Abstract
The paper presents the design and investigation of a flexible all-textile antenna operating in the wireless body area network (WBAN) ultrawideband (UWB) specified by the IEEE 802.15.6 standard. The proposed antenna features an innovative and compact UWB radiator on top of the overall structure with a full ground plane on its reverse side. The radiator, which is based on a microstrip patch combined with multiple miniaturization and broadbanding methods, resulted in a simple topology and a compact size of 39 mm×42 mm×3.34 mm (0.51×0.55×0.043λ). In comparison to the literature, the proposed structure is considered to be the most compact microstrip-based textile UWB antenna to date featuring a full ground plane. The choice of the commercial textiles is also made based on cost efficiency, ease of accessibility, and ease of fabrication using simple tools. Meanwhile, the full ground plane enables the antenna operation in the vicinity of the human body with minimal body coupling and radiation towards it, ensuring operational safety. Besides its operation in the mandatory channels of the WBAN-UWB low and high bands, the proposed antenna also operates and preserves its performance in five other optional channels of the high band when placed on the body and under bend conditions of 30° and 60°. The proposed antenna successfully achieved the specific absorption rate below the regulated limit specified by the Federal Communications Commission.
Highlights
The ultrawideband (UWB) technology introduced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [1] requires a wide operating bandwidth of 7.5 GHz
They are evaluated at the center frequency of each operating wireless body area network (WBAN)-UWB channel (Channels 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) in free space (FS), OB, and under bent conditions (30° and 60° of bending)
A similar gain pattern is exhibited when placed on a homogenous body model with a shift towards higher frequency by 200 MHz in low band (LB)
Summary
The ultrawideband (UWB) technology introduced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [1] requires a wide operating bandwidth of 7.5 GHz. Due to its immense potential in body-worn communications [4], UWB technology was extended into the application of wireless body area network (WBAN). Based on the recent IEEE 802.15.6 WBAN standard [5], two mandatory UWB channels (low and high bands) can be used for operations. The low band (LB) is divided into three operating channels: 0, 1, and 2, with each channel requiring a bandwidth of 500 MHz and a total required LB bandwidth of 1.5 GHz operating from 3.24 to 4.74 GHz. Channel 1 is the mandatory channel in LB with its operation centered at 3.99 GHz. The high band (HB) consists of eight operating channels from Channel 3 to Channel 10. Similar to LB, each channel requires a bandwidth of 500 MHz, with a total operating bandwidth of 3.99 GHz (from 6.24 GHz to 10.23 GHz). The mandatory channel in HB is Channel 6 centered at 7.99 GHz
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