Title :
Applying textile materials for the design of antennas for wireless body area networks
Author :
Tronquo, Anneleen ; Rogier, Hendrik ; Hertleer, Carla ; Van Langenhove, Lieva
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Inf. Technol., Ghent Univ., Ghent
Abstract :
The design and manufacturing of several new textile-based rectangular-ring antennas for body area networks operating in the ISM-band (2.4 GHz-2.4835 GHz) is described. Fleece fabric is applied as antenna substrate, whereas the conducting antenna plane and ground plane are constructed based on a commercially available electrotextile called Flectron. We compare the characteristics of two prototypes that were assembled using different glueing techniques. The influence of bending on the characteristics is investigated. The proposed antennas are the first circularly polarised antennas that cover a bandwidth of more than 190 MHz, using a substrate material with a thickness less than 3 mm. The antennas provide sufficient antenna gain for use in practical wireless links. They allow direct integration into garments.
Keywords :
microstrip antennas; personal area networks; textiles; antenna design; bending; circularly polarised antennas; electrotextile; frequency 2.4 GHz to 2.4835 GHz; wireless body area networks; Assembly; Bandwidth; Body area networks; Body sensor networks; Conducting materials; Fabrics; Manufacturing; Polarization; Prototypes; Textiles; Wearable Textile Systems; elektrotextiles; microstrip patch antenna;
Conference_Titel :
Antennas and Propagation, 2006. EuCAP 2006. First European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Nice
Print_ISBN :
978-92-9092-937-6
DOI :
10.1109/EUCAP.2006.4584573
