Reduced groundplane shorted patch antenna for on-body communications

This paper introduces a compact, low profile shorted patch antenna designed for on-body communication at 2.45 GHz. The proposed antenna operates with a small (~¿/5 dimension) groundplane yet maintains a reasonable radiation efficiency of 50.9 % when in close proximity to a muscle tissue phantom. The antenna has more than sufficient impedance bandwidth for the 2.45 GHz band (126 MHz for |S
₁₁
|<-10 dB), yet its overall height is only 5.75 mm or ¿/21. For on-body communications, a maximum |S
₂₁
| path gain of -44.7 dB was obtained at 2.45 GHz.