Screen-Printed, Compact, Flexible ISM Antenna for Wrist Wearability

Wearables have been gaining popularity in the current decade, which needs a wearable antenna design that adheres to certain requirements including human tissue compatibility, flexibility, and low cost. In this work, a printed, compact, and flexible patch antenna is proposed for wrist wearables applications. The proposed antenna has compact dimensions of 36mmx44mmx0.5mm with a full ground plane of 50mmx100mm to be wrapped around the wrist. Although bending and human tissue proximity affect the bandwidth, the resulting bandwidth is 72MHz at the 2.4GHz ISM band. Meanwhile, the realized gain of the antenna at the center frequency is 1.65dBi and a specific absorption rate (SAR) of only 0.06W/kg.