Flexible, light-weight antenna at 2.4GHz for athlete clothing

Linearly polarized rectangular patch antennas printed on light-weight cotton clothing are subject to both convex and concave bending. Changes in resonant frequency resulting from H plane bending are explained in terms of changes in effective length. Agreement between theory, practical and simulation results was observed. The resonant frequency changed by up to 8% for extreme bending although the bandwidth remains essentially unchanged at 4.5%. A 16.8% bandwidth was achieved using a double U-Slotted patch which minimized the problem.