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Material For Werable Antenna
Material For Werable Antenna
Material For Werable Antenna
I.
INTRODUCTION
In
recent
years,
body-centric
wireless
communication becomes an important part of fourth
generation mobile communication systems (4G). In
supporting the increasing interest in antennas and
propagation research for body communication systems, the
IEEE 802.15 standardization group has been established to
standardize applications intended for on-body, off-body or
in-body communication. Body-centric communications takes
its place firmly within the sphere of personal area networks
(PANs) and body area networks (BANs). One of the
applications the on-body communications describe the
link between body mounted devices communicating
wirelessly, while off-body communication defines the radio
link between body worn devices and base units or mobile
devices located in surrounding environment. Finally, in-body
communication is communication between wireless medical
implants and on body nodes [1].
One of the dominant research topics in antennas for
body-centric communications is wearable, fabric-based
antennas. Commonly, wearable antenna requirements for all
modern application require light weight, low cost, almost
maintenance-free and no installation. There are number of
specialized occupation segments that apply body centric
communication systems, such as paramedics, fire fighters,
and military. Besides, wearable antennas also can be applied
for youngsters, the aged, and athletes for the purpose of
monitoring.
II.
A. Conductive material
Electro-textiles are conductive fabric constructed by
interpolating conductive metal/polymer threads with normal
fabric. Characteristics of these fabrics, which are wearable,
durable and flexible, made it suitable to be integrated into
clothing [12]. Ivo Locker in [13] discussed the requirements
for conductive fabrics in designing textile antennas. The
conductive textile was desired to have a low and stable
electrical resistance (
/Square) to minimize losses.
Flexibility of the material was also needed so that the
antenna can be deformed.
Another researcher in [14] used a flexible material so
that it can be wrapped around an arm as shown in Figure 6.
The material used was woven conductive fabric type, having
a 0.05 /square of surface resistance and 0.125 mm
thickness. The material selection is a critical step when
designing an antenna, in order to be robust and suited for
certain applications. The work in [15], which used an aramid
Fig. 7: Fabricated textile patch antennas. From left to right; applying copper
tape, woven copper thread and conductive spray [17].
A. SAR modeling
Public concern regarding the health effects of radiation
and legal requirements around the world have urged
engineers and researchers to always consider the amount of
power absorbed by the human body. Therefore, specific
absorption rate (SAR) by wireless devices has been defined.
The two most commonly used SAR limit are those of IEEE
[20] 1.6W/kg for any 1g of tissue, and ICNIRP (International
Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection [21])
2W/kg for any 10g of tissue. In [22], a torso model
constructed from CT and MRI image of real human body
was employed in the SAR modeling. The model was used to
study the antenna performance when the antenna placed was
on the upper portion of the human body. Figure 8 is an
example of simulated SAR distribution at 2.2 GHz. From the
simulated result, the SAR distribution was given for 1 Watt
delivered power and the colour bar showed relative SAR
value in dBi.
B. Measurement with different bending
Measurements for flexible wearable antenna have to be
done with different bending position. This is to ensure the
antenna performance in real life applications is up to mark,
especially when the antenna is applied to rounded parts of
the body, such as an arm. In [13], S11 measurements were
carried out using different bending conditions of the antenna.
The antenna attached around a plastic cylinder as shown in
Figure 9 was measured to investigate this bending
characteristic. Based on the analysis, the resonance shifted
towards the lower frequencies and the bandwidth became
smaller when bent, independent of the bending direction. The
smaller the bending is, the lower the frequency it became.
Investigators in [10] have also found out similar
measurement trends when analyzing the bending
characteristics.
One of the methods to overcome this was that the
antenna had to be designed with a wide frequency
bandwidth. This is so that if the frequency really did shift,
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Fig. 9: Measurement setup of the antenna [13].
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V. CONCLUSION
From the review, it is concluded that there are
several additional aspects to be taken into account when
designing a wearable antenna, in comparison to a
conventional antenna design. It showed that there exists a
spectrum of potential materials that could be used in
designing wearable antennas. SAR analyses, measurements
with different antenna bending and on body measurements
have to be done in order to obtain an antenna design that
meets the wearable antenna specification. Wearable antennas
are promising, and boast a great future alongside the
development of the rapidly growing wireless communication
technology.
21.
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