Flexible and Low Profile Antenna with AMC for Wireless Body Area Network Applications

Abstract

This letter presents a flexible antenna with artificial magnetic conductor (AMC). A CPW antenna is designed because its broadband characteristics with the relative bandwidth of 39.7% and 13.0% respectively. The proposed antenna operable at 2.45/5.8 GHz for wireless body area network applications and PDMS substrate is used makes the antenna thin and bendable. The AMC surface is integrated with the antenna to improve its radiation performance and to reduce the specific absorption rate (SAR). The 2 × 4 unit structure of AMC ensures a low profile with a thickness and a small size with the area of 50 * 100 mm2. The simulate result shows an AMC reflector increases the front-to-back ratio and antenna gain in free space. Moreover, the performance of the antenna with and without the AMC reflector under different crumpling conditions has been studied and presented, and the result shows the antenna performance is observed to be very robust against the effect of bending. The proposed wearable antenna structure can be used for wireless body area network (WBAN) wireless devices.