In this paper, a noncontact proximity vital sign sensor, using a phase locked loop (PLL) incorporated with voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) built-in planar type circular resonator, is proposed to enhance sensitivity in severe environments. The planar type circular resonator acts as a series feedback element of the VCO as well as a near-field receiving antenna. The frequency deviation of the VCO related to the body proximity effect ranges from 0.07 MHz/mm to 1.8 MHz/mm (6.8 mV/mm to 205 mV/mm in sensitivity) up to a distance of 50 mm, while the amount of VCO drift is about 21 MHz in the condition of 60 (°)C temperature range and discrete component tolerance of ± 5%. Total frequency variation occurs in the capture range of the PLL which is 60 MHz. Thus, its loop control voltage converts the amount of frequency deviation into a difference of direct current (DC) voltage, which is utilized to extract vital signs regardless of the ambient temperature. The experimental results reveal that the proposed sensor placed 50 mm away from a subject can reliably detect respiration and heartbeat signals without the ambiguity of harmonic signals caused by respiration signal at an operating frequency of 2.4 GHz.

In this paper, a novel monopole antenna for WLAN/WiMAX application is presented. The proposed antenna consists of two arc-shaped strips, a vertical strip, and a slot in the ground plane. In this study, a prototype of the proposed triple-band antenna was designed, fabricated, and tested. The quantitative and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed antenna satisfy the -10 dB impedance bandwidth requirement of 440 MHz for 2.4/2.5 GHz bands (from 2.26 to 2.70 GHz), 970 MHz for 3.5 GHz bands (from 3.27 to 4.24 GHz), and 870 MHz for the GHz bands (from 5.08 to 5.95 GHz), while simultaneously covering the WLAN and WiMAX bands. In addition, the presented triple-band antenna has an omnidirectional radiation pattern at all three frequency bands with an antenna gain of 4.45 dBi for the lowest band, 2.04 dBi for the middle band, and 3.98 dBi for the highest band. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ⓒ

No abstract

In this paper, a novel triple-band circular-ring monopole antenna with a half-circular ring and ground slot for wireless local area network/Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access (WLAN/WiMAX) applications is proposed. The proposed antenna consists of one circular ring, a half-circular ring and a rectangular slot in the ground plane. Based on the concept, a prototype of the proposed triple-band antenna was designed, fabricated and tested. The numerical and experiment results demonstrated that the proposed antenna satisfied the -10 dB impedance bandwidth requirement while simultaneously covering the WLAN and WiMAX bands. Furthermore, this paper presents and discusses the 2D radiation patterns and 2D gains according to the results of the experiment. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ⓒ

No abstract