volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A low-profile, flexible and wearable microstrip patch antenna is presented for Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) applications. Wearability is one of the latest developments in electronic devices leading to real-time monitoring of human vital signs like blood pressure, body temperature, and pulse rates using WBAN technology. A monopole antenna with a planar rectangular and six stacked T-shaped elements is positioned on the top side of the radiating patch. A partial ground structure is incorporated at the bottom of the patch to generate triple band characteristics. The antenna is maintained with compact dimensions which are 65 × 65 × 0.1 mm³. The antenna operates at tri-band frequencies, such as 2.7 GHz, 2.5 GHz, and 3.5 GHz, to support 5G applications. At 2.45 GHz, the directivity is 1.56; the VSWR is 1.13; the gain is 15.38; and the reflection coefficient (S₁₁) of −26.91 dB. The SAR value of 0.160 W/kg satisfies IEEE safety requirements for biomedical applications and is much below the allowed maximum of 1.6 W/kg for 1 gram of tissue. This guarantees safe and effective operation in wearable and medical applications. The antenna has a thickness of 0.1 mm, a relative permittivity of 3.5 and provides flexibility and durability. The presentation includes the comparative analysis and the step-by-step design of the triple-band flexible antenna. Testing on a three-layer human phantom model made up of skin (2 mm), fat (8 mm), and muscle (23 mm) demonstrated the antenna's performance in terms of gain, radiation patterns, VSWR, reflection coefficient (S₁₁), and specific absorption rate (SAR). The parametric analysis, performance evaluation, simulation results, and iterative process of the antenna design are all presented in detail. Along with conclusions, comparisons to other designs, and useful estimations, the results and finalized antenna are presented. The accurate difference between measured and simulated performances indicates the antenna's reliability and efficiency, and its compact size increases flexibility in wide range of environments. The antenna was simulated using HFSS software, fabricated, and validated in an anechoic chamber and using a network analyzer.

1. Musa, Umar, Shaharil Mohd Shah, Huda A. Majid, Ismail Ahmad Mahadi, Mohamad Kamal A. Rahim, Muhammad Sani Yahya, and Zuhairiah Zainal Abidin, "Design and analysis of a compact dual-band wearable antenna for WBAN applications," IEEE Access, Vol. 11, 30996-31009, 2023.

2. Yu, Zhen, Ruirong Niu, Guodong Zhang, Runzhi Sun, Ziheng Lin, Yao Li, and Xiaoying Ran, "A wearable self-grounding slit antenna for ISM/4G/5G/bluetooth/WLAN applications," IEEE Access, Vol. 11, 87930-87937, 2023.

3. Waly, Mohamed Ibrahim, Amor Smida, Nasser Ali Aljarallah, Ridha Ghayoula, Ahmed S. Negm, Surajo Muhammad, Jun Jiat Tiang, and Amjad Iqbal, "Advancement of a high-efficiency wearable antenna enabling wireless body area networks," IEEE Access, Vol. 11, 138325-138335, 2023.

4. Modak, Sumon, Vikrant Kaim, Taimoor Khan, Binod Kumar Kanaujia, Ladislau Matekovits, and Karumudi Rambabu, "Design and performance measurement of worn-on-body instrumental ultra-miniaturized UWB wearable patch for e-health monitoring," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 25719-25730, 2024.

5. Casula, Giovanni Andrea, Giorgio Montisci, and Giacomo Muntoni, "A novel design for dual-band wearable textile eighth-mode SIW antennas," IEEE Access, Vol. 11, 11555-11569, 2023.

6. El Bacha, Maria, Fabien Ferrero, and Leonardo Lizzi, "Design of a dual-branch resonator end-launcher for low-loss WBAN communications using wearable waveguide surfaces," IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 5, No. 1, 67-72, Feb. 2024.

7. Yu, Shu-Wei, Xiao Zhang, Qiong-Sen Wu, Lei Zhu, Tao Yuan, and Qing-Hua Jiang, "Low-SAR and high-FBR patch antenna with small ground size for wearable devices," IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 5, No. 1, 124-129, Feb. 2024.

8. Azam, Farooq, Syed Imran Hussain Shah, Shahid Bashir, and Slawomir Koziel, "Review of recent advancement on nature/bio-inspired antenna designs," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 37493-37512, 2024.

9. Giftsy, A. L. Sharon, Usha Kiran Kommuri, and Ravi Prakash Dwivedi, "Flexible and wearable antenna for biomedical application: Progress and opportunity," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 90016-90040, 2023.

10. Althuwayb, Ayman A., Mohammad Alibakhshikenari, Bal S. Virdee, Nasr Rashid, Khaled Kaaniche, Ahmed Ben Atitallah, Ammar Armghan, Osama I. Elhamrawy, Chan Hwang See, and Francisco Falcone, "Metasurface-inspired flexible wearable MIMO antenna array for wireless body area network applications and biomedical telemetry devices," IEEE Access, Vol. 11, 1039-1056, 2022.

11. Musa, Umar, Shaharil Mohd Shah, Huda A. Majid, Zuhairiah Zainal Abidin, Muhammad Sani Yahya, Suleiman Babani, and Zainab Yunusa, "Recent advancement of wearable reconfigurable antenna technologies: A review," IEEE Access, Vol. 10, 121831-121863, 2022.

12. Jayasudha, F. V., I. Rexiline Sheeba, K. Srilatha, I. Mary Sajin Sanju, and P. Chitra, "Designing an wearable antenna for telemedicine applications," 2024 10th International Conference on Communication and Signal Processing (ICCSP), 1291-1296, Melmaruvathur, India, Apr. 2024.

13. Ahmad, Jawad, Mohammad Hashmi, Azamat Bakytbekov, and Francisco Falcone, "Design and analysis of a low profile Millimeter-Wave Band Vivaldi MIMO antenna for wearable WBAN applications," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 70420-70433, 2024.

14. Le, Tu Tuan, Yong-Deok Kim, and Tae-Yeoul Yun, "Wearable pattern-diversity dual-polarized button antenna for versatile on-/off-body communications," IEEE Access, Vol. 10, 98700-98711, 2022.

15. Zaidi, Norsyahirah Izzati, Nurul Huda Abd Rahman, Mohamad Faizul Yahya, Muhammad Shakir Amin Nordin, Suhaila Subahir, Yoshihide Yamada, and Abhijit Majumdar, "Analysis on bending performance of the electro-textile antennas with bandwidth enhancement for wearable tracking application," IEEE Access, Vol. 10, 31800-31820, 2022.

16. Ou, Ren-Xia and Wei-Lun Yu, "Design of small circular polarized antenna with ring descriptive loading for biomedical applications," IEEE Access, Vol. 11, 130840-130849, 2023.

17. Fiser, Ondrej, Vojtech Hruby, Jan Vrba, Tomas Drizdal, Jan Tesarik, Jan Vrba Jr, and David Vrba, "UWB bowtie antenna for medical microwave imaging applications," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 70, No. 7, 5357-5372, Jul. 2022.

18. Chung, Ming-An, Chia-Wei Lin, Chih-Wei Yang, and Ing-Peng Meiy, "Wearable reconfigurable antennas with multi-mode switching for Sub-6GHz, V-band, and D-band applications," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 115448-115464, 2024.

19. Kumar, Sanjeev, Gholamhosein Moloudian, Roy B. V. B. Simorangkir, Dinesh R. Gawade, Brendan O’Flynn, and John L. Buckley, "Sub-GHz wrist-worn antennas for wireless sensing applications: A review," IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 5, No. 5, 1258-1281, Oct. 2024.

20. Wu, Yuhao, Galestan Mackertich-Sengerdy, Saber Soltani, Sawyer D. Campbell, Dongha Yang, and Douglas H. Werner, "Low profile orthomode full-duplex antenna for wearable biomedical communication," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 40092-40104, 2024.

21. Alkhalaf, Hussein Yahya, Mohd Yazed Ahmad, Harikrishnan Ramiah, A. K. M. Zakir Hossain, S. M. Kayser Azam, and Aung Thiha, "Flexible meta-patch rectenna array for energizing low-power wearable medical sensors," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 121570-121585, 2024.

22. Buonanno, Giovanni and Sandra Costanzo, "Fresnel-zone focused antenna arrays: Tolerance analysis for biomedical applications," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 71, No. 9, 7261-7272, Sep. 2023.

23. Khan, Muhammad Afzaal, Waleed Tariq Sethi, Waqar Ahmad Malik, Abdul Jabbar, Muhammad Ali Khalid, Ali M. Almuhlafi, and Mohamed Himdi, "A comprehensive analysis of low-profile dual band flexible omnidirectional wearable antenna for WBAN applications," IEEE Access, Vol. 12, 45187-45201, 2024.

24. Salleh, Shakhirul Mat, Mohd Fadzil Ain, Zulkifli Ahmad, Intan Sorfina Zainal Abidin, Lee Yeng Seng, and Mohamed Nasrun Osman, "Stretchable and bendable polydimethylsiloxane-silver composite antenna on PDMS/Air gap substrate for 5G wearable applications," IEEE Access, Vol. 11, 133623-133639, 2023.

25. Wagih, Mahmoud, Abiodun Komolafe, Alex S. Weddell, and Steve Beeby, "Broadband compact substrate-independent textile wearable antenna for simultaneous near-and far-field wireless power transmission," IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 3, 398-411, 2022.

26. Reddy, Regalla Narendra, Nalam Venkata Koteswara Rao, and Dasari Rama Krishna, "An AMC-backed dual-band gain-enhanced wearable antenna with SAR for WLAN/WBAN applications," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 146, 55-64, 2024.
doi:10.2528/PIERC24051902

27. Ouf, Eman G., Anwer S. Abd El-Hameed, Asmaa G. Seliem, and Shaza M. Elnady, "Wearable antenna system for osteoporosis detection and monitoring using machine learning," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 146, 21-32, 2024.
doi:10.2528/PIERC24051301

Dr. Kodali Rani Rudrama

Mr. Vallabhuni Tulasi Naga Kalyan

Dr. Bachalakuri Shini

Mr. Marampudi Vamsi