Textile-Based Ultra-Wideband Tightly Coupled Dipole Array

Abstract

There is an emerging potential concerning textile electronics that combine the comfort, flexibility, and durability of textiles, with the functionality, connectivity, and intelligence of electronics. In this regard, the implementation of an ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna on textile will bring the advantages of a multi-functional system to a structure that will allow for a range of compressible/stretchable operations. In this paper, we present, for the first time, a low profile and low-cost UWB Tightly Coupled Dipole Array (TCDA) on a textile (i.e denim) substrate. A full-wave simulation of an infinite array, complete with textile and conductive thread characteristics, shows VSWR < 3 for scanning down to 60° from boresight in both E and H planes across a 6.5:1 bandwidth (0.9 GHz – 5.85 GHz). A near-theoretical realized gain value was also analyzed across the whole operating band.