Wave Polarization and Propagation Analysis for Improved Smart Insole Antenna Design

This study investigates the impact of antenna polarization on RF signal propagation for body-centric devices and, in particular, smart insole applications. A numerical analysis was conducted to evaluate the performance of vertical and horizontal polarizations across different soil electromagnetic properties at 2.45 GHz. The results reveal that vertical polarization enables more effective signal transmission with more than 8 dB improvement over horizontal polarization. The signal wavefront remains relatively stable over the soil for vertical polarization, making it suitable for communication between nodes. These findings provide valuable guidance for the design of efficient antennas for the next generation of body-centric devices. In this study, we demonstrate the applicability of this approach for smart insoles. However, surface-wave guiding principles can be translated to other applications such as networks of ingestible, implantable, and wearable devices.