A Dual-Band Wearable Conformal Antenna Based on Artificial Magnetic Conductor

Abstract

In order to improve the effectiveness of the antenna performance of wearable devices, a dual-band flexible monopole antenna with a 3 × 3 artificial magnetic conductor structure of the ISM band is proposed by using meander technology. An annular-shaped artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) is placed directly below the antenna, which can be better suitable for wireless body area network (WBAN) applications. A polyimide substance is used as the antenna substrate, which makes the antenna bendable and thin. Benefiting from the in-phase reflective properties of the double ring AMC structure, the antenna has good radiation characteristics. Compared with the single antenna, numerical simulation and measurement results show that the gain of the AMC-loaded antenna is increased by 4.54 dBi and 3.86 dBi at 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively. In addition, the specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1 g is only 0.35 W/kg at 2.45 GHz and 0.39 W/Kg at 5.8 GHz when the antenna is placed on human tissue, which is far below the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) standard. The antenna is easy to be conform to the human body and has strong robustness to structural deformation and human body load.