Wearable fabric antenna on upper arm for MedRadio band applications with reconfigurable beam capability

Abstract

A wearable fabric antenna on the upper arm is presented for on-body applications in the MedRadio band. The antenna was manufactured on a fabric substrate and operated at the Medical Device Radio Communications Service band (MedRadio band: 401-406 MHz). The antenna was designed to steer the beam directions. The use of two artificial switches enables a beam-steering capability. The dimensions of the proposed antenna are 50 × 20.5 × 0.66 mm3 (676.5 mm3), and it utilises a fabric substrate (εr = 1.92, tan δ = 0.023). A one-layer skin model (εr = 46.74, σ = 0.69 S/m) is adopted for antenna simulation and measurement.