Dual-band Textile AMC Antenna for WLAN/WBAN Applications on the Human Arm

Authors

  • Wahida Bouamra Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunisia Microwave Electronics Research Laboratory: LR18ES43
  • Imen Sfar Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunisia Microwave Electronics Research Laboratory: LR18ES43
  • Ameni Mersani Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunisia Microwave Electronics Research Laboratory: LR18ES43
  • Lotfi Osman Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunisia Microwave Electronics Research Laboratory: LR18ES43 http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9931-9705
  • Jean-Marc Ribero Department of Electronics, University Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 06903 Sophia Antipolis, France

Abstract

This article presents a low-profile and flexible dual-band AMC Antenna operating at 2.45/ 5.8 GHz for wireless local area network (WLAN) applications. The antenna and the AMC were designed, simulated, and manufactured using textile materials for wearable applications functional at Wi-Fi bands. The functioning of this antenna under various bending conditions (in E and H-planes) around the human arm of various radii was examined and compared. A dual-band artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structure on a textile substrate and dual hexagonal shape was used as a high impedance surface to reduce back radiation and specific absorption rate (SAR) and improve the gain and efficiency of the antenna. The overall comparison of the different used parameters shows a good agreement between the simulated and measured antenna performance in terms of bandwidth, gain, directivity and efficiency, and reveals that our antenna achieved the best results, making it a good candidate for WLAN applications. A study of the antenna/body interaction, based first on comparing the operation of the antenna with and without AMC in free space, and then on examining and analyzing the performance of the antenna in the vicinity of the human arm in different meteorological conditions, was carried out to demonstrate the effects of the skin on the dielectric properties of tissues.

 Measurements SAR of the antenna and the antenna assembly with AMC were performed and the final results show that the AMC surface isolated much of the back radiation emitted by the antenna to the human body. Also, acceptable SAR values were obtained, revealing that the body is well immune from the antenna radiation for the specific absorption rate which should meet. The simulation and measurement results demonstrate that electromagnetic communication on wet skin is viable with a decrease of antenna adapter efficiency and an increase in the SAR value, compared to that on dry skin. Antennas in the human body were simulated and analyzed in CST Microwave Studio (CST MWS).

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Published

2024-04-19

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Section

Antennas, Radars and Radiowave Propagation