All‐textile higher order mode circular patch antenna for on‐body to on‐body communications

Abstract

An all‐textile higher order mode circular patch antenna for on‐body to on‐body communications is proposed. The proposed antenna is compact in size and consists of a coaxially centre‐fed circular patch with two shorting vias to generate the TM 21 higher order resonance mode for a monopole‐like radiation characteristic. The antenna is fabricated by using a conductive textile, conductive thread and a felt substrate. The bandwidth can fully cover the 2.45 GHz ISM band while achieving a low‐profile configuration. The effects of antenna deformation because of bending and the human body are analysed when the antenna is placed on a two‐thirds muscle‐equivalent phantom and a full‐scale human model. The performance of the antenna is minimally affected by antenna deformation and the human body because of the TM 21 higher order mode excitation and its monopole‐like radiation pattern.