1.

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction
Many medical applications require gathering data of the patients condition.
Examples include heart rate, breath rate, and blood oxygen level. Usually these
data are transmitted via a cable, which limits the patients movements.
Freedom of movement is especially important in home nursing and in
monitoring athletes recovery after training. As an alternative to cables, the patients
could carry a belt-worn device which records data and transmits the results
wirelessly to the system whenever possible. Plaster-based sensors have been
developed in the recent years. As printed electronics evolves, the whole system
including the measurement electronics, data gathering, radio transceiver, and
antenna could be integrated on a single, disposable plaster.
Advancement in communication and electronic technologies have enabled
the development of compact and intelligent devices that can be placed on the
human body or in close proximity to it, thus facilitating the introduction of Body
Area networks (BANs). The development of antenna for the body area network
presents several challenges. The presence of human body in close proximity to the
antenna affects its performance characteristics such as radiation pattern, efficiency,
resonant frequency, input impedance etc. Apart from these, amount of
electromagnetic energy absorbed by the human body is also one of the major
concerns.
The EM energy of different power levels and different frequencies penetrate
into the human body, which cause potential health risks. The rate at which EM
energy is absorbed by the tissues of the human body is quantified by the specific
absorption rate or the SAR value .SAR is usually averaged either over the whole

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body, or over a small sample volume typically 1g or 10 gram of tissue. If the value
of SAR is computed in the cell of 1 gram of tissue then it is specified as local SAR
and average SAR if it is computed in a cell of 10 gram of tissue.SAR can be
related to the electric field at any point by

Where E is the electric field in V/m, is conductivity of tissue in S /m and

is the density of tissue in g/cm3.Thus it depends on the electrical properties of the
tissue mass and the strength of the EM waves inside the body.
The interaction between human head model and mobile handset has been
explored in the past for dipole, monopole, patch and planar inverted F antennas.
SAR measurement based on the different methods like numerical simulation
experimental evaluation based on electric field thermo graphic and thermal sensor
using optical fiber have been reported in recent years. In this paper a new method
based on power measurement has been presented for the calculation of SAR.In
case of body area networks, devices can be placed anywhere on human body but
arm and forearm are the most suitable and convenient location on the body to place
any device. So the performance of antenna with respect to these particular parts of
the body needs to be studied. In the present paper the interaction of antenna with
arm has been considered.
Patch antennas being inexpensive, having greater flexibility in design and
shape, lighter in weight and low profile have been considered for the design and
are then its specific absorption rate is measured. First a monopole patch antenna is
designed and then its performance characteristics are measured in free space and in
close proximity to arm.
Feasibility of plaster material is used as an antenna substrate, and present
two antenna structures. The antennas are to be attached directly to the skin, like

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regular Wound-care plasters. To minimize the effect of the body on the antennas, a
ground plane is used. Slits are cut in the antennas to increase flexibility and
breathability.

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 3. WEARABLE ANTENNAS

This chapter discusses the need for wearable antennas in recent technology
and their brief history. Different sections of the chapter include details of BAN,
literature review of the wearable antennas and current state of the 2.4 GHz plaster
wearable antennas.

3.1 Body Area Networks

IEEE 802.15 defines Body Area Network (BAN) as:
A communication standard optimized for low power devices and operation on, in
or around the human body (but not limited to humans) to serve a variety of
applications including medical, consumer electronics / personal entertainment and
other.
A BAN system consists of various nodes attached to different body parts.
These nodes are responsible for communicating with each other and transmitting
the data to any re-mote server. A node is subdivided into a sensor, an actuator and a
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The sensor is the most important part and it
includes a memory unit for data storage and an antenna for transmitting and
receiving the collected data.
The antennas used in BAN systems must fulfill the following conditions:
1. Compact and light weight.

2. Flexible and retain their shape.

3. Radiation away from the human body.

4. Stable characteristics in the human body vicinity.

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 Keeping in mind the above conditions for the antennas in BAN systems, at
the end of 20th century, researchers invented wearable antennas that can efficiently
operate near human body vicinity without hindering its movements. The
characteristics of wearable antennas are compact size, light weight, flexible, cost
effective and robust. Traditional antennas that were non-flexible were difficult to
integrate into BAN systems compared with the flexible wearable antennas. These
advantages made them become the latest research area in antenna designing.

3.2 SELECTION CRITERIA OF FABRIC FOR WEARABLE ANTENNA

3.2.1 Permittivity
The permittivity, that is a complex value parameter, It is also expressed as
a relative value = 0r = 0 (r jr), where 0 is the permittivity of vacuum,
which is 8.854 1012 F/m. In general, the dielectric properties depend on the
frequency, temperature, and surface roughness, and also on the moisture content,
purity and homogeneity of the material. The real part of the relative permittivity,
r, is called the dielectric constant, but one must note that it is not constant in
frequency.
For the design of patch antenna dielectric constant of substrate is in the
range of 2.2 r 12. But for textile material dielectric constant is less than 2.The
lower dielectric constant reduces the surface wave losses which are tied to guided
wave propagation within the substrates. Therefore, lowering the dielectric constant
increases spatial waves and hence increases the impedance bandwidth of the
antenna, allowing the development of antennas with acceptable efficiency and high
gain.

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 3.2.2 Loss Tangent
Loss tangent tan (also known as dissipation factor) characterizes the
amount of power turned into heat in the material. It is given by the ratio of
imaginary to the real part of the permittivity: tan = / The higher the
loss tangent values the more loss the dielectric substrate. Higher losses mean
reduced radiation efficiency.

3.2.3 Thickness of the Dielectric Fabrics

The bandwidth and efficiency of a patch antenna is mainly decided by the
substrate dielectric constant and its thickness. The thickness h of substrate is
usually in the range of 0.003 h 0.005 where is a wavelength. For a fixed
relative permittivity, the substrate thickness may be chosen to maximize the
bandwidth of the patch antenna. However, this value may not optimize the antenna
efficiency. Therefore, the choice of the thickness of the dielectric material is a
compromise between efficiency and bandwidth of the antenna. The influence of the
thickness on the bandwidth (BW) of the antenna may be explained by Equation,
where Q is the antenna quality factor
BW~1/Q Eq (1)
The Q factor is influenced by the space wave (Qrad) losses, the conduction
ohmic (Qc) losses, the surface waves (Qsw) and dielectric (Qd) losses as shown in
Equation (2)
1/Qt=1/Qrad+1/Qd+1/Qc+1/Qsw Eq (2)
For thin substrates the quality factor associated with radiation (Qrad) is inversely
proportional to the height of the substrate. Therefore, increasing the height of the
substrate lowers the Q factor (Qt). As the Q-factor decreases with an increased
aperture between the patch and the ground planes of the antenna, a thicker

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substrate allows a larger antenna bandwidth. Moreover, the thickness of the
substrate also influences the geometric sizing of the antenna. This means that a
thick substrate with low relative permittivity (value between 1 and 2) results in a
large patch and a thin substrate with the same dielectric constant results in a
smaller patch.

3.2.4 The Electrical Surface Resistivity of the Conductive Fabrics

Fabrics are planar materials and therefore their electrical behavior may be
quantified by the surface resistance and characterized by the surface resistivity. The
surface resistance, which unit is (), is the ratio of a DC voltage to the current
flowing between electrodes of specific configuration that are in contact with the
same face of the material under test.
These fabrics must have a very low electrical surface resistance in order to
minimize the electric losses and thus increase the antenna efficiency. Despite the
fact that the surface resistance value should be constant over the area of the
antenna, the fabric may present some heterogeneity, such as for instance some
discontinuities in the electric current. If these discontinuities are parallel to the
surface current they will not interfere with the electromagnetic fields, but if
discontinuities impede the flow of the electrical current, the fabric resistance will
increase.

3.2.5 Turn off Mechanical Deformations of the Dielectric and Conductive

Fabrics
A curvature on a human body consists of a superposition of bends in
arbitrary directions. Because of their excel flexibility and elasticity textile materials
adapt well to these surfaces. However, when the textile fabric adapts to the surface

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topology it bends and deforms, causing changes to its electromagnetic properties
and its change the antenna performance. Indeed, the bending and the elongation of
the dielectric fabric influence its permittivity and its thickness, which affects the
resonance frequency of the antenna and especially the bandwidth, as previously
explained.

3.3 Wearable Antenna for Medical Application

The health parameters that may be transmitted wirelessly to remote stations
(off body mode) in telemedicine systems, In addition to off body applications, on
body mode is also necessary for communication between sensors devices located
on or within the patient's body. Therefore a reliable low profile antenna is required
for best performance. Various types and design approaches of wearable antennas
are being proposed including: Electro-textile, microstrip patches, buttons antennas,
wearable MIMO systems, or hybrid systems based on one or more of such designs.
Wearable antennas are required to be small size, lightweight, but robust at the same
time. They also have to be comfortable and conformal to the body shape, yet they
must maintain high performance in terms of reliability and efficiency. Electro
textile based antennas seem to be a low profile low profile solution for wearable
application; however, they are more prone to discontinuities in substrate material,
fluids absorption, bending, twisting, and compression. The wearable antenna for
telemedicine has proven to be better option for patient monitoring.

3.4 Effect of Human Body interaction on Antenna Performance

The human body is an irregularly shaped medium with frequency dependent

permittivity and conductivity. The distribution of the electromagnetic field inside
the body and the scattered field depends largely on the body physiological

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parameters, geometry, frequency and polarization of the incident field. Due to high
permittivity of body tissues the antenna resonant frequency will change and detune
to a lower one. Another important parameter is the antenna Gain that directly
affects the power transmitted in a maximum radiation direction. Due to lossy
human body some part of radiating power of an antenna will be absorbed by it and
it will result in lower Gain.

3.5 Return loss of Antenna

It can be observed that yz-plane bending has minor effect on antenna

performance compared to xz-plane bending. This is due to the fact that xz-plane
bending affects on the antennas' resonance length. The more the antenna is bent,
i.e., around smaller diameter, the more resonance length is reduced, and thus it is
shifted up. This is observable for both antennas. However, yz-plane bending affects
on the resonance frequency of the conventional patch antenna as well.
The applications of the wearable antenna operate near human body so it was
necessary to characterize the performance of the antenna near human body. The
antenna performance was analyzed at the arm. The results showed that the antenna
can operate near human body with sufficient return loss.

3.6 Antenna Radiation Effects

This project is focused on the study of radiation effects of Antenna in
Human Tissues. The fact that the working frequencies of the antenna chosen for
this project are both in microwave range means that the kind of radiation and
radiation effects that will be studied is non-ionizing radiation.
Some of the most important non-ionizing radiation effects in human body are
explained in this section. Even though the non-ionizing radiation has not enough
energy to modify atoms or human cells, it can have enough energy to move human

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cells and increase the temperature of these cells. The increase of temperature is a
very important factor due to the fact that a high increase of temperature might
cause dangerous effects to human tissues.
The most important effect caused by non-ionizing radiation is the dielectric
heating. Dielectric heating is a thermal effect caused by microwave radiation that
happens when a dielectric material is heated by rotations of polar molecules
induced by the electromagnetic field
A part from that, other effects caused by microwave radiation such as cancer,
cognitive effects, sleep effects, brain glucose consumption or sperm quality have
been studied and report, even some of them have not been scientifically proven.
The increase of temperature of human tissue cells can be explained because
a part of the microwaves transmitted by an antenna are absorbed by the body. The
tool that measures the rate at which energy is absorbed by human tissues and it is
called Specific Absorption Rate (SAR).

4. SPECIFIC ABSORPTION RATE

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4.1 SAR. Definition and equation
The metrics of specific absorption rate (SAR) in biological systems or tissue
models have been adopted as the dissymmetric quantities, especially at RF
frequencies. Regarding the antenna works in RF, specific absorption rate is a basic
tool or rate in this project.
The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is defined as the rate at which RF
electromagnetic energy is imparted to unit mass of biological body. SAR is a
measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the human body when exposed
to a radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field. Thus, SAR measures exposure to
fields between 100 kHz and 10 GHz.
To calculate SAR, it is necessary to know the induced field (in V/m) that
affects a tissue. Then, SAR is calculated as:

In the above formula, E is the RMS value of the induced field (in V/m), is
the tissue conductivity (in S/m) and m is the mass density of the tissue (kg/m3).
In case of short exposure times, this does not cause significant convective or
conductive heat contribution to tissue temperature rises. Then, in this case SAR can
also be expressed as:

In the formula, c is the heat capacity of the tissue (in J/kg) T is the temperature
rise (in K) and t is the short time exposure (in seconds).

4.2 SAR Limits

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 Since some years ago, some authorities have established limits for exposure
to radio frequency energy. These limits establish the permitted levels of RF energy
for the population. There are two different main authorities who have established
two different limits that are not directly comparable. On one hand, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) of the U.S. Government established the SAR
limit to 1.6 W/kg averaged over 1 gram of actual tissue.
On the other hand, the Council of the European Union established the limit to 2.0
W/kg averaged over 10 g of actual tissue.
Due to the fact that these limits are calculated averaging different amount of
tissue, the two limits are not directly comparable.

4.3 Rise of temperature in human tissues

Specific Absorption Rate is a good rate to measure the effects of the EM
radiation in human tissues, but sometimes it is not enough. It can be thought that a
high level of SAR in any tissue above the SAR limits (1.6 W/kg in U.S.) means
directly that the device or antenna is dangerous for human use. To conclude that, it
is necessary to know the time of exposure of tissues to EM fields and to obtain the
increase of temperature of the tissues.
Thus, it is necessary to obtain the increase of temperature of the tissues to
finally conclude if the radiation effects are dangerous for human use or not. In a
paper written in Peru it is explained that the limit of temperature increase in head
tissues is 1 K. It is also explained that this increase of temperature in head tissues
may affect the behavior and memory of people, before causing anatomical injuries.
In addition, in a deep study about the radiation effects in eye tissue is done.

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 For this reason, in this project it has been considered that an increase of
temperature equal or higher than 1 K could be dangerous for any of the human
body tissues.

4.4 Sweating Effects

The product sheet of the plaster material describes the plaster as

nonabsorbent, but states that air and water vapor would pass through. Thus it was
expected that sweating would not alter the antenna parameters significantly.

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 5. ANTENNA DESIGN

5.1 Antenna Dimensions

The goal of the design process was to design antennas on a plaster substrate
that cover the frequency band from 2.4 to 2.5 GHz. Linear polarization was
desired, because circular polarization characteristics would depend too much on
antenna bending. The antennas were designed to be flexible and breathable.
Commercially available Molnlycke Mefix plaster material (Self-adhesive
polyacrylate) was chosen as the substrate. Its dielectric properties were measured
at 2.4GHz. The dielectric constant is about 1.38 and loss tangent 0.02. Compared
to a PCB material the dielectric constant is very low but losses are about the same
as of a poor PCB. The conducting material of the antennas was copper tape.
In the future, the antennas could e.g., be printed on the plaster, a ground
plane is used, because the antennas operate less than one millimeter from the body.
The reactive near-field is then trapped between the radiating element and the
ground plane. This reduces the effect of the user on input impedance (resonance
frequency) and radiation, and lowers SAR.
Two antennas were designed, one a half-wave patch and the other a quarter-
wave antenna short-circuited to the ground. The substrate for both is an 8-layer

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plaster, which is 1.36 mm thick. The dimensions of the antennas are given in Table

Fig.5.1.1 Fig.5.1.2
Fig.5.1.1 Dimensions of the patch antennathe part above substrate. The substrate
is shown dashed.

Fig. 5.1.2 Dimensions of the patch antenna ground plane. A substrate (shown
dashed) of width ws, length ls, and height h is placed at the centre of the ground

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plane. Note that the substrate does not cover the entire ground plane. The whole
structure lies on two layers of plaster (thickness about 0.3 mm). The slits in the
ground plane and the patch coincide.

Fig. 5.1.3 Plaster antenna 3D View

To increase flexibility and breathability, slits were cut both in the antenna
elements and ground planes. The x-directional slits do not affect the current flow of
the radiating mode, however extra horizontal strips had to be added at the feed-
point level to allow for y-directional current at the feed.

5.2 Simulation Results

The performance of the antenna is analyzed by the following parameters
such as gain, VSWR, return loss, radiation efficiency, radiation pattern etc., These
parameters are used to critically examine the antennas and determine how suitable
for an application.

5.2.1 Return Loss Measurement

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 The return loss is analyzed using scattering(s) parameters. Return loss is the
loss of signal power resulting from the reflection caused due to improper matching
of the antenna to its feed line. An increased return loss corresponds to high VSWR.

Fig 5.2.1 Return Loss Plot obtained from CST for Half Wave patch antenna

5.2.2 Standing Wave Ratio Measurement

It is also a measure of mismatch between the load and the transmission line.
The Standing Wave Ratio is usually defined as a voltage ratio called the VSWR.
.The VSWR can be represented by
VSWR=Vmax/Vmin

Fig 5.2.2 VSWR plot for Half wave patch antenna

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5.2.3 Radiation Pattern Measurement
The radiation pattern of an antenna is a plot of the far-field radiation from
the antenna. It is a specific plot of the radiated power from an antenna per unit
solid angle or its radiation intensity U.

Fig 5.2.3 Radiation pattern for half wave patch antenna

5.2.4 Electric-Field Distribution:

The following figures shows E-field distribution,

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 Fig 5.2.4 Electric field distribution for half wave patch antenna

5.2.5 Magnetic-Field Distribution:

The following figures shows H-field distribution,

Fig 5.2.5 Magnetic field distribution for half wave patch antenna

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5.3 Simulation results of Bent Plaster Antenna
Simulation parameters of the bent antenna are shown:

Fig 5.3.1 3D structure of bent antenna

Standing Wave Ratio Measurement

Fig 5.3.2 VSWR pattern obtained from CST for half wave bent patch antenna

Return Loss Measurement

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 Fig 5.3.4 Return Loss Plots obtained from CST for half wave bent patch antenna

Radiation Pattern Measurement

Fig 5.3.5 Radiation pattern obtained from CST for half wave bent patch antenna

5.4 On-Body Radiation Patterns

The on-body radiation patterns were measured in an anechoic chamber. The
antennas were attached to the abdomen. We only measured the radiation patterns in
the yz plane. The inaccuracy associated with the on-body results is about 2 dB.

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From the free-space measurements we get the radiation efficiency, and from the
change in Q value between free-space and on-body we can estimate the body worn
efficiency.
Measurements show that both antennas perform well on body. The radiation
efficiency in free space is quite large considering that the antennas were made on a
plaster substrate. Even a non-uniform ground plane prevents the radiation
efficiency from dropping too much on the body. Figure shows the antenna is
bent on the phantom model of the arm (tissue).
SAR is observed when Half Wave patch antenna is placed on the flat tissue

Fig 5.4.1 Front view of the half wave patch antenna when placed on flat tissue

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 Fig 5.4.2 Side view of the half wave patch antenna placed on tissue with flat
surface

S parameters

Fig 5.4.3 Return loss plot antenna placed on flat tissue

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VSWR

Fig 5.4.4 VSWR plot on antenna placed on flat tissue

Radiation Pattern

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 Fig 5.4.5 Radiation Pattern plot on antenna placed on flat tissue

5.4.1 SAR of Half Wave Antenna on Flat Tissue

Specific Absorption Rate for 1g tissue

fig 5.4.6 SAR of antenna placed on 1g flat tissue

Specific Absorption Rate for 10g tissue

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 Fig 5.4.7 SAR of antenna placed on 1g flat tissue

5.5 Half Wave Antenna Placed on Cyclindrical tissue

Bodyworn antennas, and especially disposable plaster antennas can prove
useful in patient monitoring in e.g. hospitals or home nursing, or in monitoring
athletes recovery after training. Current technology requires the transmitter to be a
beltcarried box, but in the future we may see disposable transmitters printed on
plasters, harvesting their transmit power from ambient radio waves. Plaster
antennas are also feasible for passive RFID applications such as locating a patient.
To make the bent antennas more comfortable, they could also be constructed
bent. The eight plaster layers and the associated glue make the substrate quite rigid,
which results in the antenna being easily wrinkled. If the layers were attached to
each other on a cylinder, the antenna would be easier to bend on the arm.

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 Fig 5.5.1.3D view of the antenna placed on the tissue model

All results in this section are normalized to 1W input power. It was assumed
that the largest bend radius would have the largest effect, therefore, three
geometries were considered: 1) the flat antenna on a 94mm thick rectangular
phantom, 2) the flat phantom on a cylindrical phantom (radius =47mm) and 3) the
antenna bent around a 47mm cylindrical phantom.The simulated SAR has been
considered when the antenna is bent around a cylinder. Bending changes the
antenna properties, but the structure is usable on curved body parts if properly
placed.
. REFERENCE
[1] T. Vuorela, J. Hannikainen, and J. Vanhala, Plaster like Physiological Signal
Recorder Design Process, Lessons Learned, in Proceed of the Ambience 08
Smart Textiles Technology and Design, p. 8996.Boras, Sweden, June 23,
2008.
[2] Mefix. [Online]. Available: http://www.molnlycke.com/item. aspid=924.

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[3] SATIMO [Online]. Available: http://www.satimo.com/
[4] W. G. Scanlon and N. E. Evans,Numerical analysis of bodyworn UHF antenna
systems, Electronics & Communication Engineering Journal,vol.
[5] ANSI/IEEE 1992 IEEE standard for safety levels with respect to human
exposure to radio frequency fields 3 kHz to 300 GHz. Standard C95.11992.
[6] ICNIRP 1998 Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric,
magnetic and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 GHz), Health Phys., 74, 494522.
[7] CST [Online.] Available: http://www.cst.com/

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