Wearable textile microstrip patch antenna for multiple ISM band communications

A wearable probe-fed microstrip antenna manufactured from conductive textile fabric designed for multiple Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM) band communications is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna operating at 2.450 GHz, 4.725 Hz and 5.800 GHz consists of a patch and ground plane made of silver fabric mounted on a substrate of flexible low-permittivity foam. For verification, a reference prototype is manufactured from copper. The measurement of both antennas demonstrates the expected resonances, with some unexpected loss especially in the higher frequency range. Simulation results for the antenna in various bending condition indicate the robustness of the design with deviations of resonant frequencies in an acceptable range.