Design of Microstrip UWB Antenna With Full Ground Plane For Wearable Applications

This paper presents the design of a microstrip ultra-wide band rigid antenna that has a full ground plane acting as a reflector and operates from 1 GHz to 7.3 GHz. The antenna can be used for wearable applications such as on backpacks and helmets. The antenna structure includes a UWB radiator (microstrip patch) on top of a substrate, an optimized ground plane on the reverse side of the substrate, a vacuum and a full ground plane acting as a reflector. The overall size of the antenna is 100 mm × 75 mm ×25 mm
$(0.33\lambda\times 0.25\lambda\times 0.083\lambda)$
. In comparison to other full ground plane UWB antennas, the proposed design uses a rigid substrate and operates from a lower frequency of 1 GHz. Additionally, the reflector makes the antenna operational in the vicinity of the human body with minimal body coupling and back radiation to ensure safety.