Design of a Microstrip-based Wideband Wearable Antenna for the 2 to 3 GHz Band

The design procedure for a wideband wearable antenna made fully using textiles based on microstrip topology is presented. The antenna operates within the 2 to 3 GHz band with a fractional bandwidth of 51 % and low back radiation towards the body. The existence of the ground plane ensures minimal interference with human tissues when worn while it reduces the electromagnetic power that is potentially absorbed into the human tissue. The narrowband characteristics of the antenna are alleviated by integrating several broadbanding techniques: multi-resonance overlapping, increased substrate thickness, added slots and parasitic patches, and finally, impedance tuning using a staircase-like structure. The levels of forward and back radiation are assessed and the antenna features 17 dB front-to-back ratio and 3.5 dBi average gain throughout its operating band.