Textile‐integrated microwave components based on artificial magnetic conductor

Abstract

AbstractIn the paper, we introduce a textile‐integrated waveguide (TIW) based on a novel artificial magnetic conductor (AMC), which consists of hexagonal elements. Thanks to the hexagonal shape of AMC elements, general TIW components (power‐dividers, waveguide bends, etc.) can be simply created. Since AMC replaces side walls of TIW, complicated manufacturing of vias can be eliminated. Due to the complex geometry of TIW, simulation of realistic models is not trivial. Attention is therefore turned to the combination of several computer‐oriented approaches (dispersive analysis, equivalent circuits, full wave models) to model AMC structures efficiently. Outputs of simulations are compared with measurements of components fabricated from self‐adhesive copper foil fixed to a three‐dimensional (3D) knitted substrate. Experiments show that simulations and measurements are in an acceptable agreement.