On the Techniques to Develop Millimeter-Wave Textile Integrated Waveguides Using Rigid Warp Threads

Abstract

Two millimetre-wave textile integrated waveguides, which only differ in the employed substrate, have been designed, manufactured and experimentally characterized. Both waveguides have been conceived to be based on the conventional substrate integrated waveguide technology while being fully integrated in textile. The manufactured prototypes have been characterized by using a back to back textile integrated waveguide to rectangular waveguide transition. The theoretically predicted behaviour of the prototypes has been experimentally verified.

Fully Textile-Integrated Microstrip-Fed Slot Antenna for Dedicated Short-Range Communications

“…For this reason, a modelling based on the three steps defined in Fig. 1 and described in [19] has been applied to develop a fully textile-integrated microstrip-fed slot antenna.…”

“…A methodology to design and simulate TIC working in a range of frequencies in which the dimensions of the involved threads are comparable to the wavelength has been used in this paper. This methodology, which is based on a three-step parametric modelling, reduces the computational complexity of the inicial problem by defining several electromagnetically equivalent simpler problems and has already been thoroughly discussed in [19].…”

Three-Dimensional Fully Interlaced Woven Microstrip-Fed Substrate Integrated Waveguide

“…A three-dimensional microstrip-fed TIW using rigid weft threads is proposed for its single-mode operation at a range of frequencies between 7.5 GHz and 12 GHz. The TIW has been designed using the three-step modelling which has already been discussed in [29] and particularised to two steps in [30] due to the use of monofilaments. Figure 1 represents an overview of the Layers Model (LM) associated with the proposed TIW, the coordinate system, the orientation of the electromagnetic (EM) field and the propagation direction.…”

“…However, the TIW proposed in this paper is totally different from the TIW already presented in [29]. In this paper, a microwave microstrip-fed fully TIW is proposed, avoiding the necessity of manufacturing a pair of 3D-printed TIW to rectangular waveguide transitions, and consequently achieving the main purpose, which is a complete integration of the circuit into the textile structure.…”

“…Consequently, depending on the characteristics of the materials from which the threads have been extruded, and the manufacturing procedure of the threads -whether they are multifilaments or monofilaments -the threads will tend to be flexible or rigid. In [29], a TIW using rigid warp multifilament threads has been developed, then, the conductive vias are achieved using different patterns of the flexible weft threads. For its experimental validation, a pair of 3D-printed TIW to rectangular waveguide transitions have been designed and manufactured, because the textile prototype only includes the waveguide.…”