Wearable CPW Antenna for WBAN Applications

This paper presents a CPW (co-planar waveguide) antenna based on an EBG (electromagnetic bandgap) and FSS (frequency selective surface) design operating at 2.4GHz frequency for WBAN (Wireless Body Area Network) applications. The proposed system includes a CPW-fed antenna incorporated with a 2x2 EBG-FSS array which reduces the backward radiation, overcomes the omnidirectional pattern of antenna alone, and improves efficiency. The dimensions of the complete design are 65x65x2.4 mm3. The study is analyzed using the Ansys HFSS software. The antenna along with the EBG-FSS structure resonates at 2.4 GHz frequency, which is the ideal frequency for an ISM band antenna. It results in a gain of 3.04 dB, with a -34 dB S11 return loss. The SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) is measured to be of only 0.522 W/Kg, which is well below the standard rate. Measurements and simulations show good agreement in most cases. Thus, the design is fit for WBAN applications.