Embroidered ground plane implementation for wearable UHF RFID patch tag antennas

Wireless body-centric sensing systems hold an enormous potential to revolutionize wearable intelligence by extending the functionality of advanced garments. Wireless sensor networks integrated with garments allow inexpensive and continuous health state and environmental parameter monitoring with real-time updates of recorded bio-signals and parameters. Wearable antennas play a key role in establishing an efficient and reliable wireless communication link between body-worn electronics and the surrounding environment. Electrically conductive textiles (electro-textiles) are widely used as wearable antenna materials thanks to their excellent radio frequency (RF) performance, flexibility, and durability. Wearable passive UHF (860-960 MHz) radio frequency identification (RFID) patch tag antennas are of particular interest due to their low-cost, easy integration with garments, and large reading ranges. They play a key role in the development toward an intelligent environment, where tag antennas will be seamlessly integrated with daily garments to enable wireless communication everywhere and at any time.