tags," 2010 7th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals and Devices, 1-4, IEEE, 2010. Google Scholar

18. Red4s, http://www.phychips.com/product-red/.

19. Smartrac, https://www.smartrac-group.com/frog-3d.html.

20. Amani, N., A. Jafargholi, and R. Pazoki, "A broadband VHF/UHF-loaded dipole antenna in the vicinity of a human body," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 65, No. 10, 5577-5582, 2017.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2017.2738031 Google Scholar

21. Bashir, Z., M. Zahid, N. Abbas, M. Yousaf, S. Shoaib, M. A. Asghar, and Y. Amin, "A miniaturized wide band implantable antenna for biomedical application," 2019 UK/China Emerging Technologies (UCET), 1-4, IEEE, 2019. Google Scholar

22. Sharif, A., J. Ouyang, H. T. Chattha, M. A. Imran, and Q. H. Abbasi, "Wearable UHF RFID tag antenna design using Hilbert fractal structure," 2019 UK/China Emerging Technologies (UCET), 1-3, IEEE, 2019. Google Scholar

23. Visible human project, https://www.imaios.com/en/e-Anatomy/Thorax-Abdomen-Pelvis/Visible-Human-Project!.

24., http://niremf.ifac.cnr.it/tissprop/htmlclie/htmlclie.php.

25. Dielectric-chart, http://www.eccosorb.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/dielectricchart.pdf.

26. Liu, R., H. Zheng, Z. Song, L.Wang, W. Cui, M.Wang, and E. Li, "Design of wideband and flexible implantable antenna for wireless medical application," 2019 IEEE 2nd International Conference on Electronic Information and Communication Technology (ICEICT), 732-734, IEEE, 2019.
doi:10.1109/ICEICT.2019.8846392 Google Scholar

27. Lpkf protolaser, , http://www.electronique-mag.com/article1080.html.

28. Etsi, http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/radio/RFID.

29. Datasheet of kapton, https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/products-and-services/membranes-and-films/polyimde-films/documents/DEC-Kapton-summary-of-properties.pdf.

30. Wei, X.-D., H.-L. Zhang, and B.-J. Hu, "Novel broadband center-fed UHF near-field RFID reader antenna," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 14, 703-706, 2014. Google Scholar

Dr. Khodor Jebbawi

Dr. Matthieu Egels

Dr. Philippe Pannier