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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 61, NO. 4, APRIL 2013
I. INTRODUCTION
EARABLE antennas for body-centric communication
systems have attracted an increasing attention over the
last few years [1]. In particular, textile antennas up to 11 GHz
have been the subject of extensive research since they guarantee
flexibility and comfortable embedding into clothing [2][13].
At microwaves, several linearly[2] and circularly[3], [4]
polarized fabric-based patch antennas have been proposed.
Single-band [5], dual-band [6][9], and ultra-wideband [13]
textile antennas have been reported with satisfactory performance in free space. The on-body performance of such antennas
has been assessed in several studies [4], [7], [9], [13]. As the
human body behaves as a lossy medium at microwaves [1], [9]
and millimeter waves [14], [15], the antennas placed close to the
body experience strong radiation pattern distortions, reduced
radiation efficiency, shift in resonance frequency, and changes
in their input impedance, e.g., [16][19]. Several solutions have
been proposed to reduce the interactions between the antenna
and the human body, like textile-integrated electromagnetic
bandgap (EBG) structures [7].
Besides, the unlicensed 5764 GHz band has been identified
as a highly promising solution for future body area networks
Manuscript received April 18, 2012; revised August 31, 2012; accepted
October 09, 2012. Date of publication December 11, 2012; date of current
version April 03, 2013. This work was supported by Agence Nationale de la
Recherche (ANR), France under Grants ANR-09-VERS-003 (METAVEST
project) and ANR-09-RPDOC-003-01 (Bio-CEM project) and by CNRS,
France.
The authors are with the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications
of Rennes (IETR), UMR CNRS 6164, University of Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes,
France (e-mail: nacer.chahat@univ-rennes1.fr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2012.2232633
(BAN) since it provides several advantages compared to microwave BAN [20]. First, because of the large available spectrum (7 GHz worldwide), very high data rates can be reached
(up to 5 Gb/s) [21]. Second, it provides a high level of security
and low interference with adjacent networks [22]. Finally, compared to on-body devices operating at microwaves, the size of
similar millimeter-wave systems is significantly reduced.
Only very few data have been reported in the literature so
far on 60-GHz BAN. First, it has been demonstrated that utilization of the 60-GHz band mitigates the co-channel interference, thus allowing a larger number of BAN users to be co-located within a certain area [22]. Propagation studies performed
using ray tracing techniques have shown that it is possible to
establish a BAN with reliable radio link and coverage for interconnecting various subsystems worn by soldiers [23]. Furthermore, two 60-GHz antennas for on-body communications
have been recently designed [24], [25], and the electromagnetic
and thermal interactions of millimeter waves with the human
body have been reviewed in [14]. Besides, a tissue-equivalent
phantom emulating the dielectric properties of the human body
in the 5565 GHz range has been recently proposed in [15] for
direct antenna measurement on the human body.
The interactions between a 60-GHz microstrip patch antenna
array designed for off-body communications on a conventional
semi-rigid substrate and the human body have been investigated
numerically and experimentally in [26]. It was demonstrated
that, for the considered scenario, the impact of the body on the
antenna characteristics is almost negligible, and even relatively
high antenna input powers (up to 550 mW) lead to exposure
levels that are below international exposure limits [26].
Besides, a textile Yagi-Uda antenna for on-body communications has been proposed in [27]. However, to the best of our
knowledge, textile antennas optimized for off-body communications at millimeter waves have never been reported so far.
On-textile fabrication process is very challenging at these frequencies, especially due to the roughness of the textile surface
and the size of textile fibers and electrotextiles with respect to
the geometrical dimensions of the metallic patterns.
Millimeter-wave textile antennas could be of great interest
for short range communications such as: (1) millimeter-wave
soldier-to-soldier communications [20], kiosk file downloading
[28], or (3) retrodirective antennas that could be integrated
into garments, clothes, or seats (planes, automotive, buses) for
simple wireless communication, positioning or sensor systems.
The main purpose of this work is to demonstrate that commercial textiles can be used as antenna substrates at millimeter
waves. To this end, we study here a 60-GHz textile-based antenna for off-body wireless communications with the ability to
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be bent and deformed into arbitrary shape. A simple, but representative patch antenna array is fabricated using an ad hoc
manufacturing process. Compared to the antenna presented in
[26], this results in a highly flexible antenna. The latter is characterized in free space and on a skin-equivalent phantom. As
the influence of bending at millimeter waves has never been investigated so far for textile antennas, the impact of antenna geometrical deformation on its performance is considered in detail.
This paper is organized as follows. The fabrication process is
described in Section II, and the textile substrate is characterized
at 60 GHz in Section III. The antenna array design and its main
characteristics in free space, on a skin-equivalent phantom,
and under bending and crumpling conditions are discussed in
Section IV.
II. TECHNOLOGICAL FABRICATION PROCESS
A. Choice of the Conductive Materials
Fabricating small metallic patterns on a flexible textile
is a technological challenge at millimeter waves because of
the fabric structure and peculiarities compared to traditional
substrates. Hence, an ad-hoc technological process has to be
developed since chemical etching techniques damage textiles.
At microwaves, electrotextiles [2], [3] (like ShieldIt Super)
have been often employed for the radiating elements and ground
plane to guaranty a minimum flexibility of the devices. However, at millimeter waves, enhanced fabrication accuracy is required since the metallic pattern dimensions are in the order 0.2
0.5 mm. ShieldIt Super is a rugged rip-stop polyester substrate, plated with Nickel and Copper, and coated on one side
with a non-conductive hot melt adhesive. The fabrication campaign we have launched has shown that the smallest achievable
line width is around 0.4 mm with an accuracy of about 0.15
mm. Such values originate from the plated fibers themselves
(Fig. 1). Therefore, the use of electrotextiles as metallic patterns for the radiating elements and feeding circuits is impossible in practice due to the fabrication inaccuracy and non-reproducibility. To circumvent this limitation, we propose to use
thin and flexible 0.07 mm-thick copper foils (available commercially) for all radiating elements and feeding lines, whereas nonpatterned metallic parts (like the ground plane of single-layer
microstrip antennas) can be made of ShieldIt Super to obtain a
better flexibility.
B. Fabrication Procedure
The proposed fabrication process is divided into three steps,
as shown in Fig. 2:
1) The ShieldIt Super is placed on the lower side of the textile
(ground plane), and the flexible copper foil is on the top
side.
Fig. 2. Main technological steps for the manufacturing of printed circuits and
antennas on textiles in V-band.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 61, NO. 4, APRIL 2013
TABLE I
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT MMW SUBSTRATES AT 60 GHZ
Fig. 4. (a) Stub-loaded microstrip line in the Anritsu universal test fixture 3680
V. (b) Two textile 50- transmission lines with different lengths.
AND
EXPERIMENTAL
A. Antenna Design
Whereas an on-body antenna needs to be compact and light
weight for better integration with the transceiver, it should be
also efficient and induce minimal power absorption inside the
human body. Because of the high atmospheric attenuation at 60
GHz and limitations on the radiated power, planar antennas with
a medium gain ( 1215 dBi) are often considered [34] as good
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mm.
solutions. In some applications, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) channels should be exploited, and beam steering antennas with high
gain are necessary to satisfy link budgets [35], [36]. In other scenarios with controlled environment, line-of-sight (LOS) channels can be efficiently used, and medium gain passive antennas
are very attractive. Kiosk file downloading [28], enabling shortrange (i.e., typically below 1 m) wireless data upload and downloads, is an appropriate example since users could use devices
directly integrated in clothes. Our work deals with this second
type of application scenarios where only short-range communications are considered [20], [28].
Hence, a microstrip-fed four-patch single-layer antenna array
printed on the 0.2 mm-thick textile has been designed (Fig. 6).
The array is fed by a 15.2 mm-long microstrip line to avoid too
strong reflections from the V-connector (Fig. 7). In practice, as
textiles are more lossy than classical substrates (Table I), it is
recommended to reduce the access line length as much as possible. Whereas the antenna could be fed using a central probe,
e.g., [37], the microstrip feed line is the easiest solution for integration on textile. Its impact on the antenna radiation performance is studied in the next Section.
B. Antenna Performance in Free Space
The antenna is fed using a V-connector (Fig. 7), and its reflection coefficient
is measured using a 110-GHz Agilent
8510XF VNA (Fig. 8). Three different antenna prototypes have
been fabricated and measured to assess the fabrication reproducibility. For all prototypes, the measured reflection coefficients are lower than
dB in the 5764 GHz range (Fig. 8),
and only a slight variability between prototypes is observed,
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 61, NO. 4, APRIL 2013
Fig. 9. Normalized radiation patterns in co- and cross-polarization at 60 GHz. Simulation in free space. Measurement in free space. - - Measurement
on a skin-equivalent phantom. (a) -plane, (b) -plane.
Fig. 10. Comparison between simulated radiation patterns with coaxial feeding () and microstrip feeding ( ) at 60 GHz. (a)
-plane, (b)
-plane.
TABLE II
RADIO LINK PARAMETERS OF THE 60 GHZ HIGH-DATA RATE
COMMUNICATIONS
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mm.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 61, NO. 4, APRIL 2013
Fig. 15. Antenna array under crumpling. (a) Side view. (b) 3-D view.
Fig. 16. Simulated reflection coefficient of the antenna mounted under crumpling.
TABLE IV
COMPUTED RADIATION PERFORMANCE IN H-PLANE FOR VARIOUS BENDING
CONDITIONS
Finally, the array has been studied numerically under an arbitrary crumpling condition (Fig. 15) in terms of reflection coefficient and radiation patterns. The
remains well matched over
the 5764 GHz range under such deformations (Fig. 16). The radiation pattern is strongly affected but satisfactory performances
are maintained (Fig. 17). A gain of 7.0 dBi is demonstrated.
V. CONCLUSION
A wearable hybrid textile antenna array with a copper foil
has been presented for the first time at millimeter waves with
satisfactory performance in terms of reflection coefficient, gain
and efficiency demonstrating that commercial textiles can be
used as antenna substrates at millimeter waves. The textile substrate is characterized in V-band using the open stub technique.
Designed for short-range off-body communications, it operates
over the whole 5764 GHz range. An accurate and reliable fabrication process has been proposed to cope with the peculiar
properties of textile-based substrates at millimeter-waves. The
achieved geometrical accuracy is in the order of 10 m. The dielectric properties of the textile used as a substrate have been
characterized using the open-stub technique.
Several antenna arrays have been fabricated and measured
in reflection and radiation in free space, on a skin-equivalent
phantom, and under bending and crumpling conditions. Since
fabrics are lossy, the feed line should be shortened in practical
application in order to improve the antenna efficiency and gain.
Comparison between measurements in free space and on a
skin-equivalent phantom has shown that the human body has
a very weak impact upon the antenna performance. Moreover,
the influence of bending has been investigated numerically and
experimentally under severe conditions. It is demonstrated that
bending has a small impact on the reflection coefficient and
antenna gain. Finally, under crumpling conditions, the antenna
characteristics remain satisfactory. The gain drops by 1 dB
and the reflection coefficient remains below
dB over the
5764 GHz range.
Whereas in particular scenarios, textile antennas will be
useful, non-textile antennas should be employed in other cases
since they have a higher efficiency and can be integrated easily
with electronics.
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Nacer Chahat (S09) graduated in electrical engineering and radio communications (valedictorian
and summa cum laude) from the Ecole Suprieur
dingnieurs de Rennes (ESIR), Rennes, France,
in 2009. He received the Ph.D. degree in signal
processing and telecommunications at the Institute
of Electronics and Telecommunications of Rennes
(IETR), University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France, in
2012.
In 2013, he joined as a Postdoctoral Fellow the
Submillimeter-Wave Advanced Technology Group,
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. His current research fields are electrically small antennas, millimeter-wave antennas, and terahertz antennas. He
accomplished a six-month masters training period as a special research student
in 2009 at the Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
Dr. Chahat was the recipient of the 2011 Best Paper Award from Bioelectromegnetics Society. He also received the 2011 CST University Publication
Award. In 2012, he was the recipient of the IEEE Antenna and Propagation
Society doctoral research award. He has been awarded 1st Prize for his Ph.D.
dissertation from Fondation Rennes 1, a prestigious organization in Brittany,
France.
Shoaib Anwar Muhammad received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering degree from National
University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan,
in 2005, the M.S. degree from Universit de Nice,
Sophia Antipolis, France in 2007, and the Ph.D.
degree from Universit de Rennes1, France at IETR
in 2010.
Currently, he is working as a Postdoctoral Fellow
at IETR, France. His research interests include
electromagnetic bandgap antennas, FabryPerot
cavity antennas, frequency selective surfaces, and
leaky wave antennas for space applications.