A millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna operating at 24 GHz (ISM band), suitable for wearable applications, is proposed in this paper. The proposed MIMO antenna consists of two elements, designed with an edge-to-edge distance of 5.14 mm, backed by a 5×5 cell electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure. The antenna is fabricated on a flexible Rogers 6002 material (r = 2.94, tanδ = 0.0012, thickness = 0.254 mm). The proposed antenna retains its performance when bent along the x-axis and y-axis. The performance of the antenna in term of s-parameters and radiation properties is studied in free space as well as on a human phantom. Good impedance matching of the antenna at the resonating frequency (24 GHz) is observed when it is bent and when worn on the body. The introduction of the EBG improves the gain by 1.9 dBi, reduces the backward radiation by 8 dB, reduces the power density on the back towards the body from > 200 W/m 2 to < 10 W/m 2 , and also enhances the 10 dB bandwidth by 100 MHz. The antenna possesses a low envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) of 0.24, high diversity gain (DG) of 9.7 dB, reasonable multiplexing efficiency of −0.684 dB and a good peak gain of 6 dBi at 24 GHz. The proposed antenna is suitable for wearable applications at mm-Wave range due to its simple geometry and good performance in bending and on-body worn scenarios.

This paper presents a wideband, low-profile and semi-flexible antenna for wearable biomedical telemetry applications. The antenna is designed on a semi-flexible material of RT/duroid 5880 (r = 2.2, tanδ = 0.0004) with an overall dimensions of 17 mm × 25 mm × 0.787 mm (0.2λ • × 0.29λ • × 0.009λ •). A conventional rectangular patch is modified by adding rectangular slots to lower the resonant frequency, and the partial ground plane is modified to enhance the operational bandwidth. The final antenna model operates at 2.4 GHz with a 10-dB bandwidth (fractional bandwidth) of 1380 MHz (59.7 % at the centre frequency of 2.4 GHz). The proposed antenna maintains high gain (2.50 dBi at 2.4 GHz) and efficiency (93 % at 2.4 GHz). It is proved from the simulations and experimental results that the antenna has negligible effects in terms of reflection coefficient, bandwidth, gain, and efficiency when it is bent. Moreover, the antenna is simulated and experimentally tested in proximity of the human body, which shows good performance. The proposed wideband antenna is a promising candidate for compact wearable biomedical devices. INDEX TERMS On-body antenna, wideband antenna, wearable antenna, SAR, flexible antenna, biomedical antenna.

This paper presents a miniaturized circularly polarized multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna for wearable biotelemetric devices. The proposed MIMO antenna consists of four elements, which are placed orthogonally to the adjacent elements. The proposed antenna has a wideband response [10-dB bandwidth of 2210 MHz (fractional bandwidth (FBW) = 92.08%) in free space and 10-dB bandwidth of 2200 MHz (FBW = 91.66%) when worn on human-body], this frequency range covers the important and unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band (2.40-2.48 GHz). The antenna exhibits a wideband 3-dB circularly polarized bandwidth of 1300 MHz (FBW = 54.16%) and 1040 MHz (FBW = 43.33%) in free space and when worn on the body, respectively. The optimized antenna in free space (on-body) has an envelop correlation coefficient (ECC) less than 0.21 (0.23), a diversity gain (DG) greater than 9.77 dB (9.71 dB), a multiplexing efficiency (ME) greater than −0.85 dB (−0.63 dB), and a channel capacity loss (CCL) less than 0.13 bps/Hz (0.13 bps/Hz). The stable radiation, high gain, high efficiency, and good MIMO properties in free space and on human-body make the proposed antenna a suitable choice for use in high data wearable biotelemetric devices. INDEX TERMS Circularly polarized antenna, MIMO antenna, wearable antenna, wearable biotelemetric devices, wireless body-area networks (WBAN).

A printed and minimal size antenna having the functionality of frequency shifting as well as pattern reconfigurability is presented in this work. The antenna proposed in this work consists of three switches. Switch 1 is a lumped switch that controls the operating bands of the antenna. Switch 2 and Switch 3 controls the beam switching of the antenna. When the Switch 1 is ON, the proposed antenna operates at 3.1 GHz and 6.8 GHz, covering the 2.5-4.2 GHz and 6.2-7.4 GHz bands, respectively. When Switch 1 is OFF, the antenna operates only at 3.1 GHz covering the 2.5-4.2 GHz band. The desired beam from the antenna can be obtained by adjusting the ON and OFF states of Switches 2 and 3. Unique beams can be obtained by different combination of ON and OFF states of the Switches 2 and 3. A gain greater than 3.7 dBi is obtained for all four cases.

A minimally-sized, triple-notched band ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna, useful for many applications, is designed, analyzed, and experimentally validated in this paper. A modified maple leaf-shaped main radiating element with partial ground is used in the proposed design. An E-shaped resonator, meandered slot, and U-shaped slot are implemented in the proposed design to block the co-existing bands. The E-shaped resonator stops frequencies ranging from 1.8–2.3 GHz (Advanced Wireless System (AWS1–AWS2) band), while the meandered slot blocks frequencies from 3.2–3.8 GHz (WiMAX band). The co-existing band ranging from 5.6–6.1 GHz (IEEE 802.11/HIPERLANband) is blocked by utilizing the U-shaped section in the feeding network. The notched bands can be independently controlled over a wide range of frequencies using specific parameters. The proposed antenna is suitable for many applications because of its flat gain, good radiation characteristics at both principal planes, uniform group delay, and non-varying transfer function ( S 21 ) for the entire UWB frequency range.

A low-profile (0.21λ g × 0.35λ g × 0.02λ g ) and a simply-structured frequency-switchable antenna with eight frequency choices is presented in this paper. The radiating structure (monopole) is printed on a 1.6-mm thicker, commercially-available substrate of FR-4 ( r = 4.4, tanδ = 0.020). Specifically, it uses three PIN diodes in the designated places to shift the resonant bands of the antenna. The antenna operates at four different modes depending on the ON and OFF states of the PIN diodes. While in each mode, the antenna covers two unique frequencies (Mode 1 = 1.8 and 3.29 GHz, Mode 2 = 2.23 and 3.9 GHz, Mode 3 = 2.4 and 4.55 GHz, and Mode 4 = 2.78 and 5.54 GHz). The performance results show that the proposed antenna scheme explores significant gain (>1.5 dBi in all modes) and reasonable efficiency (>82% in all modes) for each mode. Using a high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS), the switchable antenna is designed and optimized. The fabricated model along with the PIN diode and biasing network is tested experimentally to validate the simulation results. The proposed antenna may also be combined in compact and heterogeneous radio frequency (RF) front-ends because of its small geometry and efficient utilization of the frequency spectrum.

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) scheme refers to the technology where more than one antenna is used for transmitting and receiving the information packets. It enhances the channel capacity without more power. The available space in the modern compact devices is limited and MIMO antenna elements need to be placed closely. The closely spaced antennas undergo an undesirable coupling, which deteriorates the antenna parameters. In this paper, an ultra wide-band (UWB) MIMO antenna system with an improved isolation is presented. The system has a wide bandwidth range from 2–13.7 GHz. The antenna elements are closely placed with an edge to edge distance of 3 mm. In addition to the UWB attribute of the system, the mutual coupling between the antennas is reduced by using slotted stub. The isolation is improved and is below −20 dB within the whole operating range. By introducing the decoupling network, the key performance parameters of the antenna are not affected. The system is designed on an inexpensive and easily available FR-4 substrate. To better understand the working of the proposed system, the equivalent circuit model is also presented. To model the proposed system accurately, different radiating modes and inter-mode coupling is considered and modeled. The EM model, circuit model, and the measured results are in good agreement. Different key performance parameters of the system and the antenna element such as envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain, channel capcity loss (CCL) gain, radiation patterns, surface currents, and scattering parameters are presented. State-of-the-art comparison with the recent literature shows that the proposed antenna has minimal dimensions, a large bandwidth, an adequate gain value and a high isolation. It is worth noticeable that the proposed antenna has high isolation even the patches has low edge-to-edge gap (3 mm). Based on its good performance and compact dimensions, the proposed antenna is a suitable choice for high throughput compact UWB transceivers.

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