Wearable humidity sensing antenna for BAN applications over 5G networks

This paper presents a novel wearable antenna with humidity sensing function for future body area network (BAN) applications. The proposed antenna operates at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequency of 38 GHz which is a candidate band for 5th generation (5G) cellular networks. The wearable antenna has a microstrip structure with a ground plane to minimize the human body effect. A prototype of the antenna is fabricated using regular cotton fabric as substrate, and nickel-plated nylon fabric and soft copper foil for the conductive parts. The resonant frequency of the prototyped sensing antenna varies with ambient humidity with a resolution of 26 MHz per 1% RH.