A Wearable Tri-Band Half-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide Antenna

Abstract

A wearable tri-band half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) antenna is proposed for wireless body area network (WBAN) applications. The lower frequency band is generated by combining the TE <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">010</sub> and TE <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">110</sub> modes of the HMSIW cavity, whereas the middle and upper bands are achieved with the stubs and the slot. Simulated and measured results show that the antenna can cover the three frequency bands, i.e., 2.36–2.5, 3.32–3.54, and 5.61–6.12 GHz with broadside radiation patterns. The antenna performance is evaluated on the human tissue model. Owing to the isolation characteristic of the cavity structure, the performance of the antenna on the body will not degenerate significantly compared to the results in free space. Due to the advantages of tri-band operation, simple topology, low back radiation, and low specific absorption ratio values, the proposed antenna is a competitive candidate for WBAN applications.