Ultra Wideband loop antenna for on-body communication in Wireless Body Area Network

Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology is one of the technologies included in the IEEE 802.15.6, which is the UWB standard targeted directly for Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). Standard covers WBAN off-body, on-body and in-body communications and is assumed to be published in 2012. This paper presents a novel UWB loop antenna, which is targeted for the on-body communication in WBAN. The same antenna can be used as a free space antenna (off-body link) or with the optimum gap between the antenna and human body (on-body link) to reduce the harmful effects of human body tissues. In simulations, the layered human body tissue model has been used. In measurements, the impedance bandwidth (S₁₁) of the antenna has been measured in contact with the author´s body. The modeled human body tissue layers for the simulation models are chosen such that the antenna is meant to be work on the chest wall of human. The results prove this antenna to be valid to work in WBAN on-body communication with almost the same performance than in free space when the distance between the antenna and human body is at least 16 mm.