Miniaturized circularly polarized wearable array antenna for medical device applications

Antenna miniaturization is essential for healthcare applications, and numerous studies have tackled the challenge of presenting miniaturized, reliable designs while maintaining performance. This paper presents a small circularly polarized (CP) sequential wearable array antenna with overall dimensions of only 110 mm × 95 mm × 1.8 mm. It comprises four novel designs of circular-shaped elements arranged sequentially in an array configuration measured only 24 mm×24 mm×1 mm. It is fed by a separate cascade feeding network incorporating a single rat-race and two branch-line couplers. The antenna is designed for medical device applications within the 2.4 GHz Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) frequency band. The proposed design is fabricated and experimentally tested, demonstrating wide impedance bandwidths of 21.24% (2.2-2.72 GHz) and an Axial Ratio (AR) bandwidth (AR < 3 dB) covering the entire 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. At 2.43 GHz, the antenna achieves a gain of -14.9 dBi. Both simulation and experimental results confirm excellent performance in impedance matching, gain pattern, and circular polarization, making it promising for wearable wireless communication in medical applications. The link margin was calculated, and the specific absorption rate of the antenna was analyzed, the result revealing that it aligns with the safety limits of IEEE C95.1-1999 standards.