Exposing textile antennas for harsh environment

Textile antennas as part of soldier's garment is commonly exposed to various harsh operational conditions. It is crucial that the communication link between soldiers is not compromised by the environmental conditions. The effect of water, ice and snow on the performance of fully textile antenna is studied in this paper. The effects of environmental exposure on antenna performance is validated via experimental tests, using a satellite communication systems; Iridium for a bi-directional satellite data transmission and GPS for a reception tests. During the tests the antenna is immersed into water, exposed to ice and snow while the communication link remains active. These results show that thorough understanding of the textile antenna design process leads to an optimal antenna performance even under the harsh environmental conditions.