Development on flexible hand phantom and its application to impedance measurement of antenna for mobile radio terminal

Recently, mobile phones have been downsized increasingly and the antenna is embedded inside. In general, the characteristics of the antenna are influenced by a body of user. The influence of the hand on mobile phone is considered to be very important in designing the antenna. So far, the influence of the hand on the antenna has been investigated by use of a hand phantom, which has same electrical properties as the body and a particular shape. In this study, the authors have developed a hand phantom which can change its shape arbitrarily. Moreover, the S-parameter of the antenna gripped by the developed hand phantom was measured to show the effectiveness of the developed hand phantom.