A miniaturized circularly polarized implantable RFID antenna for biomedical applications

A miniaturized circularly polarized implantable antenna operating at ultrahigh frequency band (902‐928 MHz) for radio frequency identification biomedical monitoring is first presented and experimentally validated in this article. The proposed antenna features a compact volume with a dimension of π × (6)² × 1.27 mm³ by employing an extended ring with meandered lines for size reduction. Moreover, adjusting the length of symmetrical meandered lines can introduce two orthogonal modes, which makes for good performance of circular polarization. Superb impedance matching between the chip and tag antenna is well implemented by applying a modified T‐match stub. In the simulation, the antenna achieves a ?10‐dB impedance bandwidth of 42 MHz (902‐944 MHz) and 3‐dB axial‐ratio bandwidth is 53 MHz (892‐945 MHz). Finally, the specific absorption rate is also calculated for human safety and the measured reading range reaches the maximum distance of about 87 cm.     

Dual‐polarized textile‐based two/four element MIMO antenna with improved isolation for dual wideband application

This article presents the designs of dual‐polarized dual wideband textile‐based two and four elements multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) antennas for WLAN (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/c/n) and WiMAX (IEEE 802.16d) applications. These MIMO antennas cover the frequency spectra from 1.5 to 3.8 GHz (87% bandwidth) and 4.1 to 6.1 GHz (40% bandwidth). The characterization of the textile jeans substrate is determined experimentally using a vector network analyzer and dielectric assessment kit. These antennas provide near about 70% radiation efficiency with around 4 dBi peak gain in desired frequency ranges. The diversity performance is improved noticeably by printing meandered line structures on both planes. The proposed MIMO structure has a very low envelop correlation coefficient (ECC) <0.1 and high diversity gain (DG) >9.9. The Medium effective gain (MEG) also lies within a satisfactory value of ±3 dB. The two elements MIMO Antennas provide linear polarization at all desired frequency band while the four‐element antenna provides circular polarization at 2.4 GHz and linear polarization at 5.2 and 5.8 GHz application bands. The antenna also depicts good performance in wearable condition with safe specific absorption rate < 1.6 W/kg in all desired frequencies.     

Remote monitoring of cardiac activity using a flexible loop antenna

In this paper, a meandered loop antenna, useful for medical cardiac monitoring application, more specifically, for heart beating close scrutiny is designed and experimentally tested. The proposed antenna is operating at the MICS band displays a high flexibility which allowing it to be curved easily around the heart's wall. In both, Simulation and measured results the antenna shows a sensitive nature any change introduced in heart's model size and would certainly bring about a noticeable shift in the antenna's resonant frequency. Linking the frequency variations taking place in concord with the heart movement turns out to stand as an effective key that provides extremely valuable information about the heart's activities. A correspondence between the obtained frequency variation linking with the change in size of the heart. In addition to the frequency response evaluation, the antenna characteristically displays an omni‐directional radiation pattern, which necessarily fits it for in‐body operation.     

Metamaterial inspired fabric antenna for wearable applications

A compact and robust fabric antenna incorporated with metamaterials (MTM) at 2.4 GHz is introduced for wearable devices application where the MTM behaves as EBG/AMC. The benefit of introducing MTM in a wearable antenna is to diminish the influence of frequency detuning and reduces the backward radiation specifically when loaded on the human body. The overall size of the presented antenna incorporated with MTM is 60 × 60 × 2.4 mm3. Furthermore, the integrated design has the capability of controlling Specific absorption rate (SAR) and improved the bandwidth, front‐to‐back ratio (FBR), and gain up to 14.5%, 13.7dB, and 7.5dBi, respectively. The operations under different bending diameters on real and modelled human body are studied. Compared with conventional antennas, MTM‐inspired antennas reduce the SAR to safe levels of more than 90%. The presented integrated design can be a good candidate for incorporation into a variety of flexible systems for medical application.     

High gain CPW‐fed UWB planar monopole antenna‐based compact uniplanar frequency selective surface for microwave imaging

In this article, a novel uniplanar ultra‐wideband (UWB) stop frequency selective surface (FSS) was miniaturized to maximize the gain of a compact UWB monopole antenna for microwave imaging applications. The single‐plane FSS unit cell size was only 0.095λ × 0.095λ for a lower‐operating frequency had been introduced, which was miniaturized by combining a square‐loop with a cross‐dipole on FR4 substrate. The proposed hexagonal antenna was printed on FR4 substrate with coplanar waveguide feed, which was further backed at 21.6 mm by 3 × 3 FSS array. The unit cell was modeled with an equivalent circuit, while the measured characteristics of fabricated FSS array and the antenna prototypes were validated with the simulation outcomes. The FSS displayed transmission magnitude below ?10 dB and linear reflection phase over the bandwidth of 2.6 to 11.1 GHz. The proposed antenna prototype achieved excellent gain improvement about 3.5 dBi, unidirectional radiation, and bandwidth of 3.8 to 10.6 GHz. Exceptional agreements were observed between the simulation and the measured outcomes. Hence, a new UWB baggage scanner system was developed to assess the short distance imaging of simulated small metallic objects in handbag model. The system based on the proposed antenna displayed a higher resolution image than the antenna without FSS.     

Broadband MIMO Antenna System for 5G Operations in Mobile Phones

A broadband 8‐antenna multiple‐input and multiple‐output (MIMO) system working for 5G new radio N77 (3.3‐4.2 GHz) in mobile terminals is proposed. In particular, each antenna element/unit consists of a monopole‐type meandered branch and an inverted U‐shaped self‐isolated antenna branch; and the antenna unit is fed by the meandered branch. The antenna unit has two resonances generated separately by each branch of the antenna unit. Since the monopole couples strongly with the self‐isolated antenna element that has the inherent self‐isolation characteristics, quite good isolation for the broadband 8‐antenna MIMO system can be obtained. The results such as antenna efficiency, radiation patterns, envelope correlation coefficient, and channel capacity are also presented.     

A wearable flexible microstrip antenna based on the floating‐ground backplane

In the present study, a wearable coplanar waveguide fed flexible microstrip antenna is proposed, which is based on the floating‐ground backplane. When the antenna is placed on a high‐loss human body, the antenna maintains reasonable impedance matching and exhibits a peak gain of 5.6 dBi. Moreover, the performance of the antenna under different bending radii and crumpling conditions is also analyzed. The simulation and experimental results show that the bending and crumpling have little effect on the impedance bandwidth and radiation pattern of the proposed antenna. Accordingly, it is concluded that the proposed antenna has great robustness. Furthermore, it is found that the proposed floating‐ground backplane structure significantly reduces the backward radiation of the planar antenna and enables the antenna to obtain a very low specific absorption rate (SAR) and increase the antenna gain. It should be indicated that antennas with great robustness, very low SAR, and small size are ideal candidates for wearable applications.     

Wideband circularly polarized dielectric resonator antenna coupled with meandered‐line inductor for ISM/WLAN applications

A new meandered‐line inductor fed wideband circularly polarized rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with partial ground plane has been developed in this work. Meandered‐line inductor feed and partial ground plane are used for generation of orthogonal modes, hence circular polarization (CP) in DRA. By controlling the length of meandered‐line inductor, three different CP DRA have been designed for different wireless applications such as Wi‐MAX and WLAN/ISM 2400 band. Distribution of electric field inside rectangular DRA shows that all three antenna having TE_11δ mode. Finally, a lower frequency band application at 2.4 GHz (ISM) called here as Proposed Antenna, has been considered for fabrication. This designed antenna shows measured ?10 dB input impedance bandwidth of 20.67% and 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth of 27.95% in broadside direction. All these three CP antennas (Antenna‐1 to Proposed Antenna) are showing stable gain and right hand circular polarization in broadside direction.     

A broadband slant polarized cavity backed microstrip‐fed wide‐slot antenna array

This article deals with the design of a broadband cavity‐backed microstrip‐fed wide‐slot antenna array for L‐band applications. For verification purpose, a sample 1 × 4‐element antenna array has been designed, manufactured and tested. Experimental results have shown satisfactory agreement with the simulation. The proposed antenna array exhibits a measured impedance bandwidth of 1.4 GHz (90%) with frequency of 0.85 to 2.25 GHz and the gain is higher than 11 dBi. The designed antenna has small size and low weight and can be fabricated using a low‐cost fabrication process for easy integration with RF circuits and microwave components. This work is useful for some radar applications and radio frequency identification systems.     

Compact‐size linearly tapered slot antenna for portable ultra‐wideband imaging systems

A compact‐size asymmetrical linearly tapered slot antenna required for portable ultra‐wideband (UWB) imaging systems is presented. The total antenna size is reduced compared with the conventional linearly tapered slot antenna by using a triangular slot on the left‐hand side of the tapered‐shaped radiator, whereas introducing a corrugated pattern of cuts on the right side. The antenna operates over a wide bandwidth extending from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz with a maximum gain of 8.5 dBi. Stable radiation patterns are observed across the operational bandwidth, with cross‐polarization levels below ?20 dB. The realized antenna structure occupies a volume of 35 × 36 × 0.8 mm³, and possesses the essential time domain fidelity needed for UWB imaging applications. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

Investigation on decoupling of wide band wearable multiple‐input multiple‐output antenna elements using microstrip neutralization line

An investigation to enhance the decoupling between the elements of a compact wide band multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna is presented in this communication. A microstrip neutralization line (NL) is designed on the top of antenna surface to enhance the port isolation. The geometry is embedded on a jeans material to be apposite for the on‐body wearable applications. The antenna covers the frequency spectra from 3.14 to 9.73 GHz (around 102.4%) and fulfills the bandwidth requirements of WiMAX (3.2‐3.8 GHz), WLAN (5.15‐5.35/5.72‐5.85 GHz), C band downlink‐uplink (3.7‐4.2/5.9‐6.425 GHz), downlink defense (7.2‐7.7 GHz), and ITU (8‐8.5 GHz) bands. The port isolation is found to be more than 32 dB over the whole application bands. The antenna is appraised in a rich scattering environment with very minimal envelope correlation coefficient (ECC < 0.12) and great amount of diversity gain (DG > 9.8). The proposed MIMO antenna system is able to achieve the channel capacity loss (CCL) of less than 0.2 BPS/Hz throughout the whole operating band. The proposed structure is etched on an area of 30 × 50 mm². The simulated and measured performances of the proposed antenna are in well‐matched state.     

Double‐ridged conical horn antenna for wideband applications

In this article, the design and analysis of a double‐ridged conical horn antenna with high gain and low cross polarization for wideband applications is presented. Double‐ridged pyramidal horn antennas have been investigated in many references. There are no papers in the literature which are devoted to design and analysis of double‐ridged conical horn antenna. The designed antenna has a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) less than 2.1 for the frequency range of 8–18 GHz. Moreover, the proposed antenna exhibits extremely low cross polarization, low side lobe level, high gain, and stable far‐field radiation characteristics in the entire operating bandwidth. A new technique for synthesizing of the horn flare section is introduced. A coaxial line to circular double‐ridged waveguide transition is introduced for coaxial feeding of the designed antenna. The proposed antenna is simulated with commercially available packages such as CST microwave studio and Ansoft HFSS in the operating frequency range. Simulation results for the VSWR, radiation patterns, and gain of the designed antenna over the frequency band 8–18 GHz are presented and discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2009.     

Wideband microstrip‐based wearable antenna backed with full ground plane

A wideband microstrip‐based wearable antenna with a fractional bandwidth of 51% is designed using textile materials for wearable applications. The antenna operates between 2 and 3 GHz with low back‐radiation to ensure minimum coupling to the body and reduced electromagnetic power absorption in the human tissue. The behavior microstrip antenna topology, which is narrowband in nature, is altered via the combinations of various broadbanding techniques, while maintaining the existence of the full ground plane backing. This ensures that the antenna radiation is directed outward form the body to efficiently propagate wireless signals toward other off‐body nodes and base stations. Simulation and measurement results indicated that the use of this microstrip topology with multiple broadbanding techniques is capable of reducing the back lobe, resulting in a front‐to‐back ratio of about 17 dB and a 3.5 dBi of average gain.     

A triple‐mode reconfigurable wearable repeater antenna for WBAN applications

A reconfigurable wearable repeater antenna (RWRA) for wireless body area network (WBAN) applications is proposed. The RWRA can work at triple‐mode by controlling the state of PIN diodes, which are repeater, on‐body and off‐body modes. The antenna is fed by a single port at side instead of bottom for the sake of reducing the profile and improving the coupling strength between the RWRA and an implantable antenna. The total size of the antenna is π × 28² × 4.8 mm³. To validate the performance, the RWRA is fabricated and measured on minced pork. Measured bandwidths at repeater and on‐/off‐body modes are 5.8, 84, and 54 MHz, respectively. Radiation patterns are omnidirectional with vertical polarization at on‐body mode and broadside at off‐body mode, which measured peak gains are 1.2 and 5.4 dBi, respectively. Specific absorption rate (SAR) values at all three modes are analyzed in this article as well. Coupling strength between the RWRA and an implantable antenna is also measured. Besides, the effect of distance and misalignment between them are analyzed.     

Design of a compact protrudent‐shaped ultra‐wideband multiple‐input‐multiple‐output/diversity antenna with band‐rejection capability

In this endeavor, a new multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna with a sharp rejection at wireless local area network (WLAN) band is designed and practically examined for portable wireless ultra‐wideband applications. The intended diversity antenna possess a small size of 15 mm × 26 mm and two inverted L‐strip are loaded over the conventional rectangular patch antenna to form protrudent‐shaped radiator that acts as a radiating element. The sharp band‐rejection capability at WLAN is established by incising the L‐shaped slits at the decoupling structure. More than ?21 dB isolation is accomplished for the complete working band (ie, 2.87 ‐17 GHz). Degradation in the antenna efficiency at the center frequency of band rejection corroborates the good interference rejection capability. The working capabilities of the intended antenna are tested by using the isolation between the ports, total efficiency, gain, envelope correlation coefficient, radiation pattern, mean effective gain, and total active reflection coefficient.     

Compact slotline fed enhanced gain dipole antenna for 5.2 GHz/5.8‐GHz applications

A high‐efficiency and high‐gain slotline fed directive dipole antenna is developed for microwave applications. The antenna offers an average gain of 7.9 dBi with a front to back ratio better than 20 dB and a cross polar level better than ?20 dB. Design equations of the antenna are developed and validated on different substrates. The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed antenna exhibits high gain and robust radiation patterns in the entire frequency band. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

A compact wide band textile MIMO antenna with very low mutual coupling for wearable applications

This communication presents a compact wide band wearable MIMO antenna with very low mutual coupling (VLMC). The proposed antenna is composed of Jeans material. Two “I” shaped stubs are connected in series and are employed on the ground plane between the two patches separated by 0.048 λ to increase isolation characteristics of the antenna‐port. The antenna covers frequency spectrum from 1.83 GHz to 8 GHz (about 125.5%) where the minimum port isolation of about 22 dB at 2.4 GHz and maximum of about 53 dB at 5.92 GHz are obtained. The envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) of the MIMO antenna is obtained to be less than 0.01 with a higher diversity gain (DG > 9.6) throughout the whole operating band. The proposed MIMO antenna is cost effective and works over a wide frequency band of WLAN (2.4‐2.484 GHz/5.15‐5.35 GHz/5.72‐5.825 GHz), WiMAX (3.2‐3.85 GHz) and C‐band downlink‐uplink (3.7‐4.2 GHz/5.925‐6.425 GHz) applications. Simulation results are in well agreement with the measurement results.     

Design of a dual‐polarized omnidirectional antenna for broadband applications

A broadband dual‐polarized omnidirectional antenna is presented. The proposed antenna consists of two parts, an asymmetric biconical antenna and a cylindrical multilayer polarizer. To have an almost perfect omnidirectional radiation pattern in the horizontal plane and the main radiating beam position at around , in the elevation plane, the asymmetric biconical antenna is used. Moreover, to provide dual polarization performance over the 2–18 GHz operational bandwidth, a multilayer polarizer is designed and optimized. Numerous simulations via Ansoft HFSS and CST microwave Studio CAD tools have been made to optimize the radiation pattern, gain, polarization, and the reflection coefficient of the antenna. Simulation results show that the radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna are extremely sensitive to the configuration and dimensional parameters of the multilayer polarizer. The designed antenna was fabricated with high mechanical accuracy and measured. Satisfactory agreement of computer simulations and experimental results was obtained. The main feature that distinguishes this antenna from the previous designs is the ability to provide the omnidirectional radiation pattern with small ripples, dual polarizations performance, and the wide bandwidth simultaneously. Based on these characteristics, the proposed antenna can be useful for broadband communication applications. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:591–600, 2015.     

Design of multi‐band antenna for LTE wearable device with shared slots and radiators for smart watch

In this study, multi‐band antenna for LTE wearable device with shared slots and radiators for smart watch was present. This study incorporated 4G communication frequency bands, a GPS positioning system, and BT/Wi‐Fi in a 43.6 × 43.6 × 5.8 mm³ metal case to achieve satisfactory radiation fields and performance efficiency within a small space. This article presents an overview of the theory. There are four ports in the system. Frist, Port 1 is a low‐frequency antenna offering LTE 700 and GSM 850/900. The maximal gain and efficiency are respectively 3.9 dBi and 82%. Second, Port 2 is a high‐frequency monopole with a winding long path on the side of the frame to achieve a reflection loss bandwidth that fully encompasses GSM 1800/1900/UMTS and LTE 2300/2500. The maximal gain and efficiency of this port are respectively 5.3 dBi and 92%. There are also have GPS (Port 3) and Wi‐Fi (Port 4) antenna implement IFA and loop excitation mechanisms, respectively. This antenna system can fulfill the market demand. As confirmed through both simulation and measurement, the antenna can cover LTE bands. Increasing the path capacity of a MIMO system to increase the transmission speed is a crucial focus in mobile communication research and development.     

Compact UWB flexible elliptical CPW‐fed antenna with triple notch bands for wireless communications

A coplanar waveguide (CPW)‐fed flexible elliptical antenna with triple band notched characteristics is presented in this article. The designed antenna consists of an elliptical patch and slots incorporated CPW feed line to cover the bandwidth requirements for ultra‐wideband (UWB) applications. The designed UWB antenna has a fractional bandwidth of about 166.19% (1.20‐13 GHz) with a center frequency of 7.1 GHz in simulation and about 170.10% (1.05‐13 GHz) with a center frequency of 7.025 GHz in measurement. The overall dimension of the proposed flexible antenna is 45 × 35 × 0.6 mm³. The triple notched bands are realized by designing with circular shaped split‐ring‐resonators (SRRs) and defected ground structure (DGS). According to the measurement, first notched band (2.0? 2.70 GHz) is generated for rejecting 2.4 GHz WLAN by introducing a single circular ST‐SRR on the radiating patch. The second notch (3.45‐3.80 GHz) is obtained by embedding another circular ST‐SRR on the patch to mitigate the interference of 3.5 GHz Wi‐MAX system. Finally, due to presence of DGS, third notch (5.15‐6.20 GHz) is produced which suppresses the interference from 5.5 GHz Wi‐MAX and 5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN systems. The proposed antenna offers excellent performance in different flexible conditions that confirm its applicability on curved surfaces for UWB systems.