Impedance Enhancement of Textile Grounded Loop Antenna Using High-Impedance Surface (HIS) for Healthcare Applications

Area of Science:

• Electromagnetics
• Wearable Technology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Wearable antennas are crucial for remote healthcare monitoring.
• Low-profile antennas are desired for comfort and unobtrusiveness.
• Impedance matching is critical for efficient antenna performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate impedance matching enhancement of a grounded wearable low-profile loop antenna.
• To evaluate the performance of the antenna with a high-impedance surface (HIS) structure.
• To assess the antenna's robustness to bending and proximity to a human arm.

Main Methods:

• Numerical full-wave simulations were performed.
• Experimental investigations were conducted.
• Textile parameters and their effects on antenna performance were analyzed.
• The performance of the antenna with and without the HIS structure was compared.

Main Results:

• The high-impedance surface (HIS) structure significantly improved impedance matching at the 2.45 GHz band.
• The wearable loop antenna with HIS demonstrated better performance compared to the antenna alone.
• The antenna with HIS achieved a maximum gain of 6.19 dBi.
• Good performance was maintained despite bending and proximity to a modeled human arm.

Conclusions:

• The HIS structure is an effective method for enhancing the impedance matching and overall performance of wearable loop antennas.
• The proposed antenna design is suitable for healthcare applications due to its low-profile nature and robust performance.
• Further research can explore different HIS configurations and antenna designs for optimized wearable systems.