volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

The proposed antenna is a flexible, wearable antenna designed for smart clothing applications, operating in the 2.4 GHz band. To make it truly wearable, we used jeans (denim) fabric as the substrate, with a compact size of 50 × 36 mm² and a thickness of 1 mm. We focused on how the antenna performs when placed on the human body. We tested it using hand and leg phantom models, and the results were excellent. The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) remained well below the safety limit of 1.6 W/kg - measuring 0-0.345 W/kg on the hand and 0-0.245 W/kg on the leg. We also achieved strong 3D radiation gains of 4.95 and 4.81 dBi. Because clothes naturally fold and move, we also analyzed the antenna's performance under vertical and horizontal bending with 0°, 30°, 45°, and 60°. Graphical analysis confirmed that the antenna remained stable and efficient even when bent, proving that it is a reliable and safe choice for real-world wearable technology.

1. Aun, Nur Farahiyah Mohamad, Ping Jack Soh, Azremi Abdullah Al-Hadi, Mohd Faizal Jamlos, Guy A. E. Vandenbosch, and Dominique Schreurs, "Revolutionizing wearables for 5G: 5G technologies: Recent developments and future perspectives for wearable devices and antennas," IEEE Microwave Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 3, 108-124, May 2017.
doi:10.1109/mmm.2017.2664019 Google Scholar

2. Abbasi, Q. H., M. Ur Rehman, K. Qaraqe, and A. Alomainy, Advances in Body-Centric Wireless Communication: Applications and State-of-the-Art, Institution of Engineering and Technology, London, UK, 2016.

3. Koul, S. K. and R. Bharadwaj, Wearable Antennas and Body Centric Communication: Present and Future, Springer, Singapore, 2021.
doi:10.1007/978-981-16-3973-9

4. Varma, Sanjit, Somia Sharma, Merbin John, Richa Bharadwaj, Anuj Dhawan, and Shiban K. Koul, "Design and performance analysis of compact wearable textile antennas for iot and body-centric communication applications," International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 2021, 1-12, August 2021.
doi:10.1155/2021/7698765 Google Scholar

5. Sankaralingam, S. and Bhaskar Gupta, "Development of textile antennas for body wearable applications and investigations on their performance under bent conditions," Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 22, 53-71, 2010.
doi:10.2528/pierb10032705 Google Scholar

6. Kirtania, Sharadindu Gopal, Alan Wesley Elger, Md. Rabiul Hasan, Anna Wisniewska, Karthik Sekhar, Tutku Karacolak, and Praveen Kumar Sekhar, "Flexible antennas: A review," Micromachines, Vol. 11, No. 9, 847, September 2020.
doi:10.3390/mi11090847 Google Scholar

7. Corchia, Laura, Giuseppina Monti, and Luciano Tarricone, "Wearable antennas: Nontextile versus fully textile solutions," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 61, No. 2, 71-83, April 2019.
doi:10.1109/map.2019.2895665 Google Scholar

8. Winterhalter, C. A., J. Teverovsky, W. Horowitz, V. Sharma, and K. Lee, "Wearable electro-textiles for battlefield awareness: Mechanical testing of electro-textile cables and connectors," Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Vol. 736, 2003.

9. Mahfuz, M. M. Hasan, et al. "Wearable textile patch antenna: Challenges and future directions," IEEE Access, Vol. 10, 38406-38427, 2022.
doi:10.1109/access.2022.3161564 Google Scholar

10. Salvado, Rita, Caroline Loss, Ricardo Gonçalves, and Pedro Pinho, "Textile materials for the design of wearable antennas: A survey," Sensors, Vol. 12, No. 11, 15841-15857, November 2012.
doi:10.3390/s121115841 Google Scholar

11. Purohit, S. and F. Raval, "Wearable-textile patch antenna using jeans as substrate at 2.45 GHz," International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), Vol. 3, No. 5, 2456-2460, 2014. Google Scholar

12. Fakirde, Avish, Saikumar Mulkalla, Parul Sahare, and Paritosh Peshwe, "Wearable flexible jeans textile microstrip patch antenna for ISM band application," Wireless Personal Communications, Vol. 146, No. 3, 1163-1179, February 2026.
doi:10.1007/s11277-026-11917-5 Google Scholar

13. Grilo, Marcus and Fatima Salete Correra, "Parametric study of rectangular patch antenna using denim textile material," 2013 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave & Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC), 1-5, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 2013.
doi:10.1109/imoc.2013.6646439

14. Nanda, Chandrajeet Kumar, Suparna Ballav, Ayan Chatterjee, and Susanta Kumar Parui, "A body wearable antenna based on jeans substrate with wide-band response," 2018 5th International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN), 474-477, Noida, India, February 2018.
doi:10.1109/spin.2018.8474082

15. Wan Marzudi, Wan Noor Najwa, Zuhairiah Zainal Abidin, Samsul Haimi Dahlan, Khairun Nidzam Ramli, Huda A. Majid, and Muhammad Ramlee Kamarudin, "Rectangular patch with partial ground wearable antenna for 2.4 GHz applications," 2015 IEEE International RF and Microwave Conference (RFM), 104-109, Kuching, Malaysia, December 2015.
doi:10.1109/rfm.2015.7587723

16. Singh, V. and N. Kumar, "Design and Analysis of Reduced SAR UWB Antenna for Early Brain Tumor Detection," Research Gate Article, March 2025.

17. Atanasov, Nikolay Todorov, Gabriela Lachezarova Atanasova, Boyana Angelova, Momchil Paunov, Maria Gurmanova, and Margarita Kouzmanova, "Wearable antennas for sensor networks and IoT applications: Evaluation of SAR and biological effects," Sensors, Vol. 22, No. 14, 5139, July 2022.
doi:10.3390/s22145139 Google Scholar

18. Al-Gburi, Ahmed Jamal Abdullah, Mohd Muzafar Ismail, Naba Jasim Mohammed, and Thamer A. H. Alghamdi, "SAR flexible antenna advancements: Highly conductive polymer-graphene oxide-silver nanocomposites," Progress In Electromagnetics Research M, Vol. 127, 23-30, 2024.
doi:10.2528/pierm24011202 Google Scholar

19. Suyan, Nitin Kumar, Mithilesh Kumar, and Ritesh Kumar Saraswat, "Design and analysis of dual band wearable antenna for body centric wireless communication," IETE Journal of Research, Vol. 71, No. 9, 3129-3138, June 2025.
doi:10.1080/03772063.2025.2505107 Google Scholar

20. Al-Gburi, Ahmed Jamal Abdullah, Mohd Muzafar Ismail, Naba Jasim Mohammed, Akash Buragohain, and Khaled Alhassoon, "Electrical conductivity and morphological observation of hybrid filler: Silver-graphene oxide nanocomposites for wearable antenna," Optical Materials, Vol. 148, 114882, February 2024.
doi:10.1016/j.optmat.2024.114882 Google Scholar

21. Balanis, C. A., Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 4th Ed., Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2016.

22. Ali, Usman, Sadiq Ullah, Jalal Khan, Muhammad Shafi, Babar Kamal, Abdul Basir, James A. Flint, and Rob D. Seager, "Design and SAR analysis of wearable antenna on various parts of human body, using conventional and artificial ground planes," Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology, Vol. 12, No. 1, 317-328, January 2017.
doi:10.5370/jeet.2017.12.1.317 Google Scholar

23. Al-Gburi, Ahmed Jamal Abdullah, et al. "Superconductive and flexible antenna based on a tri-nanocomposite of graphene nanoplatelets, silver, and copper for wearable electronic devices," Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices, Vol. 9, No. 3, 100773, September 2024.
doi:10.1016/j.jsamd.2024.100773 Google Scholar

24. IEEE Standard for Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Electric, Magnetic and Electromagnetic Fields, 0 Hz to 300 GHz, IEEE Std C95.1-2019, New York, NY, USA: IEEE, 2019.

25. Yahya, Muhammad S., Umar Musa, Mohammad S. Zidan, Socheatra Soeung, Lila Iznita Izhar, Z. Zakaria, and Ahmed J. A. AL-Gburi, "Machine learning-optimized compact dual-band medical syringe-inspired wearable antenna for efficient WBAN applications," Scientific Reports, Vol. 15, 43240, 2025.
doi:10.1038/s41598-025-27227-y Google Scholar

26. Rakesh Kumar, Prathipati, Challa Ramakrishna, Kavuri Vijayachandra, Pamarthi Sunitha, and Chaitanya Kumar Marpu, "A compact comb shaped wearable antenna for biomedical applications," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 165, 228-238, 2026.
doi:10.2528/pierc25112404 Google Scholar

27. Singh, Shiv Kumar, Atul Varshney, Tanuj Garg, Zahriladha Zakaria, and Ahmed Jamal Abdullah Al-Gburi, "Design, fabrication, and evaluation of a dual-band linearly polarized lamp-shaped wearable antenna for ISM and public safety bands," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 165, 172-185, 2026.
doi:10.2528/pierc25112703 Google Scholar

28. Ferreira, David, Pedro Pires, Ruben Rodrigues, and Rafael F. S. Caldeirinha, "Wearable textile antennas: Examining the effect of bending on their performance," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 59, No. 3, 54-59, 2017.
doi:10.1109/MAP.2017.2686093 Google Scholar

29. Kavitha, A. and J. N. Swaminathan, "Design of flexible textile antenna using FR4, jeans cotton and teflon substrates," Microsystem Technologies, Vol. 25, No. 4, 1311-1320, July 2018.
doi:10.1007/s00542-018-4068-y Google Scholar

30. Hassan, Ali and N. Nizam Uddin, "A compact wearable patch antenna on leather substrate for smart IOT applications: Design, performance, bending, SAR, and link budget analysis," Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, Vol. 51, 7685-7707, 2025.
doi:10.1007/s13369-025-10483-5 Google Scholar

31. Al-Gburi, A. J. A., N. J. Mohammed, Tale Saeidi, Nurhayati Nurhayati, and M. M. Ismail, "Design and development of a graphene-based MIMO antenna for smart multi-band sub-6 GHz 5G wearable communication applications," Scientific Reports, Vol. 16, 12873, 2026.
doi:10.1038/s41598-026-42793-5 Google Scholar

32. Nurhayati, Nurhayati, et al. "Wearable wideband textile coplanar vivaldi antenna for medical and IoT application," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 148, 145-156, 2024.
doi:10.2528/pierc24080402 Google Scholar

33. Al-Gburi, A. J. A., "CST vs HFSS: A comparative analysis for antenna and microwave engineering," International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 2026, 2733569, 2026.
doi:10.1155/ijap/2733569 Google Scholar

Dr. Prathipati Rakesh Kumar

Prof. Ramgopal Reddy Bijjam

Dr. Pamarthi Sunitha

Dr. Kavuri Vijayachandra

Dr. Gompa Srinivasa Siva Kumar

Dr. Bondili Siva Hari Prasad