A novel wearable antenna array for 2.45 GHz WLAN application

A three-element wearable antenna array is introduced for operation at 2.45 GHz. Using varactor controlled parasitic elements near a driven folded dipole a scanning angular range of 95° can be achieved in the azimuth plane. Simulation results confirm that the peak gain of the array is 6.9 dBi when it is placed at 20 mm above the chest of a heterogeneous anatomical human body model. Almost 30% improvement in radiation efficiency is obtained with the parasitic array compared to a single resonant antenna. Also the new antenna array results in much lower specific absorption rate (SAR) compared to a conventional resonant λ/2 dipole antenna.