Design of efficient and flexible patch antenna using an electromagnetic band gap (EBG) ground plane

This paper describes the design and analysis of a 2.4 GHz wearable microstrip patch antenna employing a wearable mushroom type EBG as a ground plane. For flexibility and body worn purposes a 3 mm thicker wash cotton (εr=1.51, tangent loss (tan δ=.023) substrate is used in the design of both microstrip patch antenna as well as EBG surface. The patch antenna employing EBG surface as a ground plane gives superior performance than the conventional patch counterpart in terms of bandwidth, return loss, gain, directivity and efficiency. The bandwidth, gain and efficiency of the EBG based antenna as compared to the conventional one are improved by 3.4 %, 3.64 dBi and 9% respectively. This antenna can be used in wearable applications including, remote patient monitoring, medical implants, combat and rescue operations. The results are evaluated using the Finite Integration Technique (FIT) employed in CST MWS.