A COMPACT DUAL-BAND FREQUENCY-RECONFIGURABLE TEXTILE ANTENNA FOR WEARABLE APPLICATIONS

This communication presents a flexible, low-profile, frequency-tunable textile antenna for body area wireless communication. The antenna operates in both instrument, scientific and measurment (ISM), 2.45 GHz and wireless local area network (WLAN), 5 GHz bands. It features with an overall 5 x 23.5 mm(2) compact planar geometry consisting of a well-optimized slotted radiating patch fabricated using conductive copper tape on Denim material as a very common flexible textile substrate. The antenna radiates unidirectionally, and the ground plane made up with copper tape avoids radiation coupling to the users' body. A single PIN diode with simple biasing circuitry is used to tune the antenna between the two operating bands. The performance of the antenna in free space as well as under bending conditions and when placed on the body is presented. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.