Wireless Body Area Networks: Antenna Design

Abstract

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) have emerged as a promising technology in the field of healthcare monitoring. The aim target of the paper is to design an UltraWide Band (UWB) (3.1 GHz -10.6 GHz) antenna for WBAN. A Micro-Strip Patch Antenna (MSPA) with MS line feed method is used. The antenna is tested on different substrates; FR4, Rogers, and Jeans. The simulation results confirm that jeans fabric substrate (ε<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">r</inf> = 1.4)shows the best performance in terms of flexibility, comfort, and efficiency. The antenna is then tested on flat and bended human tissue models. The CST MW Studio software is used for the simulations. The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values on the simulated human tissue (flat-bended) is within the standard safe limit. The textile antenna is designed and examined on a human body. A fair agreement is achieved between measured and simulation results. The designed antenna is promising for telemedicine systems.