Flexible and Transparent Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna for Reliable Unobtrusive Wearable Wireless Communications

Sayem, Abu Sadat Md.; Simorangkir, Roy B. V. B.; Esselle, Karu P.; Lalbakhsh, Ali; Gawade, Dinesh R.; O’Flynn, Brendan; Buckley, John L.

Abstract

This paper presents a circularly polarized flexible and transparent circular patch antenna suitable for body-worn wireless-communications. Circular polarization is highly beneficial in wearable wireless communications, where antennas, as a key component of the RF front-end, operate in dynamic environments, such as the human body. The demonstrated antenna is realized with highly flexible, robust and transparent conductive-fabric-polymer composite. The performance of the explored flexible-transparent antenna is also compared with its non-transparent counterpart manufactured with non-transparent conductive fabric. This comparison further demonstrates the suitability of the proposed materials for the target unobtrusive wearable applications. Detailed numerical and experimental investigations are explored in this paper to verify the proposed design. Moreover, the compatibility of the antenna in wearable applications is evaluated by testing the performance on a forearm phantom and calculating the specific absorption rate (SAR).

Citation

Sayem, A. S. M., Simorangkir, R. B. V. B., Esselle, K. P., Lalbakhsh, A., Gawade, D. R., O’Flynn, B., & Buckley, J. L. (2022). Flexible and Transparent Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna for Reliable Unobtrusive Wearable Wireless Communications. Sensors, 22(3), 1276. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22031276

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 8, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Oct 19, 2023
• Journal: Sensors
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 1276
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s22031276
• Keywords: Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Biochemistry; Instrumentation; Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics; Analytical Chemistry
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1792074
• Additional Information: This article is published open access with a CC BY licence at https://doi.org/10.3390/s22031276