Compact monopole antenna for wireless body area network, wireless local area network, and ultrawideband applications

Abstract

In this paper, a wearable ultra-wideband (UWB) monopole antenna with a compact structure and low profile is presented for wireless body area networks, wireless local area networks, and UWB applications. The antenna is composed of three triangular radiators on the basis of the mono-cone antenna. By the methods of reactive and slot loading, the dimension of the antenna can be greatly reduced. The overall height of the antenna is 0.06 λ0 at its lowest operating frequency. The radiated structure of the proposed antenna with the dimension of 31 × 31 × 9 mm3, which operates in 2.3 to 12.6 GHz, is fabricated and the measurement results are in good agreement with the simulated ones. Moreover, the influence of the human tissue on the antenna was evaluated, and stable performance can be obtained on the human tissue under different bending conditions. The specific absorption rate values are lower than the limitation set by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, which indicates that the antenna is suitable for wearable applications.