Design of a Novel Reconfigurable Wearable Antenna Based on Textile Materials and Snap-on Buttons

Abstract

A novel wearable reconfigurable patch antenna is presented for wireless body-area applications at 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. Textile and clothing materials are solely employed within the wearable antenna design process and reconfiguration mechanism. Specifically, by engaging or disengaging four pairs of metallic snap-on buttons, the textile antenna can exhibit an omnidirectional radiation pattern with linear polarization or a broadside radiation pattern with circular polarization enabling both on- and off-body wireless communication, respectively. A multi-layer tissue phantom is applied to emulate a realistic wearing environment. The resonance and radiation performance characteristics of the proposed antenna are examined in both radiation states. A parametric analysis regarding key design parameters is conducted. The specific absorption rate (SAR) is, also, assessed in terms of safety.