A Review of Wearable Antenna

N. H. M. Rais1, P. J. Soh1, F.Malek1, S. Ahmad1, N.B.M. Hashim1, P.S Hall2

1
School of Computer and Communication, University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP),
No. 12 & 14, Jln Satu, Kompleks Pengajian UniMAP Seberang Ramai,
02000 Kuala Perlis, Perlis, Malaysia.
nh_husna@yahoo.com.my, pjsoh@unimap.edu.my, shahadah@unimap.edu.my, baya@unimap.edu.my

2
The University of Birmingham
School of Engineering
Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT UK
P.S.Hall@bham.ac.uk

Abstract- Utilization of wearable textiles in the antenna
segment has been seen on the rise due to the recent
miniaturization of wireless devices. A wearable antenna
is meant to be a part of the clothing used for
communication purposes, which includes tracking and
navigation, mobile computing and public safety. This
literature review intend to disclose this unconventional
antenna technology and provides readers with the
background of the wearable antenna that would include
about specification of the antenna, material for the
antenna and analysis that must be done to design proper
wearable antennas. All the designs presented are of the
recent development in wearable technology.
Keywords – conductive textile antenna, wearable antennas, on-
body communication
Designing textile antenna requires the knowledge
on electromagnetic properties such as permittivity, and loss
tangent of the textile material. Conductive textile such as
Zelt, Flectron and pure copper polyester taffeta fabrics are
regularly used as the radiating element while non-conductive
textile such as silk, felt and fleece are used as substrates.
Electromagnetic properties for these textiles are not readily
available. Measurement of the electromagnetic properties of
textile substrate done in [2] using a transmission/reflection
waveguide method. Important permittivity and loss tangent
value were included in the simulation.
This work intends to present recent types of antenna
and other considerations that have to be investigated,
including suitable material selection, fabrication methods
and analysis required for a wearable antenna design.

I. INTRODUCTION II. TYPES OF WEARABLE ANTENNA

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.
A. Conventional Wearable Designs
Conventional antenna designs which include planar
dipoles, monopoles, planar inverted-Fs (PIFAs), and
microstrip patches were used in recent research for wearable
antennas design. Microstrip antennas are planar and these
can be manufactured onto a printed circuit board (PCB). This
made them a practical antenna type due to their low cost, and
eases for fabrication. In [3], Salonen explored the planar
inverted-F antenna (PIFA) design as a wearable antenna that
intended to be placed on the sleeve of clothing. PIFAs are
like quarter wave monopole antennas, which folded structure
is parallel with the ground plane, as showed in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows one possible location placement of
the antenna, on the sleeve of clothing. The effect of the
antenna’s ground plane to the direction of the strongest
radiation was also shown. The ground plane formed a shield
for human so the radiation will not radiate towards human
body. In other words, the ground plane functioned as a
reflector for radiation. Using the same antenna design
concept, the design of a wearable flexible planar inverted-F
antenna (FlexPIFA) for Bluetooth operated system was
introduced in [4]. The antenna was designed to be attached
on a human arm and used flexible substrate material with
0.236 mm thickness, a dielectric constant of 3.29, and a loss
tangent of 0.0004.
Antenna’s requirements that influence the antenna
selection in [5] are low profile, operated in the frequency
range of 100 MH – 500 MHz, omni-directional coverage in
the azimuth plane, produces wideband return loss and
possesses a vertical or circular polarization. Omni-directional
radiation pattern is desired for a wearable antenna, in which
it will be suitable for mobile devices and smart clothing.
Besides that, omni-directional radiation pattern should be
designed to have minimal/no side lobes, which can harm the
human body.
A textile-based antenna in [10] was designed to
provide a wireless short range communication in body and
personal area network. It was made entirely out of textile
material. The aperture coupled feeding mechanism was used
for the design, helped in increasing the bandwidth compared
to other classic planar antenna feeds [11].

Fig. 1: Construction of the PIFA [3].

Fig.3: Antenna with 50 line feed fabricated on a PCB [6].

Fig. 2: Possible placement of the PIFA antenna [3].

B. Textile Antenna Designs

The work in [6], claimed to be the first textile antenna
with circular polarization. Circular polarization is needed to
ensure that the antenna is reliable in applications where the Fig. 4: Fabric dual-band EBG substrate [9]
wearer is mobile. As a result of this dynamism, the
orientation of the body changes continuously. A circular
polarization wave radiates energy in both the horizontal and
vertical planes and all planes in between [7] so however the
body orientation changes, the antenna still can receive
signals. Substrate used in the design is polymide spacer
fabric with 6 mm thickness and has a permittivity of 1.5. A
conductive material – a nickel plated woven textile – was
used as the antenna patch and the ground plane. The
conductive textile used possesses sheet resistance of less than
/square to keep losses at a minimum. In order to connect
the textile antenna with the SMA connector, a 50
Fig.5: S11 measurement result [9]
impedance line was fabricated on a printed circuit board
(PCB). Construction of the textile is shown in Figure 3. A II. DESIGNING WEARABLE ANTENNAS
textile antenna for protective clothing in [8] was also
designed with circular polarization to improve reception in A. Conductive material
the real life application. The design produced a circular Electro-textiles are conductive fabric constructed by
polarization by placing the feed point of the patch, thereby interpolating conductive metal/polymer threads with normal
exciting the two orthogonally polarized TM01 and TM10 fabric. Characteristics of these fabrics, which are wearable,
modes. durable and flexible, made it suitable to be integrated into
Electromagnetic band gap (EBG) is one of the most clothing [12]. Ivo Locker in [13] discussed the requirements
rapidly advancing sectors in the arena of electromagnetic for conductive fabrics in designing textile antennas. The
research. Using an EBG structure for the ground plane conductive textile was desired to have a low and stable
resembles a perfect magnetic conductor. As a consequence, electrical resistance ( /Square) to minimize losses.
an electric current can radiate efficiently near the EBG Flexibility of the material was also needed so that the
ground plane. This concept used by Zhu in [9], in designing antenna can be deformed.
a dual-band, body worn antenna. Figure 4 shows the double Another researcher in [14] used a flexible material so
square dual band EBG. Based on the S11 measurement result that it can be wrapped around an arm as shown in Figure 6.
in Figure 5, creating the EBG layer at the ground plane The material used was woven conductive fabric type, having
improved the return loss of the antenna to be approximately a 0.05 /square of surface resistance and 0.125 mm
about the same (at –15 dB) for all the resonant frequencies. It thickness. The material selection is a critical step when
was also shown that the surface current of the antenna is designing an antenna, in order to be robust and suited for
balanced, thus increasing the antenna’s efficiency. certain applications. The work in [15], which used an aramid

Fig.6: shows the drapability of the wearable antena [14].
woven fabric as the material, is flame resistant and suitable
for integration into fire fighter garment. In [16], a highly
conductive metalized Nylon fabric was used as the
conductor. Its three metalized layers (NI/Cu/Ag) provided
high conductivity while the surface resistivity is
0.03 /square. Besides that, the material also provided
flexibility and protection against corrosion, which will be
suitable when applied in a highly corrosive environment.
B. Fabrication method
The fabrication techniques, which will be partially
determined by the materials used in designing a textile
antenna, is also another important consideration, in defining
and determining the overall cost of the design. This is
because different material used in the antenna design
requires different fabrication methods. The work in [17]
explored different fabrication methods carried out to
fabricate the same dimension of microstrip patch antenna.
The use of copper tape was identified as the simplest
technique, as it can directly be applied to the substrates, and
has no extra fabrication process.
Besides that, a more flexible fabrication technique was
to use a conductive spray technique, which can be applied to
any textile material [17]. The spray, which is a mixture of
copper with gases under pressure, can be used to obtain a
conductive layer on the textile surfaces exposed to the spray.
Figure 7 shows the microstrip patch fabricated using copper
tape, woven copper thread and conductive spray.
Researchers in [18], on the other hand, constructed an E-
shaped patch antenna using copper tape as the conducting
element, and felt fabric as the substrate. The copper tape was
cut according to the dimension of the E-shaped patch
antenna and mounted on the felt fabric. Manufacturing
process of the textile UWB antenna using high conductive
metalized Nylon in [19] was difficult and had to be done
cautiously. Dimension of the antenna must be retained while
being attached to the substrate using adhesive that not affects
the electrical properties of the textile material. A SMA jack
was connected to the textile antenna using conductive two-
component glue
Fig. 7: Fabricated textile patch antennas. From left to right; applying copper
tape, woven copper thread and conductive spray [17].
IV. ANALYSIS REQUIRED FOR WEARABLE
ANTENNAS
Generally, the measurements required for conventional
antenna design are return loss, radiation pattern, gain and
efficiency. However, conventional planar antennas are
flattened, which makes it unnecessary to investigate its
bending characteristic. On the contrary, a wearable antenna
requires other factors to be taken into careful consideration to
guarantee the performance of the antenna in a body-worn
context. This section will include other measurements that
have to be carried out in examining a wearable antenna
design.
Fig. 8 Computed SAR distributions at 2.2 GHz [22].
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,

Fig. 9: Measurement setup of the antenna [13].
the antenna will still be able to operate within the desired
frequency range. Tanaka in [14] investigated this through his
measurement report for return loss when the H-plane and E-
plane of the antenna were bent. The bending conditions were
differentiated using degrees. 00 indicated that the antenna is
flattened, while a 900 bending was indicated when the H-
plane was bent into a V-shape at the center of the microstrip
antenna. A 1800 bending indicated that the antenna was bent
into U-shape. Similar bending conditions also apply to the E-
plane of the antenna.
C. On body measurements
Beside stand-alone antenna measurements, where the
antenna was measured without presence of human body, on-
body measurements have to be carried out as well, in order to
ascertain the performance of the antenna at different on-body
positions. Positions of wearable antennas will potentially
differ, depending on the application of the antenna. Wearable
antennas might be designed to be placed on the chest, arm,
back of the body and etc. In [17], the fabricated antenna was
measured in free space, on human chest and on the human
arm. In [15] researchers also went as far as including human
body for the measurement. From these previous
investigations, it was found out that the antenna placed on
the back of the body as shown in Figure 10, is the most
stable location that will reduce the change of body
orientation compared other parts such as the arm.
Fig.10: Measurement setup for on-body measurement [15].
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.
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