A Small Planar Inverted-F Antenna for Wearable Applications

Pekka Salonen, Lauri Sydänheimo, Mikko Keskilammi, Markku Kivikoski

Tampere University of Technology

Institute of Electronics
P.O.Box 692, 33101 Tampere, Finland
psalonen@ele.tut.fi

Abstract
Small printed antennas will replace the commonly used
normal-mode helical antennas of mobile handsets and DISPLAY AUDIO
• LCD • Microphone
systems in the future. This paper presents a novel small • Electroluminescent • Speaker
planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) which is a common
WIRELESS SHORT
PIFA in which a U-shaped slot is etched to form a dual RANGE DATA
CPU WIRELESS LONG
band operation for wearable and ubiquitous computing TRANSMISSION
• Powerful RANGE DATA
equipment. Health issues are considered in selecting CPU with TRANSMISSION
multimedia
suitable antenna topology and the placement of the INPUT DEVICE features
antenna. Various applications are presented while the • Mouse
• Keyboards (half
paper mainly discusses about the GSM applications. QWERTY etc.)
Index Terms—Wearable Systems, PIFA, Dual-Band • Touch displays
• Speech BATTERIES
Antennas recognition POSITIONING • High capacity
• GPS • Light
• Magnetic
positioning
systems
1. Introduction

The development of wearable computer systems has )LJXUH%ORFNGLDJUDPRIW\SLFDOZHDUDEOHV\VWHP

been rapid. They are coming more and more lightweight
and quite soon we will see a wide range of unobtrusive
wearable and ubiquitous computing equipment integrated
to into our everyday wear. To reaching this featherweight
level requires optimization of every single part and
subpart of wearable system. The main parts of a typical
wearable system are presented in figure 1.
As we can see both the short range and long range
wireless communication plays an important role in mobile
wearable system. However these communication systems
contain several subparts and antennas are essential
subpart of wireless communication systems. This paper
will present how antennas for long range data
transmission system, i.e. GSM900 (Global System for
Mobile communications) in this case, can be integrated to
the garment. If the same antenna has dual-band
characteristics, it can be used to operate also e.g. wireless
short range data transmission such as Bluetooth. This
integration will help to reach the goal of unobtrusive
wearable equipment.
The effect of radiation on human body has been also
considered in order to design such an antenna structure
which has less radiation power in that direction. The
ground plane of planar antennas have this kind of
property while a commonly used normal-mode helical
antennas have omnidirectional radiation pattern, i.e. they
radiate all directions normal to the antenna axis.
The application of the proposed antenna is GSM
standard, which is the dominant digital access technique
in mobile communications in Europe. However this is
easily applied for other standards and systems used e.g. in
USA such as PCS.
This proposed system can reduce required GSM
transmission power and thus increase the operating hours
of batteries. This is achieved by a good impedance
matching of the antenna feed when the power loss due to
reflected waves is minimized. Multi-band antennas for
combining antennas for both short and long range systems
are discussed as well.

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 2. Antenna Design

Resonant antennas are a class of antennas in which

their size is comparable of the wavelength of operation.
The antennas of this class operate well at single frequency
or selected narrow frequency band. These are popular
when simple structure, light weight and real input
impedance is needed. A good example is half-wavelength
dipole, which is the initial structure to be modified in this
paper.
Most cellular mobile phones use a resonant antenna.
The main goal of this paper is to present a dual-band
antenna which operates at GSM frequency (900MHz) and
Bluetooth frequency (2.4GHz) and is suitable for
wearable systems. Bluetooth is the code name for a
technology specification for small form factor, low-cost, λ/2
short range radio links between mobile PCs, mobile
phones and other portable devices. It will enable users to
connect a wide range of computing and
telecommunications devices easily and simply, without I
the need to buy, carry, or connect cables. It delivers
opportunities for rapid ad hoc connections, and the
possibility of automatic, unconscious, connections
between devices. Because Bluetooth can be used for a
variety of purposes, it will also potentially replace
multiple cable connections via a single radio link. It
creates the possibility of using mobile data in a different )LJXUH  +DOIZDYH GLSROH DQWHQQD ZLWK FXUUHQW
way, for different applications such as "Surfing in the GLVWULEXWLRQVKRZQ
sofa", "The instant postcard", "Three in one phone" and
many others. It will allow them to think about what they
are working on, rather than how to make their technology
work.
The half-wave dipole antenna consists of two wire
arms of which are bent 90 degrees, figure 2, in which the
current distribution is also shown along dipole arms. If the
lower arm is replaced by a ground plane the dipole
antenna reduces to a monopole antenna of a length of
quarter-wavelength, figure 3. This idea of reducing the
size of the dipole is based on the image theory [1,2]. This
reduction of the size does not affect the radiation λ/4
characteristics because the current is maximum at middle
of the half-wave dipole. Thus the ground plane can be
placed at the same location where the current has
maximum. It is worth of mentioning that the input
impedance of the antenna is now a half of that of the half-
wave dipole.
The effect of the ground plane is that an antenna does
not radiate in the direction of the ground plane. Thus, it
forms a kind of a shield for human not to radiate towards
)LJXUH4XDUWHUZDYHPRQRSROHDQWHQQD7KHFXUUHQW
the organs. However, this shield is as large as the ground GLVWULEXWLRQ LV VKRZQ VROLG OLQH ZKLFK LV FRPSDUHG WR
plane is. The function of the ground plane is to be a WKHFXUUHQWGLVWULEXWLRQRIWKHKDOIZDYH GLSROH DQWHQQD
reflector for radiation. The directivity is also doubled to GDVKHGOLQH
that of the half-wave dipole which now 5.16dB. The
directivity is the ratio of the power density in the direction
of the radiation pattern maximum to the average power
density at the same distance from the antenna [3].

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 2.1 Proposed Antenna
Many antennas interact with objects that are placed
close to them and must therefore be mounted at a
sufficient distance from walls or at the top of masts. Also,
many antennas tend to be perturbed when placed in the
close vicinity of another antenna. In rather sharp contrast,
microstrip antennas are somewhat shielded by the
presence of the ground plane, so whatever is located in
the back of them does not significantly affect their
operation. This means, in particular, that microstrip
antennas can be mounted directly on the walls of
buildings or on the clothing and are thus less
conspicucious than other antennas.
Microstrip antennas are planar and thus these can be
manufactured on printed circuit board. This makes them
as an attractive type of antenna due to their low cost,
conformability, and ease of manufacture. The planar
structure is very suitable for wearable systems because of
the planar antennas are thin.
The proposed planar microstrip antenna type is PIFA
(Planar Inverted-F Antenna). The side profile looks like
an inverted F figure. Inverted-F antennas are like quarter-
wave monopole antennas, which are folded coplanar with
the ground plane as shown in figure 4. The original
quarter-wave monopole is stretched to form a plane. This
also increases the radiation resistance. The impedance
bandwidth can be controlled by the height of the PIFA
from the ground plane but to make it thin enough the
height should be less than 10mm. This is well enough
needed for GSM operation [4,5].
The matching of the antenna can be controlled by the
feed line distance from the shorted edge of the PIFA. For
wearable systems the antenna is separated from other
electronics thus a cable is needed. The standard coaxial
cables have characteristic impedance of 50Ω or 70Ω.
Thus, the matching must be designed for the cable to be
used. A good match is an important feature of the
antenna. A parameter, which describes impedance match
is called voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) and it
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should be less than 2 in the operation frequency band. If
VSWR is less than 2, 90% of the input power of the
antenna will radiate.
The geometry of dual-band PIFA is shown in figure 5
for U-shaped slot. The length l and width w of the PIFA
determines the lower resonant frequency, which can be
approximated by the formula [6]
c
fl 0 = (1)
4(w + l )
Where c is the velocity of light, l and w are the length and
width of the radiating element, and fl0 is the lower
operating frequency. The upper resonant frequency can be
determined by the same formula where the outer
dimension length l and width w is replaced by the inner
length l2 and width w2 respectively. This dual-band
antenna has almost the same size as a single-band planar
inverted-F antenna operating at the lower frequency band.
2.2 Health Concerns and the Placement of the
Antenna
Public concern about the health hazards of
electromagnetic fields from radiotelephones has
increased. Specifically, there is concern that, as the
antennas deployed in the new generation of personal
telecommunications systems are brought close to the
head, there may be either a thermal insult produced by
power deposition in tissue (acute effects) or other (long-
term) effects.
Microwave radiation absorption occurs at the
molecular, cellular, tissue and whole-body levels. The
dominant factor for net energy absorption by an entire
organism is related to the dielectric properties of bulk
water, which ultimately causes transduction of
electromagnetic energy into heat [7]. The dominant digital
access techniques available in Europe and USA use low
level electromagnetic radiation, which is probably safe.
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• The electromagnetic field is zero inside the

Since the major concern about the effects of radiation at
conductor.
low levels on the head is unknown the placement of the
antenna is proposed to be inserted on the sleeve as shown
in figure 6. This has an effect of reducing the radiation on • There are neither currents nor volume charges.
the head as compared to an antenna in the close vicinity
of the head. The ground plane has the effect of reducing
the back radiation to other organs while the normal-mode • The electric field is normal to the surface. It is related
helical or dipole antennas do not have. This property is to surface charge density by
common for all planar antennas, which have a ground
plane. Since the ground plane is made of conducting ρs
E= n (2)
medium its effects on electromagnetic fields can be ε
obtained from the following boundary conditions.
In a conducting medium the electric field E creates a • The magnetic field is tangential to the surface. It is
current density J related to E by Ohm’s law J = σE. A related to surface current density by
perfect conductor has by definition an infinite
conductivity σ. Taking into account the finite nature of H = Js ×n (3)
the current density, this implies that the electric field E
should be zero in a perfect conductor. According These fundamental laws show that conducting medium
Maxwell’s equations [8], H (magnetic field), J (volume such as metal ground plane prevents the propagation of
current density) and ρ (volume charge density) must be the electromagnetic radiation through it. The radiation
zero too. There are no currents or charges inside a perfect generates surface charge and current densities on the
conductor, only on its surface. The conditions of surface of the conducting medium that cancel the original
continuity allow us to determine the E and H fields in the electromagnetic field.
vicinity of some point on the surface of a perfect
conductor, in a dielectric of permittivity ε, in terms of
current surface densities Js and charges ρs in the vicinity
3. Numerical Simulation and Experimental
of the same point, figure 7. Thus the following properties
for a perfect conductor can be obtained: [9] Validation

Given the complexity of the structure, the effects of

different physical parameters of the antenna were studied
quantitatively using Method of Moments that solves

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 electromagnetic field integral equation in the harmonic Simulated Return Loss
domain. The complex integral equations are reduced to a
system of simpler linear equations in which the field 0.00
quantities are related to circuit quantities via Green’s -2.00

Return Loss/ dB
-4.00
functions for a specific geometry under consideration -6.00
[10]. The Method of Moments expands field and circuit -8.00
quantities, like electric current density J in a linear space -10.00
and transforms integral equations into linear equations. -12.00
-14.00
The equations are derived from the Maxwell’s equations. 0.7 0.92 0.98 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.36 2.42 2.6
The code requires all the conducting parts of the geometry Frequency/ GHz
to be divided into triangular or rectangular cells. When
the electric and magnetic current densities are known on )LJXUH  6LPXODWHG UHWXUQ ORVV DV D IXQFWLRQ RI
all surfaces of the antenna, electric and magnetic fields IUHTXHQF\ $  96:5 LV HTXLYDOHQW WR D G% UHWXUQ
can be calculated anywhere else. In this way, the input ORVV WKH OHYHO DW ZKLFK  RI WKH LQFLGHQW SRZHU LV
impedance and the resonant frequencies can all be UHIOHFWHGEDFNWRWKHVRXUFH
determined. Moreover, the thickness of the metal layers
can also be taken into account.
Based on the simulations the dual-band antenna Measured Return Loss
prototype have been designed using new U-shaped slot
0.00
topology and built with air dielectric as described in
-5.00
section 2.1. In order to characterize the antennas a
Return Loss/ dB
-10.00
HP8722D network analyzer was used to measure the -15.00
input return loss of the antennas as a function of -20.00
-25.00
frequency. The values for the input impedance were
-30.00
specified as the frequency bandwidth in which the voltage -35.00
standing wave ratio (VSWR) is less than 2:1. A 2:1 -40.00
VSWR is equivalent to a 10-dB return loss, the level at 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 2.25 2.5
Frequency/ GHz
which 10% of the incident power is reflected back to the
source. )LJXUH  0HDVXUHG UHWXUQ ORVV DV D IXQFWLRQ RI
The dual-band antenna was fabricated by etching the IUHTXHQF\ $ JRRG DJUHHPHQW ZLWK WKH VLPXODWLRQV LV
slot figure on the top plate, which is 0.2mm thick copper REWDLQHG
and soldered on the copper groundplane of dimensions:
length 180mm, width 95mm. The shorting strip was made
of 0.2mm thick copper and the dimensions used: height
9mm and width 3mm. The outer dimensions of the PIFA frequency is slightly shifted down because of the
were: length 53.5mm and width 33.5mm. The resonant manufacturing inaccuracies. The null depth and the
frequency for the lower band given by equation (1) agrees bandwidth 80MHz (5%) agrees well with the simulations.
well with measured results. The inner radiating element This slot configuration is versatile for most wireless
dimensions surrounded by U-shaped slot were: length communication applications because of bandwidths. The
24mm and width 11mm. The resonant frequency for the lower frequency bandwidth is enough e.g. for GSM or
upper band given by equation (1) is slightly less than PCS and the upper band is enough e.g. for Bluetooth,
compared to measured results. It should be emphasized which requires only approximately 80MHz band.
here that the etching process was not accurate which
caused errors to the dimensions of the antennas and thus,
the 0.2mm change in dimensions had an effect of moving
the upper resonant frequency quite a lot at this frequency
4. Conclusion and Future Work
band. Also, the bandwidths of the antenna depend on the
size and the shape of the groundplane, which is not The proposed antenna geometry is low profile PIFA,
optimized for these frequencies. of which basic geometry is modified in order to make it
The measured and simulated return loss of the U- operate at two different frequency bands. The new
shaped slot PIFA is shown in figures 8 and 9, geometry is actually a combination of monopole antenna
respectively. The bandwidth of the lower resonant and PIFA. This paper mainly discusses about the GSM
frequency is 90MHz (10%) which agrees well with the antenna, a digital access system used in Europe, but the
simulations. However the simulated null depth is much antenna can be also designed for PCS applications very
less compared to measured results. The upper resonant easily.

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 The advantages of planar inverted-F antennas are the
reduction of size comparable to e.g. patch antenna of
which resonant length must be half-wavelengths. The
PIFA radiates only in one half space, thus increasing the
directivity and gain in comparison of commonly used
normal-mode helical antennas. The increase in gain and
directivity makes the proposed antenna more sensitive to
weak signals. The third advantage is that the radiation to
the body of human is reduced because of the ground plane
needed by the antenna.
This proposed antenna can be designed for future
wireless network applications in order to operate at two or
more different frequency bands e.g. at GSM and ISM
(Industrial, Scientific and Medical) frequencies. This
possibility reduces the number of different antennas
needed and it is also cost effective, because only one
antenna is needed. Comfortability of the wearable systems
can be increased if the new flexible PCB materials are
used in the fabrication of the antenna. To make the
antenna ‘invisible’ it can be designed so that it has two
functions: an antenna and a tie pin. This is possible
because the geometry of the antenna and the tie pin is
similar.
The future work will continue in designing more
sophisticated antenna systems. The next research goal is
to design a multi-band antenna which operates at the
frequency bands of GSM, GSM-1800 and Bluetooth
(2.4GHz) and PCS and Bluetooth frequencies. This kind
of antenna can handle both the short range and long range
data communications. This is a very ideal situation when
one antenna can operate at different radio systems.
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5. References
[1] R. F. Harrington, Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic fields,
McGraw Hill, UK.
[2] C. A. Balanis, Advanced Engineering Electromagnetics,
Ingram International , UK, 1989.
[3] W. L. Stutzman, G. A. Thiele: Antenna Theory and Design,
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[4] H. Nakano, N. Ikeda, Y.-Y. Wu, R. Suzuki, H. Mimaki, J.
Yamauchi, “Realization of Dual-Frequency and Wide-Band
VSWR Performances Using Normal-Mode Helical and
Inverted-F Antennas”, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 46,
pp. 788 - 793, June 1998.
[5] C. R. Rowell, R. D. Murch, “A Capacitively Loaded PIFA
for Compact Mobile Telephone Handsets”, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagat., vol. 45, pp.837 – 841, May 1997.
[6] Z. D. Liu, P. S. Hall, D. Wake, “Dual-Frequency Planar
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[7] A. D. Olver, Microwave and Optical Transmission, Wiley,
UK, 1992.
[8] J. A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory, McGraw-Hill Inc.
New York, 1941.
[9] S. Drabowitch, A. Papiernik, H. Griffiths, J. Encinas, B. L.
Smith, Modern Antennas, Chapman & Hall, UK, 1998.
[10] A. F. Peterson, S. L. Ray, R. Mittra, Computational
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