Polarization diversity enabled flexible directional <scp>UWB</scp> monopole antenna for <scp>WBAN</scp> communications

Abstract

This article presents the design of an ultra-wideband (UWB) quasi-circular monopole antenna with directional characteristics for use in wireless body area network (WBAN) applications. The proposed antenna has hybrid geometry and it is constructed using a semicircular and square patch on a very thin substrate of thickness 0.2 mm. The antenna has a compact geometry with a footprint of 30 × 20 mm. The proposed antenna covers 3.1 to 10.6 GHz with a measured peak gain of 5.37 dBi at 6 GHz. The proximity effect of the human body is resolved by incorporating the reflector behind the antenna. The antenna with reflector provides a directional pattern with a measured peak gain of 8.84 dBi at 6 GHz. Further to improve the link reliability between the sensor and the cluster head in WBAN, polarization diversity technique is adopted and the performance metrics are evaluated. The proposed flexible antenna simultaneously offers large gain and high impedance bandwidth. The prototype antenna is fabricated and the simulation results are validated using experimental measurements. The measurement results are in good agreement with the simulation results.