Flexible and small wearable antenna for wireless body area network applications

Abstract

In this paper, we present design and simulation of the compact planar dipole antenna on fully flexible nitrile butadiene rubber polymer composite for body area network applications. A three-layer human tissue model is used to numerically analyse the performance of the antenna, including the human body effect. The proposed antenna achieves stable on-body performance: |S₁₁| varies from −19.45 dB (in free space) at 2.46 GHz resonant frequency to −20.62 dB (on the skin) at 2.44 GHz resonant frequency. Additionally, the specific absorption rate (SAR) of the proposed antenna is evaluated. It was found that the maximum 1 g average SAR value is only 0.20 W/kg for an input power of 100 mW at a distance 2 mm away from tissue model. Simulated and measured results are presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed antenna. Furthermore, the proposed antenna offer advantages of being compact, of low profile, cheap and easy to fabricate.

Keywords:

• Wearable antenna
• rubber substrate
• flexible antenna
• SAR
• polymer substrate