Investigation of electrical properties of fully wearable antenna for ISM applications

This paper aimed to take closer steps towards real wearability by investigating the possibilities of designing and fabricating highly efficient and fully flexible wearable microstrip patch antenna for operating frequency of 5.8 GHz as a center frequency ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) band. Two types of conducting materials have been used for conducting parts: conventional metal plane and woven electro-textile material, while a non-conducting jeans fabric has been used as antenna substrate material. The dielectric constant εr = 1.78, and loss tangent tanδ = 0.085 of the jeans substrate measured by using two different methods. Also, the electromagnetic properties of the electro-textile are studied in details. A set of comparative results of the proposed design are presented and discussed. Finally, the proposed design is simulated by CST simulator version 2016, fabricated using folded copper and measured by Agilent 8719ES VNA The measured results agree well with the simulated results.