Textile antenna with EBG structure for body surface wave enhancement

Abstract

A textile antenna with an electric bandgap (EBG) structure for body surface wave enhancement is proposed. The proposed antenna is composed of a centre-fed circular patch to generate the TM01 mode and an EBG structure near the patch to guide the TM wave along the horizontal surface (θ = 90°). Considering the wearability, the antenna has been fabricated using only textile materials such as conductive textiles, conductive thread, and a leather substrate, and has an enhanced radiated field along the surface direction in the 5.8 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band for on-body communication. The proposed antenna has a diameter of 1.98λo and a thickness of 0.058λo at 5.8 GHz.