International Conference on Communication and Signal Processing, April 6-8, 2016, India

Design and Development of Wearable Antennas

for Tele-Medicine Applications

G.Christina, A.Rajeswari, Lavanya.M, Keerthana.J, Ilamathi.K, Manoranjitha.V


Abstract—This paper presents a flexible wearable antenna on
fabrics such as cotton, jeans and silk. The antenna proposed is in
ISM frequency band of 2.4-2.4875 GHz. It is both low cost and
easy to integrate on clothing. The design was simulated using
HFSS and the fabricated antenna provided a return loss of -15dB
and a 3dB bandwidth of 16MHz for cotton and 23 MHz for jeans
substrate and gain of 5dB.
Index Terms—microstrip antennas, patch antennas, feed,
millimeter wave propagation
I. INTRODUCTION
Owing to its low cost, light weight and low maintenance,
on-body antennas help to provide a reliable body-area network
for personal devices. Today, wearable antennas find
applications like providing medical monitoring for elderly,
athletes and children. Telemedicine system creates a
sophisticated communication environment among patients and
healthcare professionals. It facilitates patient monitoring
through computer or mobile phone technology.
Wearable antennas are those that are integrated into the
clothing of a person. Wearable antennas have been specifically
designed for military that can withstand harsh conditions.
Hence a detailed study on wearable antennas for substrates that
would be subjected to wear and tear is made. A microstrip
antenna is selected for its numerous
advantages such as low profile planar configuration, low
volume, cost effective, light weight and maintenance free
installation [8]. It is suitable for body-worn applications
because the ground plane protects the body tissues and radiates
perpendicularly to the planar structure [16]. In the antennas
both patch and ground plane are made up of copper foil and
substrate being textile material. From [1], the design equations
for rectangular microstrip patch antenna were obtained. In
paper [2], the authors have designed wearable antenna for the
frequency of 1.575 GHz for GPS (Global Positioning System)
using fabrics as substrate. In [3], the author has employed
radiating structure using multiple resonance and resistive
components for better bandwidth. In [4], the authors have
explicated different methods for composition of conductive
patch with dielectric substrate and integration of antenna into
clothing .In paper [5], the authors have demonstrated patch
antenna using flexible pad foam as substrate for firefighter
garments.

Dr.A.Rajeswari, M.E., Ph.D., is with the Coimbatore Institute of Technology,

Coimbatore. She is now the head of department for Electronics and
Communication Engineering.
Ms. G.Christina, M.E., is with the Coimbatore Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore. She is now the assistant professor in Electronics and
Communication Engineering.(e-mail: christinagreatest@gmail.com , mobile Fig. 1. Illustration of Body-Area Network
number: +919894858220 )
Ms. J.Keerthana is with the Electronics and Communication Engineering, To prevent intermediate air gap and improve fixing, the
Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. (e-mail: patch is fixed onto the substrate. Omni-directional radiation
keerthana.cj@gmail.com)
Ms. M.Lavanya is with the Electronics and Communication Engineering,
pattern is desired for wearable antenna so that it is suitable for
Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. (e-mail: comfortable clothing and mobile applications.
lavanyamuthusamy655@gmail.com) The optimal placement position of the antennas on the
Ms. V.Manoranjitha is with the Electronics and Communication Engineering,
human body also plays a crucial part.
Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. (e-mail:
manoranjitha.viswanathan@gmail.com) The remaining part of the article is arranged as: In Section
Ms. K.Ilamathi is with the Electronics and Communication Engineering, II, we summarize the rectangular micro strip patch antenna
Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. (e-mail: design. In Section III, we summarize the an result and analysis.
kalimuthuilamathi@gmail.com)
We conclude our paper in Section IV.

978-1-5090-0396-9/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

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 II. RECTANGULAR MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA TABLE I
DESIGN DIELECTRIC CONSTANT AND PATCH SIZE OF DIFFERENT
SUBSTRATES USED.
A conventional microstrip patch antenna consists of a radiating
patch above the dielectric substrate and a ground plane below PATCH
the dielectric substrate. The initial step for the design of textile SUBSTRATE Ɛr
SIZE(mm)
antenna is the selection of suitable materials for the antenna
substrate, patch and ground plane. The design equations are Jean 1.7 30x45
given by [1] as: Wash cotton 1.5 35x47
Silk 4.5 25x56
(1)
III. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
0.003λ<h<0.05λ (2)

A. Simulation
L= (3) Based on the calculated measurements for patch dimensions
the simulations were carried out in HFSS software. Fig. 1
shows a return loss -23.06dB for wash cotton substrate.

(4)

(5)
Where, h is the height of the substrate,
W is the width of the patch,
L is the length of the patch,
fr is the resonant frequency of the antenna.
Fig. 2. Return loss for wash cotton substrate
is the effective dielectric constant of the material and
is the change in length due to fringing effect. From Fig. 3 it is observed that jeans substrate provides a
return loss of -22.13 dB for a frequency of 2.4GHz.
Daily wear substrates such as jeans, wash cotton and silk
textile material are chosen. The standard permittivity of these
textile materials are listed in Table I. But the dielectric values
change depending on the texture and reflectivity of the
substrate.
Thin copper foil is used for the conducting part due to its
low surface resistivity and large temperature range and this
enables to solder the connector without burning holes in the
textile [11].

In the antenna fabrication process, the ground plane is made

on a copper foil with dimensions as 100X90mm. Patch size
varies for each substrate as listed in Table I. Synthetic resin
adhesive is used to attach substrate and conducting planes. The
permittivity of substrate and the patch dimensions obtained are
listed in Table I.
Fig. 3. Return loss for jean substrate
Silk fabric provides the least return loss of -12dB. This is
due to the fact that the material is more reflective.

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2034
 B. Test and Measurements
The simulated antenna was then fabricated according to the
dimensions on a copper strip. The fabricated antenna is shown
in figure 8 below.

Fig. 4. Return loss for silk substrate

The radiation pattern was found for all the three substrates.
An Omni-directional pattern is obtained for both antennas.
Fig. 8. Length of ground plane and substrate

The fabricated patch is then glued onto the desired textile

material. The measurements were then taken using the
AKADEMIKA-scalar network analyzer. The textiles chosen
were subjected to daily wear and tear. The measurements were
taken at room temperature with normal lighting.

Fig. 5. Radiation pattern for wash cotton substrate

Fig. 9. Width of ground plane and substrate

Fig. 6. Radiation pattern for jean substrate

Fig. 10. Patch in jean substrate

Return loss of about -17.29dB at 2.49 GHz is obtained for

Fig. 7. Radiation pattern for silk substrate the rectangular microstrip patch antenna using jean substrate.

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2035
 Fig. 13. Measured Return loss for fabricated antenna with jean substrate

Fig. 11. Patch in wash cotton substrate

The measurements show that jean material has a higher
permittivity. The thickness of the jeans material provides a
Return loss of about -14.94 dB at 2.44 GHz is obtained for
good insulation between the radiating antenna and the
rectangular microstrip patch antenna using wash cotton
absorbing human body.
substrate.

TABLE II
DIMENSIONS OF ANTENNAS ON VARIOUS SUBSTRATES

SUBSTRATE ANTENNA LENGTH WIDTH

PART (cm) (cm)
Ground
9 10
plane Fig. 14. Return loss for fabricated antenna with wash cotton substrate
JEAN Patch
3 4.5 Cotton provides a low return loss because to the proximity
Substrate of the human body. The measurements were taken after
9 10 subjecting the antennas to wash. The radiation characteristics
were found to be consistent.
Ground
plane 9 10

WASH Patch IV. CONCLUSION

3.5 4.7
COTTON Substrate Three rectangular patch antennas have been designed for
9 10 silk, cotton and jean substrate, out of which two efficient
antennas were developed and tested, with a return loss of -
15dB and a 3dB bandwidth of 16MHz for cotton and 23 MHz
for jeans substrate and gain of 5dB.Impedance matching of
50Ω is also obtained. The developed antennas can be mainly
used for on-body communications like collecting medical data
from patients or to establish an interconnection between PAN
devices and also for track and rescue operations.

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2036
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