Textile antenna systems: Design, fabrication, and characterization

Abstract

Textile antennas are essential components in smart fabrics and interactive textile systems that implement sensing, localization, and wireless communication functionality while being unobtrusively and comfortably integrated inside garments. The implementation of such antennas in textile materials first requires dedicated material characterization techniques together with suitable fabrication procedures. Moreover, to ensure stable characteristics in proximity of the human body, a designer must also carefully select the right antenna topology. Subsequently, the antenna may be optimized to satisfy the requirements at hand, including some additional margins to accommodate adverse effects, such as bending, changing environmental conditions, and body proximity. To make optimal use of the area consumed by the antenna, active electronic circuitry may be integrated directly onto the antenna feed plane, while energy harvesters can be positioned on top of the radiating patch. Moreover, the large area available in garments can be exploited to deploy multiple antennas, realizing diversity gain to combat fading and body shadowing. The methods proposed in this chapter leverage the development of highly efficient and robust body-centric communication systems for healthcare and rescue workers and military personnel.