Design and SAR analysis of wearable antenna on various parts of human body, using conventional and artificial ground planes

This paper presents design and specific absorption rate analysis of a 2.4 GHz wearable patch antenna on a conventional and electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) ground planes, under normal and bent conditions. Wearable materials are used in the design of the antenna and EBG surfaces. A woven fabric (Zelt) is used as a conductive material and a 3 mm thicker Wash Cotton is used as a substrate. The dielectric constant and tangent loss of the substrate are 1.51 and 0.02 respectively. The volume of the proposed antenna is 113×96.4×3 mm3. The metamaterial surface is used as a high impedance surface which shields the body from the hazards of electromagnetic radiations to reduce the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). For on-body analysis a three layer model (containing skin, fats and muscles) of human arm is used. Antenna employing the EBG ground plane gives safe value of SAR (i.e. 1.77W/kg<2W/kg), when worn on human arm. This value is obtained using the safe limit of 2 W/kg, averaged over 10g of tissue, specified by the International Commission of Non Ionization Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The SAR is reduced by 83.82% as compare to the conventional antenna (8.16 W/kg>2W/kg). The efficiency of the EBG based antenna is improved from 52 to 74%, relative to the conventional counterpart. The proposed antenna can be used in wearable electronics and smart clothing.