Design and Study of an mmWave Wearable Textile Based Compact Antenna for Healthcare Applications

Abstract

In this study, the design of a compact and novel millimeter wave cotton textile-based wearable antenna for body-centric communications in healthcare applications is presented. The free space and on-body antenna performance parameters for the proposed antenna at 60 GHz are investigated and analyzed. The antenna is based on a 1.5 mm thick cotton substrate and has an overall dimension of 7.0 × 4.5 × 1.5 mm3. In free space, the antenna is resonant at 60 GHz and achieves a wide impedance bandwidth. The maximum gain at this resonant frequency is 6.74 dBi, and the radiation efficiency is 93.30%. Parametric changes were carried out to study the changes in the resonant frequency, gain, and radiation efficiency. For body-centric communications, the antenna was simulated at 5 different distances from a three-layer human torso-equivalent phantom. The radiation efficiency dropped by 24% and gradually increased with the gap distance. The antenna design was also analyzed by using 10 different textile substrates for both free space and on-body scenarios. The major benefits of the antenna are discussed as follows. Compared to a previous work, the antenna is very efficient, compact, and has a wide bandwidth. In BCWCs for e-health applications, the antenna needs to be very compact due to the longer battery life, and it has to have a wide bandwidth for high data rate communication. Since the antenna will be wearable with a sensor system, the shape of the antenna needs to be planar, and it is better to design the antenna on a textile substrate for integration into clothes. The antenna also needs to show high gain and efficiency for power-efficient communication. This proposed antenna meets all these criteria, and hence, it will be a good candidate for BCWCs in e-health applications.

Low specific absorption rate quad-port multiple-input-multiple-output limber antenna integrated with flexible frequency selective surface for WBAN applications

“…The geometry of the textile antenna is depicted in figure 1. The modified rhombus-shaped radiator and rectangular ground plane are printed on 1.5 mm thickness cotton substrate with a dielectric constant 1.6 and a loss tangent of 0.04 [38]. The progression stages of the antenna element are shown in figure 2.…”

8-port MIMO antenna at 27 GHz for n261 band and exploring for body centric communication

“…Defected ground structure is used in [ 11 ] to enhance the impedance bandwidth and multiple slots and open ended slits are etched in the radiator for miniaturization [ 12 ]. Furthermore, a study put forth a Hexagonal Fractal Antenna Array (HFAA) aimed at advancing next-generation wireless communication [ 13 ]. In the realm of wearable technology, a disk-shaped antenna operating on electromagnetic coupling principles between feed and radiator elements was proposed [ 14 ].…”

Wearable Dual-band Frequency Reconfigurable Patch Antenna for WBAN Applications

“…For wearable devices to be effective, they need to be functional, comfortable to wear, non-intrusive, and unobstructed. WBANs have found widespread applications in a wide range of fields, including healthcare services, entertainment, sporting events, and military applications [2]. Among the most important aspects of current healthcare is tracking patients' condition, including temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate [3].…”