This paper is formulated keeping in view the need of compact antennas for wireless body area network (WBAN). The designed compact dual-band antenna (20[Formula: see text]mm [Formula: see text] 22[Formula: see text]mm [Formula: see text] 3.55[Formula: see text]mm) radiates at two resonant frequencies in the ultra-wideband (UWB) range. Compactness in the designed antenna is attained by using three different layers of copper and the return loss and gain characteristics are improved by incorporating a G-shape defected ground structure (DGS). The proposed antenna is unidirectional and immune to human contact since it is designed in the UWB range (3.1–10.6[Formula: see text]GHz) which makes it highly suitable for WBAN applications as its low radiating power is harmless for human tissues. The substrate used for design is RT/duroid with a relative permittivity of 2.2. The antenna exhibits superior frequency domain characteristics with simulated [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text]16.39[Formula: see text]dB for 4.08[Formula: see text]GHz and [Formula: see text]21.87[Formula: see text]dB for 8.18[Formula: see text]GHz and realized gain of 3.69 and 6.02[Formula: see text]dB for 4.08 and 8.18[Formula: see text]GHz, respectively. The measured [Formula: see text] depicts a shift to the lower band for the fabricated antenna with the values of [Formula: see text]15.36[Formula: see text]dB for 3.55[Formula: see text]GHz and [Formula: see text]21.66[Formula: see text]dB for 6.218[Formula: see text]GHz.