Miniaturized Button-Like WBAN Antenna for Off-Body Communication

A compact, low-profile button antenna for off-body communication is reported. The proposed antenna is composed of coupled circular strips, Y-shaped and L-shaped slots. This configuration covers the application bands such as 0.867 GHz (industrial, scientific, and medical bands), 2.38 GHz (medical body area network), and 5.8 GHz (wireless local area network/industrial, scientific, and medical bands). The percentage bandwidth obtained at the said operating bands is 4.37, 2.10, and 2.56, respectively. The directional radiation pattern obtained from the developed antenna ensures the low backward radiation to the body tissue, thereby, making it more suitable for WBAN applications. The simulated gain and efficiency obtained at the operating bands are 2.5/3.52/4.8 dBi and 78%/85%/89%, respectively. To validate the simulation results, the antenna is fabricated and some experimental results on the body tissue are performed. The SAR value obtained follows the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) limit.