Design and performance analysis of rectangular textile microstrip patch antennas employing different textile materials for Ku band applications

The research paper focus on the design, fabrication and performance analysis of various textile microstrip patch antennas employing different textile materials as substrate suitable to be employed for wearable electronics technology. The radiating patch and ground are made of copper having thickness 0.05mm and conductivity of 5.67 × 107S/m². The textile substrate materials having low dielectric constant-fleece (ε_r = 1.04 and tan(δ) = 0.02), felt (ε_r = 1.35 and tan(δ) = 0.02), curtain cotton (ε_r = 1.47 and tan(δ) = 0.04), polyester (ε_r = 1.5 and tan(δ) = 0.02), denim (ε_r = 1.6 and tan(δ) = 0.02) and silk (ε_r = 2.7 and tan(δ) = 0.02) have been employed as flexible substrates for the proposed antennas. The comparative performance analysis of the proposed textile antennas has been carried out in terms of bandwidth (GHz), return loss (dB), directivity (dBi), gain (dB), input impedance and VSWR. The antennas have been designed and simulated using CST Microwave Studio 2014. It has been analyzed the fleece substrate provides maximum bandwidth of 2.155 GHz, denim substrate provides minimal return loss of -71.86 dB and maximum gain of 8.25 dB whereas felt provides maximum directivity of 11.38dBi. The simulated antennas have been practically fabricated and tested using E5071C Network Analyzer and Anechoic Chamber for experimental validation. The proposed antennas have also been tested for return loss corresponding to different bending angles (15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, 75 degrees). It has been observed that the practical results closely match with the simulated antenna results. The proposed textile antennas can be employed for Ku-band applications (12 GHz-14 GHz), broadcasting satellite (12.4 GHz-12.5 GHz), VSAT and VMES (12.5 GHz-12.75 GHz), VHCM and TV STL (12.7 GHz-13.15 GHz), fixed satellite services (12.75 GHz-13.4 GHz), TV pick up (13.2 GHz-13.25 GHz), space research and aeronautical radio navigation (13.4 GHz-13.75 GHz), radio location (13.75 GHz-14 GHz) applications.