GSM and Wi-Fi textile antenna for high data rate communications

This paper presents the performance of body-worn GSM and Wi-Fi textile antennas fabricated using embroidered conductive fibers (E-fibers). The textile antennas were fabricated onto regular fabrics using automated embroidering, coupled with high density stitching. These textile antennas offer desirable conformality and flexibility, without undermining electrical performance for body-worn high data rate communications at radio frequencies (RF). RF performance was measured both freestanding and on the human body. For the latter, the textile antennas were sewn onto a jacket and connected to GSM and Wi-Fi communication modules to evaluate their performance. These novel E-fiber textile antennas can be integrated into daily garments (shirts, coats, scarves, etc) for convenient wideband and high data rate communications.