!

Glove-Integrated Textile Antenna with Reduced

SAR for Wearable UHF RFID Reader
Shahbaz Ahmed Adnan Mehmood Lauri Sydänheimo
Faculty of Medicine and Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Faculty of Medicine and Health
Technology Technology Technology
Tampere University Tampere University Tampere University
Tampere, Finland Tampere, Finland Tampere, Finland
shahbaz.ahmed@tuni.fi adnan.mehmood@tuni.fi lauri.sydanheimo@tuni.fi
Leena Ukkonen Toni Björninen
Faculty of Medicine and Health Faculty of Medicine and Health
Technology Technology
Tampere University Tampere University
Tampere, Finland Tampere, Finland
leena.ukkonen@tuni.fi toni.bjorninen@tuni.fi

Abstract—We present a wearable slotted patch antenna
embedded in a glove for wearable UHF RFID reader. The
antenna is fully-textile based, small enough to fit on the area in
the back of the hand and achieves the realized gain of 1.3 dBi
at 866 MHz in body-worn configuration. The paper outlines the
numerical optimization of the antenna using a layered hand
model and assessment of the specific absorption rate to
determine the maximum output power of the reader that
complies with the SAR safety limits. As a novel feature, we have
designed an isolator layer of conductive textile that is adhered
inside the glove underneath the antenna to achieve 10 percent
reduction in the specific absorption rate (SAR) and 1.14 dBi
improvement in the realized gain compared to our earlier work.
With these marked improvements, the output power of the
reader is not limited by SAR, but by the regular RFID emission
limit. In the wireless testing, we have verified a detection range
of 4.7 meters for a regular dipole type RFID tag with 3.19 W
EIRP.
Keywords— slotted patch antenna; RFID reader antenna;
UHF; wearable antenna; work glove application; e-textile.
I. INTRODUCTION
Passive ultra high frequency radio frequency identification
technology (UHF RFID) tags harvest the energy required for
the tag operation from the continuous cave (CW) signal
incident from the reader antenna and turn on the integrated
circuit (IC) [1]. Due to the absence of the auxiliary power
source, the optimal power transfer between the passive tag and
the RFID reader is key performance-determining parameter of
a typical passive UHF RFID system. In such systems,
antennas not only act as the backbone of the communication
between the tag and the reader but also are responsible for
efficient and reliable power transfer. Recently, the RFID
technology has captivated the attention of the antenna
community to extend the application to wearable e-textile
antennas for the body centric communications [2-4].
However, the RF community lacks comprehensive knowledge
of the fundamental characteristics of the electro-textiles. [5,6]
presents critical electro-textile characteristics for the wearable
UHF RFID antennas for the body centric communications.
The RFID technology is also extended to personal healthcare
applications [7]. The wearable antennas are meant to be
flexible, compact, lightweight, comfortable, robust,
maintenance free making it cost effective. [8] presents
wearable RFID antenna fabricated on a non-flexible substrate
and achieved a read range of 7.6 cm. However, some work
has been done on the flexible substrates [9]. Authors studied
the performance of the textile patch antennas fabricated on
flexible substrate, whereas [10] presents single layered loop
RFID antennas for RFID based implantable and wearable
applications. [11] Authors present a compact yagi antenna for
the handheld UHF RFID reader application. As the frequency
dependent electrical properties of the human body and the
body movements significantly impact the performance of the
antenna, making it challenging for designing of robust
wearable antennas. The performance of the electrical devices
developed from the fabrics is analyzed through electrical
characterization of the transmission lines [12]. Therefore, it is
necessary to optimize the wearable antenna for operating
frequency range in such environment.
In this study, we developed and evaluated the performance
of an e-textile slotted patch wearable reader antenna for UHF
RFID systems, on flexible Ethylene Propylene Diene
Monomer (EPDM) material. Using EPDM material as
substrate leverages the wear-ability and integrate-ability of the
antenna to the work glove with compromising the other key
performance-parameters. The wearable slotted patch antenna
is optimized for the European UHF RFID band.
The study focuses on the development and performance
evaluation of the wearable e-textile UHF RFID reader antenna
with maximized read range against SAR compliant
transmission power. We consider four important parameters
for the performance evaluation i.e. the reflection coefficient,
realized gain, SAR compliant transmission power and the
corresponding read range. Section II discusses the test tag
antenna developed for the characterization of the reader
antenna. Section III introduces the seven layered human hand
model for optimizing the reader antenna in the simulations.
Section IV presents the wearable reader antenna modelling
and fabrication. Section V includes antenna fabrication,
simulated and measured results for the reflection coefficients,
realized gain, maximum read range and the SAR compliant
power transmission, whereas, section VI concludes the paper.
II. TEST TAG FOR THE READER ANTENNA
CHARACTERIZATION
In the body-worn configuration, the realized gain is the
most significant parameter for the characterization of the

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wearable reader antenna, as it is effected by the electrical

properties of the human body and is difficult to be measured
in the body worn configuration. In this paper, we have used a
RFID tag—optimized for 866 MHz—for the characterization
of the wearable reader antenna by measuring the threshold
power that is minimum tranmission power required for the
response from a tag separated by a distance d. In the
electromagnetic modelling, we used ANSYS High Frequency
Structure Simulator (HFSS) v19.1. The IC used in the RFID
tag is NXP UCODE G2iL series chip [13]. Fig. 1. shows the
equivalent model of the RFID IC comprises of the parallel
connections of 2.85 k resistance and 0.91 pF capacitance
[13,14]. The tag antenna is matched to conjugate impedance Figure 2. Measured and simulated realized gain of the dipole tag.
of the tag 14 j200 ohms at 866 MHz frequency. Fig. 1 and
Table 1 show the geometry and the dimensions of the tag, The calculated peak realized gain of the tag antenna is 1.3
respectively. dBi and the measured peak realized gain of the tag antenna is
0.1 dBi at the resonance frequency of 866 MHz, which is
typical realized gain for many RFID tags that are commonly
Path loss factor Liso in the wireless measurement channel
based on dipole antenna. Section IV explains utilization of
is determined by the output port of the wearable RFID reader
the fabricated dipole tag to estimate the realized gain of the
antenna to the input port of a test tag antenna separated by a wearable reader antenna.
specific distance d as shown in the Fig. 5 and is measured
using the Voyantic Tag-formance. We used the the wake up III. HUMAN HAND MODEL
power of RFID-IC Pic0, reader threshold power Pth, and the
path loss factor Liso measured at a distance of 1 m, to estimate Seven layered planar human hand model used to optimize
the wearable RFID UHF reader antenna comprises of layers;
the realized gain of the tag, which will be later used for the
skin, fat, muscle, bone (cortical), muscle, fat and skin, shown
characterization of the reader antenna. The realized gain can
in the Fig. 2. From the electromagnetic point of view, all
be expressed as [13]
seven layers of the human hand model are lossy dielectrics
௉೔೎బ
with frequency dependent complex permittivities and
‫ܩ‬௥ǡ௧௔௚ ൌ Ǥ (1) specific thicknesses defined by the individual human
௅೔ೞ೚ ௉೟೓
anatomies [15]. We used the seven-term Cole-Cole relaxation
concept [16] to model the electromagnetic energy dissipation
in the biological tissues and the relative permittivity. The loss
Antenna (a) model accounts for both loss sources: polarizability and
La ohmic loss due to conduction current. All the model
Ra electromagnetic parameters are available in [17] and Table 1
Z Zc=R(parallel)+C(parallel)
lists the dielectric properties of each tissue type at 866 MHz.
Impedance
C(parallel)

R(parallel)

Network Table 2. Dimensions of planar human hand model and electrical properties
of individual layer at 866 MHz.
AC Za=Ra+Ca Tissue (S/m) r
Parallel Equivalent Circuit
Skin 0.8555 41.587
Fat 0.050242 5.4673
Muscle 0.93146 55.114
Bone 0.13926 12.486
lS

(b) WS WS1 lS1

WS3
lS3
Figure 1. (a) Parallel equivalent model of the antenna and the tag IC.
(b) Dimensions of the prototype fabricated.

Table 1. Dimension of dipole tag antenna

Geometrical Parameter Value Figure 2. Planar human hand model for simulations.
lS 113 mm
WS 20 mm However, in simulations, the different tissue layers are
lS1 15.7 mm represented by block of dimensions 11 cm × 30 cm with
WS1 9.7 mm frequency dependent electrical properties with total volume
lS2 5.15 mm of the planar hand model defined by the thickness of the
individual layers. Naturally, human body exhibits a more
WS2 2 mm
complex non-layered structure and the thicknesses of the

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various hand tissues are difficult to estimate. Therefore, in substrate makes it feasible for the wearable reader antenna
our case, we have defined thickness of these layer based on application. The antenna is equipped with 140×100 mm e-
average dimension of the hand of an adult male. textile sheet, which results in the SAR reduction and increases
the gain of the antenna in z-direction.
IV. ANTENNA MODELING AND DEVELOPMENT V. MEASUREMENT AND RESULTS
The challenging part of the antenna optimization is We evaluate the antenna performance in terms of the
miniaturization of the antenna to befit our work glove reflection coefficient, realized gain, SAR compliant power
application. In literature, researchers have discussed antenna transmission and the corresponding read range. Fig. 5 shows
miniaturization techniques by elongating the current path by
the measurement setup for the characterization of the
introducing the spirals, slots, lines to the patch, short pins to
wearable RFID reader antenna.
ground the patch [18, 19], by using metamaterials [20-22] and
inverted F configuration, yielding promising electromagnetic
performances, but these structures are rigid possessing
significant thickness, which makes them not befitting our
application, where the sufficiently small form factor and
flexibility are at priority. We presented wearable slotted patch
antenna [23], which delivered promising results because of the
ground plane that minimizes the influence of the electrical
properties of the human body on the antenna performance.

Figure 4. Measurement setup for the characterization of the wearable RFID

reader antenna.

A. Reflection coefficient
Firstly, we measured the on-body reflection coefficients of
the antenna. Fig. 6 shows the reflection coefficient of the
slotted patch antenna. The on body measurement shows that
the 10 dB impedance bandwidth is 25 MHz (850-870 MHz)
and the antenna is resonant at 866 MHz frequency. However,
there is a frequency shift to higher frequencies due to
inaccuracies in the antenna fabrication. Overall, the simulated
and the measured results show a good agreement.

Figure 3. Dimensions and the fabricated protoype of the wearable slotted

patch antenna.

Table 3. Dimensions of the slotted patch antenna

Geometric Parameters Value
l1 85 mm
W1 50 mm
l2 80 mm
W2 60 mm
a 31 mm
b 20 mm
c 17 mm
d 46.8 mm
Figure 5. Free space and on-body measurement for the reflection
e 58 mm coefficient
h 5 mm
B. Realized gain
Fig. 4 shows the geometry of the proposed wearable We measured the power transmitted by the body-worn
slotted patch with dimension of the antenna listed in the Table antenna to read the test tag—discussed in the section II—at a
3. The 7-layered planar human hand model presented in distance of 1 m over the bandwidth i.e. from 855 MHz to 880
section III is used for the antenna optimization. The prototype MHz. The realized gain (GR) of the antenna derived from the
antenna is fabricated using adhesive conductive nickel and
Friis transmission equation, given as
copper plated electro-textile (sheet resistance 0.16 Ohm/Sq
and thickness of 170 m) on EPDM material having the ଶ
ఒ
relative permittivity r of 1.26, the loss tangent  of 0.007 and ܲ௥௫ ൌ ‫ܩ‬ோ ‫ܩ‬௥ǡ௧௔௚ ‫ܮ‬௖௔௕ ቀ ቁ ܲ௧௫ Ǥ (2)
ସగ௦
thickness of 5mm. The flexibility of the foamy EPDM

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  !
In our experimental arrangement, we measure the reader’s
output threshold power Ptx. Correspondingly, the received
power Prx, i.e. the power delivered to the RFID IC on the test
tag, equals to wake-up power of the IC, which 18 dBm
reported by the manufacturer. In the equation 2, the Gr,tag is
the test tag realized gain at the resonance frequency 866
MHz, shown in Fig. 2 and Lcab is the loss factor (–1.09 dB)
of the connecting cable between the antenna and the out port.
In equation (2), our assumption is that the reader and tag are
co-polarized for the measurement setup shown in the Fig. 4.
For comparison, the simulated realized gain of the reader
antenna is given by
‫ܩ‬ோ ൌ ‫ ܩ‬ൈ ሺͳ െ ȁܵଵଵ ȁଶ ሻǡ
where G is the simulated antenna gain and S11 is the input
reflection coefficient.
Figure 6. Simulated and measured realized gain of the RFID reader antenna
Fig. 6 shows the simulated and measured realized gain
over the 25 MHz bandwidth. The measured realized gain of
the wearable reader antenna under body-worn condition at
866 MHz frequency is –1.31 dBi with –0.7 dBi less that the
simulated realized gain, whereas, the free-space
measurement of the antenna, shows measured realized gain
of –0.52 dBi, which is 2 dBi less than the simulated realized
gain. Overall, the measurement results shows good
aggreement with the simulated results with promising
realized gain at the central frequency.
C. Specific absorption rate and maximum power
transmission
The specific absorption rate (SAR) defines the energy
absorbed by the human body in the proximity of a radiating
element. This factor limits the maximum transmission power
from the antenna. We calculated the SAR compliant
maximum transmission power following the US FCC [24]
and EU commission regulations [25], which limit SAR to 1.6
W/kg and 2 W/kg averaged over 1 g and 10 g of tissue,
respectively. In our antenna configuration, the probability of
the occurrence of SARmax is on the skin layer, as it is closest
to the antenna. Consequently, we calculated the maximum
SAR complaint transmission power (Pt,max) which generates
SARmax in the skin. The Pt,max is expressed as [26]
ఞ൫ଵିȁௌభభ ȁమ ൯௉೟೐ೞ೟
ܲ௧ǡ௠௔௫ ൌ ǡ (4)
ௌ஺ோ೘ೌೣ
where  is the SAR limitation at 1.6 W/kg per 1 g tissue and
2 W/kg per 10 g tissues by US FCC and EU commission’s
regulations, respectively, whereas, ܲ௧௘௦௧ is the power
available from the numerical test source that we set to 1 W.
Table 4. Maximum SAR compliant transmission power
Pt,max (dBm) based on
Antenna EIRP (W) based on Pt,max
SARmax limits
Type
1.6 W/kg 2 W/kg 1.6 W/kg 2 W/kg
Patch 39.76 40.73 8.51 10.63
The calculated Pt,max is shown in the Table 4 is the
maximum SAR compliant tranmission power that can be
(3) delivered to the antenna for the respective regulations. We
evaluated the SARmax over the skin layer in the simulation
model, as it is the most dissipative dielectric among all the
tissues and closest to the radiating patch. Table 4 also shows
the SARmax complaint transmission power and the EIRP
generated by the antenna under these regulations. Based on the
results, although the SARmax based limits allow higher
transmission power but is limited but the European EIRP
regulation i.e. 3.28 W or 35.15 dBm, therefore, were followed
for the further performance evaluation.
D. Read range
We gradually increased the transmission power fed to the
antenna—following the EU commission regulations for SAR
limitations—at a resonance frequency of 866 MHz. We
carried out the experiment in an in-door environment to
minimize the effect of multi-path propagation due to
reflection of waves. The attainable read range of the system
was then computed from equation (2) by setting Prx = –18
dBm and transmission power such that Pt = PtxLcab, starting
from 5 dBm up-to the SAR-based maxima reported in Table
4. Thus, the attainable read range versus transmission power
was computed as
ఒ ீೝǡ೟ೌ೒ ீೃ ௉೟
‫ݏ‬ൌ ට . (5)
ସగ ௉ೝೣ
Figure 7. Measured and simulated read range of the UHF RFID reader with
the extrapolated read range shown in the dashed line using realized gain of
the tag and the reader antenna.
Fig. 7 shows the simulated and the measured read range of
the wearable reader antenna up-to 30 dBm shown by the solid
line. The Voyantic Tagformance used for the read range
measurement allows to transmit maximum of 30 dBm power,
puts limitation on the maximum power transmission,
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therefore, we calculated the read range based on the measured
realized gain of the tag and the reader antenna (discussed in
the section II. and section III). The results depicts that the
maximum read range of 470 cm against 30 dBm power and
conditionally can be increased to 934 cm with high
transmission of 35.15 dBm (European EIRP limitation).
VI. CONCLUSION
We presented a wearable UHF RFID reader antenna made
of textile materials and integrated with a work glove. The
antenna operates at 866 MHz with the realized gain of –1.31
dBi. Through numerical analysis, we have shown that by
embedding a layer of conductive textile in the glove
underneath the antenna, the SAR of the antenna is greatly
reduced, so that instead of SAR safety limits it suffices to
follow the regular RFID emission limits. We also carried out
in-door experiment to verify the read range of a regular dipole
type RFID tag using the glove reader. In the experiment, we
achieved a read range of 4.7 meters with a maximum
transmission power of 30 dBm of our reader. However, under
to European RFID emission limit, we could transmit 35.15
dBm and thereby attain a read range of 9.3 meters.
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