Abstract
A novel manufacturing procedure for the fabrication of ultra-wideband cavity-backed substrate integrated waveguide antennas on textile substrates is proposed. The antenna cavity is constructed using a single laser-cut electrotextile patch, which is folded around the substrate. Electrotextile slabs protruding from the laser-cut patch are then vertically folded and glued to form the antenna cavity instead of rigid metal tubelets to implement the vertical cavity walls. This approach drastically improves mechanical flexibility, decreases the antenna weight to slightly more than 1 g and significantly reduces alignment errors. As a proof of concept, a cavity-backed substrate integrated waveguide antenna is designed and realized for ultra-wideband operation in the [5.15–5.85] GHz band. Antenna performance is validated in free space as well as in two on body measurement scenarios. Furthermore, the antenna’s figures of merit are characterized when the prototype is bent at different curvature radii, as commonly encountered during deployment on the human body. Also the effect of humidity content on antenna performance is studied. In all scenarios, the realized antenna covers the entire operating frequency band, meanwhile retaining a stable radiation pattern with a broadside gain above 5 dBi, and a radiation efficiency of at least 70%.
Highlights
In the most recent years, numerous applications have arisen that would benefit greatly from SmartFabrics and Interactive Textiles (SFIT) technologies
These applications include, among others, on-body communication nodes for first responders [1,2], medical implant communication infrastructure [3,4], personal locator beacons implemented in life jackets [5,6] and Internet of Things (IoT)-applications [7,8,9]
In [10], the first full-textile substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) antenna based on a conductive coated fabric and metal long sail eyelets is proposed
Summary
In the most recent years, numerous applications have arisen that would benefit greatly from Smart. The work in [13] implements the cavity top and bottom planes by a conductive coated fabric, but utilizes embroidery to construct the vertical cavity walls This results in a fully textilized design that is more efficient than antennas where the cavity top and bottom planes are realized by embroidery [14]. The fabrication procedure requires fewer manufacturing steps, and yields highly efficient, fully textilized antennas that are easier to design, but are more conveniently fabricated at higher accuracy These antennas are lightweight, more compact and mechanically more flexible as a result of substituting the heavy metal tubelets by electrotextile slabs.
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