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PERFORMANCE OF ULTRA-WIDEBAND
WEARABLE ANTENNA UNDER SEVERE
ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND...

Article in Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences · March 2015

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 VOL. 10, NO. 4, MARCH 2015 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2015 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

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PERFORMANCE OF ULTRA-WIDEBAND WEARABLE ANTENNA UNDER

SEVERE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND SPECIFIC ABSORPTION
RATE (SAR) STUDY AT NEAR DISTANCES
Waddah A. M. A. Khairun N. R. and Abdirahman M. S.
Wireless and Radio Science Centre, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
E-Mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Two ultra-wideband (UWB) planar monopole antennas have been reported in this paper. The antennas have been
developed for wearable application. Worn-systems require flexibility and tolerance against external effects. The substrates
of the proposed antennas have been made of jeans while radiators were made of copper tapes. Simulated and measured
performances of the antennas in terms of return loss and radiation patterns have been discussed in this work. Recorded
results have shown that the operating frequency ranges from 3.04 GHz to 10.3 GHz and from 3.04 GHz to 11.3 GHz with
respect to -10 dB for the first and second antennas respectively. The antennas have been tested under severe conditions
such as operating in water and aggregates and results have been presented and discussed. Moreover, an extended study on
the safety concerns of the antennas by means of specific absorption rate (SAR) has been included in this work. The
approximated SAR has been found to be within the safety guidelines set by Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Keywords: UWB, phantom, SAR, antenna.

1. INTRODUCTION involved in understanding the interaction of

Ultra-wideband’ (UWB) describes that the electromagnetic (EM) waves with the body in body-
system/signal possesses a large bandwidth [1]. UWB centric communications and wireless systems that operate
systems offer high data rate, low cost equipments, close to the body to understand the nature of
multipath immunity and both precise ranging (object electromagnetic properties of body tissues and how they
location) and high speed communication at the same vary significantly with tissue type and frequency. This
time. Before UWB technology was commercialized, it understanding enables the development of antennas and
has been developed mainly in military radar systems. transceivers for such communications systems. Studying
Today, UWB technology is changing the wireless the interaction between EM waves and the body requires
industry and competing with narrowband technology with modeling of the body with physical phantoms or with
its method of spreading signal across a wide range of numerical phantoms embedded in numerical
frequencies instead of broadcasting on separate electromagnetic codes.
frequencies [2]. With the increase of communication devices that
There is the so-called UWB wireless embedded operate close to the human body, the phantoms became
networks (UWEN) project that is working on developing an essential tool for testing safety of such devices.
systems with low rate communication for location and Various safety guidelines, such as those by the
tracking applications. Such application targets to improve International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation
security of material goods, find our keys, keep pace with Protection (ICNIRP) [5] and the Institute of Electrical and
children, find people in situations, including fire fighters Electronics Engineers (IEEE) [6], specify the acceptable
in burning building, police officers in distress, and track levels of radiation in terms of specific absorption rate
people at recreational activities such as cross country (SAR), which can be measured using a number of
skiing and athletics. The key concept is to develop carried methods involving phantoms. Phantoms are also a useful
low power UWB devices and data from users transmitted tool in studying of EM wave propagation around and
to fixed nodes and exchange signal time of arrival inside the human body. Such studies are necessary to help
information which enables to determine the location of design powerful, robust, reliable, wearable low-cost
the device [3]. communication devices. Phantoms can also provide a
The increasing growth in using body area steady, controllable propagation environment, which
networks (BANs), wireless personal area networks cannot be easily realized with human subjects.
(WPANs), and medical sensors has given an interest in There are many types of broadband directional
wearable antennas that are made for operation on the antennas such as the Vivaldi, log-periodic, cavity-backed,
living bodies. They are found in portable radio waveguide, horn, and dish antennas that cover the entire
equipments used by the military, the pager and mobile 3.1–10.6 GHz band (109%). The undesirable fact about
phones. The introduction of body worn medical sensors them is that they are electrically large, and have a high
and wireless medical sensor networks has enabled doctors profile, while planar monopoles, disc cone, and slot
and specialists to monitor patients at a distance [4]. antennas provide omni- and bi-directional radiation
Engineers are not done with only creating patterns and have a low gain and back radiation pattern,
remarkable technology such as wearable systems, but also therefore they are not suitable for uni-directional

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communication [7]. characteristics, omni-directional patterns, and acceptable

Number of planar UWB antennas has been transient response.
developed in many ways. In [8], two steps patch with In [22], the authors proposes three different
single slot and partial ground plane has been designed. antenna structures. The substrate of the designed antennas
UWB step-slot antenna with a rotated patch was was made from two types of fabrics: jeans and flannel.
demonstrated in [9]. In [10], a planar microstrip-fed The dimensions of the proposed antennas are 40 mm × 40
wideband monopole was designed from egg-shaped patch mm for antenna I, and 60 mm × 60 mm for antenna II and
printed off-center depicted a semi-elliptical fractal- III.
complementary slot into the ground plane. SAR is the time derivative (rate) of the
It has been found that the addition of a bevel to incremental energy (dW) absorbed by (dissipated in) an
the lower corners of the square planar monopole increases incremental mass (dm) contained in a volume element
the impedance bandwidth as demonstrated in many (dV) of a given density (ρ).
reported studies. Applying modifications to the bottom
edge of the radiating element by using beveling technique (1)
has shown that the upper edge frequency is shifted
upward [11-16]. SAR is expressed in units of watts per kilogram
In brief, modification techniques are generally used to (W/kg) or equivalently milliwatts per gram (mW/g).
broaden the impedance bandwidth of small patch Some refer to it as a so-called volume-SAR, expressed in
antennas and optimize the characteristics of the radiation units of mW/cm3, where mass density has been set to
pattern. These adjustments have an effect on matching unity. SAR can be related to the E-field at a point as in
mechanism between the radiating element and ground equation (2)
plane. As a result, the bandwidth and the overall size of (2)
radiating elements of the antenna are optimized. Planar
monopole antennas are good candidates for these Where σ is conductivity of the tissue (S/m), ρ is
techniques and have proven achieving wide impedance mass density of the tissue (kg/m3) and E is the electric
bandwidth, omni-directional radiation pattern, compact field strength (V/m).
and simple structure, low cost and ease of construction Specific absorption rate—peak spatial-average is
[7], [17]. determined by the maximum local SAR averaged over a
The introduction of body-centric networks has specified volume or mass, e.g., any 1 g or 10 g of tissue
led to the development of body worn wireless devices. in the shape of a cube. SAR is expressed in W/kg or
The body-centric network consists of a number of nodes equivalently mW/g.
and units placed on the human body or in close proximity Most of the studies of wearable antennas have
such as on clothing. Body-worn applications require not stepped into the area of Specific Absorption Rates
flexible surfaces and circuit components to provide (SAR) test, which is required to study the power
superior electrical and mechanical performances. absorption issues and meet the standards in order to avoid
This has led to the creation of a new technology harm to human body. The aim of this study includes
using embroidered conductive fibers on polymer. Flexible producing antennas with smaller geometries and low
conductors are constructed from silver-coated p- SAR.
phenylene-2, 6-benzobisoxazole (PBO) fibers (e-fibers). A considerable attention has been given to the
The e-fibers provides inherent mechanical strength (due impact of the interaction between electromagnetic (EM)
to their polymer core), together with high electrical fields and the human body as in [23]–[26]. The
conductivity owed to the silver coating. Lightweight and interaction between human head and cellular phones has
conformal electro-textiles based on conductive threads been studied in [27], [28], while interaction between
and fabrics provide compelling means to fabricate human head and terminal antennas has been studied in
seamlessly garment-integrated antennas substrates [18], [29], [30]. These works have been conducted in order to
[19]. examine whether or not the antenna radiation exceed the
Wearable tags are meant to be used near the limits set by the standards [5], [31].
body. As a result, the human body absorbs RF energy, Studies on the evaluation of the power absorbed
reducing the overall antenna performance. In this by human body and the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)
application, also humidity, bending, and stretching likely have been conducted in different methods. Kuster [27]
affect the performance of the antenna. Sewing pattern and has evaluated the absorption mechanism for homogenous
thread densities can also affect the overall performance of body model while Kivekas [32] has considered
an embroidered antenna as investigated in [20]. homogenous and layered body model. Klemm [33] has
In [21], authors have investigated the feasibility further studied the interactions of UWB antennas used in
of the ultra-wideband half-disk structures based on wearable applications on homogenous and layered human
camouflage cloth (substrate) compared to the body models. SAR results of very near antennas to the
performance of solid copper and woven versions body have been computed in order to investigate the
(radiators). The study has concluded that solid copper influence of the body. The first evaluation of SAR was on
version has shown good measured return loss a simple homogenous model composing one tissue

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(muscle of 50 mm thickness). The second model Antenna materials

consisted of three-layers (skin: 0.5, 1 and 2 mm; fat: 1, 3 The proposed antennas have been developed
and 6 mm; muscle: 50 mm). The study assumed all from jeans as a substrate and copper tapes as radiators to
models to be planar neglecting the curvature of the body. provide flexibility for the wearer.
In [34], a simple evaluation method of The properties of the jeans used for building the
estimating local average SAR has been proposed based substrate of the antennas have been obtained and
on COST244 cubical and spherical head model measured at early stage. Results have been reported in
(numerical phantom), followed by studying the effect of previous work [40]. The experimental results suggest that
the distance and the frequency on the average SAR and the permittivity and loss tangent are 1.76 and 0,078
comparing the obtained evaluations with realistic head respectively.
model. Lightweight spherical COST244 tissue-equivalent
phantom for evaluation of antenna performances has been Antenna design
proposed in [35]. The proposed antennas have overall sizes of 46 ×
Gabriel [36], has proposed phantom hand 46 mm2 and 32 × 34 mm2 with thickness of 1 mm.
materials based on carbon-loaded silicones and
demonstrated within the frequency range 600–6000 MHz.
A broadband skin-equivalent semi-solid phantom was
introduced in [37] for measuring values of the human
skin permittivity in the 55–65 GHz range. In [38], a
tissue-mimicking phantom materials has been proposed.
Authors have characterized oil-in-gelatin dispersions to
approximate value of the dispersive dielectric properties
of a variety of human soft tissues within the range of 500
MHz - 20 GHz. Different tissues are mimicked by
selection of an appropriate concentration of the proposed
material.
A summarized study on electromagnetic
properties and modeling of the human body has been Figure-2. First proposed antenna, size 46 × 46 mm2 ,a)
reported in [39]. The flowchart shown in Figure-1 front and b) back view [40].
illustrates the aspects that have been followed for the
proposed work. Detailed dimensions of the antenna have been
reported in [40] and [41]. In previous published work,
few aspects have been covered such as simulated and
measured return loss results for the antennas at free
space, simulated radiation patterns and SAR evaluation
when antennas are placed at a fixed point. This paper
includes an extended experimental work for the
performance of the antennas when applying an external
force such as bending and examining the tolerance of the
antennas at severe conditions such as soaking in water
and burying in aggregates. Measurement of radiation
patterns is also reported in this paper.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The proposed designs have been tested under
severe conditions to examine their robustness and ability
to sustain an acceptable operating frequency. The top
corners of the antennas have been bent towards each other
Figure-1. Methodology of the research. as shown in Figure-3(a) and 3(b). Figure-3(c) shows how
the antennas were bent from one of the corners at the top
2. EXPERIMENTAL MODELS towards a corner located at the end of its diagonal, while
Two planar monopole antennas operating within Figure-3(d) shows how the antennas were rolled from their
the range of UWB have been developed and presented in top part towards the bottom part. Figure-4(a), (b) and (c)
this paper. The following summarizes an extensive study illustrate the measured results of the return loss when
on the performances of the proposed designs and different bending situations are applied to the first
concluded with an approximation for the specific proposed antenna. It can be seen that the antenna sustains
absorption rate (SAR) of the antennas under study. its return loss to a good shape. The antenna has been then
tested when placed very close to an arm and results are
shown in Figure-4(d). The proposed antenna has shown

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that it can withstand severe conditions with succeeding to or mud, the following experiments have included testing
keep its operating bandwidth as desirable. the performance of the antennas (namely antenna I and
antenna II) at conditions such as: soaking the antennas in
water, burying in fine aggregates and finally testing the
antennas when both of the conditions are present. Figure-6
shows pictures of these experiments. The measurement of
the return loss has been taken for the frequency range from
2 GHz to 11 GHz at room temperature. In order to prevent
the network analyzer from any damage, the antennas have
been soaked to a level beneath SMA connector to prevent
water from leaking into the cable.

Figure-3. Antennas under bending test.

Figure-6. Testing setup for the proposed designs.

The results of the experiment are illustrated as a

comparison between the two proposed designs.

Figure-4. Measured results for the first proposed antenna

at bend conditions.

Figure-7. Antennas buried in fine aggregates.

Figure-5. Measured results for the second proposed

antenna at bend conditions.

As the aim of the project to produce flexible Figure-8. Antennas in water with a plastic bag.
wearable antennas, both of the antennas have been tested
under very severe environmental conditions. Expecting the The results in Figure-7 show that the antennas
user is a person whose uniform may endure wetness, sands have a good chance to keep operating within an acceptable

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bandwidth. It can be seen that antenna II (the second

proposed design) performance is much better than antenna
I; as it has a wider operating frequency.
The results shown in Figure-8 represent the
performance of the antennas when soaked in water while
casing with a plastic bag. Figure-9 shows the performance
when removing the plastic bag. It is observed that the
antennas have a better return loss level when preventing
water from wetting the substrate especially the region
between the feed-line and the ground-plane; that is the
direct contact with water causes a short circuit, which
disturbs the inductance and capacitance of the impedance,
which results in a poor matching and return loss.

Figure-11. Return loss for the antennas inside

(aggregates + water).

The performance of the antennas has been

recorded after burying the antennas in fine aggregates
after adding water. It is observed from Figure-11 that the
return loss of both of the antennas has deteriorated
significantly, except that antenna II has an acceptable
return loss at higher frequencies.
In conclusion, it can be noticed from the
experiments conducted to test the stability of the
proposed designs that the antennas have a good record of
performance at severe environmental conditions. It is also
Figure-9. Antennas in water without a plastic bag.
observed that the second proposed design, antenna II, has
a better record than antenna I. It is possible to relate that
to the complexity of the geometry of the design, where
the design of antenna II has been simplified to a
rectangular patch and partial ground without adding any
other small patterns to the design such as slots and
notches that are used to reroute the path of current flow
on the radiator to enhance or change the impedance
bandwidth. Changes to these patterns such as expanding
or shrinking can significantly affect the flow of the
current and have an impact to the overall performance of
the antenna.
Lastly, radiation pattern measurements have been
taken for both proposed antennas. Figure-12 and Figure-13
show the plotted patterns of E-field at vertical and
horizontal orientation for the first and second proposed
antennas respectively (antenna I and antenna II). The
measurements are shown for frequencies 3 GHz, 4 GHz, 5
GHz and 6 GHz. It can be seen that the antenna has circle-
Figure-10. Return loss for the antennas 10 minutes after
like patterns at vertical orientation. The patterns have
exposure to the sun.
taken different shape when measured at horizontal
orientation. It is observed that the antenna has donut-like
Figure-10 illustrates the performance of the
at frequencies 5 GHz and 6 GHz. It can be seen that the E-
antennas after being exposed to the sun heat for 10
field strength decreases as the frequency increases as
minutes approximately after they were soaked in water in
shown for 3 GHz where E-field has a value of nearly 125
early stage. It can be observed that both of the antennas
dBµV/m, while it drops to lower than 100 dBµV/m for
have a good operating frequency throughout a wide
both of vertical and horizontal orientation.
range. It is also observed that antenna I has a better
performance at the lower band, while antenna II at the
upper range frequencies.

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3 GHz 3 GHz

4 GHz 4 GHz

5 GHz 5 GHz

6 GHz 6 GHz

Figure-12. Radiation pattern of antenna I (units: dBµV/m). Figure-13. Radiation pattern of antenna II (units: dBµV/m).

4. PHANTOM MODEL FOR SPECIFIC Intel® Xeon® E5620 2.4 GHz CPU, 4×Tesla 2070
ABSORPTION RATE (SAR) GPUs.
The methodology of developing this model is
based on [27], [32] and [33]. CST STUDIO SUITE
developers have also shared a note on “BODY
WEARABLE ANTENNA Simulation Challenges” of
RFID, ISM and UWB antennas [42]. The note discusses
construction and body model handling when dealing with
complex geometries. The minimum specifications of
hardware suggested for proper performance is also
included (for homogenous model at εr = 42). Figure-14
shows a worn antenna on a homogenous phantom and
corresponding mesh cells, memory, time, and hardware Figure-14. Model size and required.
amounts for full body size. These figures are based on

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Homogenous phantom is a one layer model with human arm model (phantom). The model was developed
one dielectric constant, while voxel phantom is more in CST Microwave Studio. It simply represents a portion
complex and has an excellent mimic with the human of the human body; that is the arm. Four-layer model
body. Dielectric properties vary with the distribution of (skin, fat, muscle and bone) has been considered for the
the human body layers as we go deeper. Figure-15 shows evaluation. Curvature of the body part has been
homogenous and voxel phantoms. approximated to a conical shape with top and bottom
radiuses. The thickness of each layer was taken as: skin =
2 mm, fat = 3 mm, muscle = 8 mm and bone = 10 mm
(radius) as in [33] and [43]. Figure-16 illustrates the arm
model developed in CST MWS and the orientation of the
antenna with respect to the model. The model consists of
bone (centre), muscle, fat, and skin (outer layer).
The total 10-g SAR for the two proposed
antennas has been evaluated for selected frequencies at
different distances. The graphic illustration in Figure-18
and Figure-19 show the total SAR for frequencies 3 GHz,
5 GHz, 7 GHz and 9 GHz at 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and
Figure-15. (a) homogenous phantom, (b) voxel 20 mm placements from the phantom.
phantom, (c) cross-section of voxel phantom. The computed values plotted in Figure-17 show
that the antenna has very low total SAR as the antenna is
The note has also included a comparison placed farther from the phantom. This can be seen more
between homogenous and voxel phantoms in terms of clearly at the lower band frequencies such as 3 GHz and
S11 and SAR considering full and partial body. The 5 GHz, where the total SAR for 3 GHz has reduced from
difference was found to be in small fractions (according more than 6 W/kg at 5 mm to lower than 3 W/kg at 20
to the example studied in the note: SAR: 0.667 W/kg for mm. It can be understood that the phantom has a bigger
homogenous model and SAR: 0.883 W/kg for voxel chance to absorb more radiated and reflected power at
model). It also studied the same example on full and near spacing than far one.
reduced model. The result was found to be very close The graph also shows how the total SAR
(SAR: 0.667 W/kg for full homogeneous body model and decreases as the frequency increases for a fixed distance,
SAR: 0.644 W/kg for partial homogeneous body model). where the total SAR at 5 mm reduces from more than 6
Based on the available information, our developed model W/kg at 3 GHz to about 1 W/kg at 9 GHz.
can provide a closer approximation for the performance
of the antenna than the homogenous model does. Since
the model consists of multiple layers with different
permittivity, which makes it closer to voxel model to a
certain level. This model is found to be cheaper and less
complex when carrying out simulation tests for wearable
antennas on personal computer with lower specifications.

Figure-17. Total SAR [W/kg] for antenna I in the 4-

layer body phantom.

The SAR results for 10-g change with the frequency. This
could be regarded to the fact that human tissues are
anisotropic mediums. The difference in the internal
structure of the model has caused different responses for
Figure-16. Human arm model developed in CST MWS, the penetrating radiations. The conductivity of the skin is
a) perspective view, b) cross section of the top view the main player in the absorption of the radiated power.
(zoomed in). The skin has the highest conductivity followed by muscle
and bone layers, while the fat has the lowest. This
As mentioned previously, the performance of explains that most of the absorbed power occurs on the
proposed antennas operating in close proximity to the skin.
body has been conducted using developed numerical

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performance at the presence of the body has been

obtained and discussed. The SAR evaluation has been
performed. The proposed antennas meet the permissible
limit of radiation and are safe to use.
The proposed antennas have been made on jeans
substrate whose dielectric constant had been measured.
The design of each of the two proposed antennas has
followed different approaches. The first proposed antenna
was designed using different techniques such as bevels,
slots and notches in order to achieve a high bandwidth.
The second proposed antenna was designed in simpler
approach using a mere rectangular patch on a partial
Figure-18. Total SAR [W/kg] for antenna II in the 4- ground-plane without adding any techniques in order to
layer body phantom. ease producing the antenna and minimize the errors at
fabrication stage.
The plotted values in Figure-18 represent the Simulated and measured S11 parameter results
total SAR for antenna II. It can be observed how the SAR of the antennas at free space have shown an improved
of the antenna reduces as the antenna is placed farther bandwidth that covers the entire range of UWB.
from the phantom. The value of SAR from 3 GHz at 5 Performance of the antennas operating in close proximity
mm is observed to be higher than the one for antenna I. to the phantom has been included in this work. Since the
The drop of SAR values in Figure-18 has a smother look developed antennas were proposed for wearable
than the one in Figure-18. Here, it is worthwhile to recall applications, number of experiment has been conducted
the nature of the design of both of the antennas, where to examine the stability of the antenna at selected
antenna I has been designed with symmetrical geometry conditions. Conditions such as bending the antennas to a
unlike antenna II which was designed asymmetrical. certain degree were applied and results have been
Therefore, the same portion of the phantom could have discussed. Further investigations have been added to the
absorbed more power from antenna II than antenna I at work to examine the operation of the antennas when
that particular frequency, and this significantly depends severe environmental conditions such as soaking the
on the patterns of the electric-field. antennas in water or buried in fine aggregates. The
proposed antennas have passed the minimum
5. CONCLUSIONS requirements for UWB which is 25% of bandwidth.
The study of on-body systems has widened the
research about the quality of the performance of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
wearable antennas when attached to the body and the The authors would like to thank UTHM for
impact of the interaction between the radio-waves and sponsoring this work under the reference
tissues of the body. To provide such information about UTHM/PPI/600-5/1/10 Jilid 7(45). The authors would
the interaction between the electromagnetic radiations like also to appreciate the Ministry of Higher Education,
and the living body, researchers and mobile industries Yemen for their contribution into the research.
have developed a representation for the human body to
examine the behavior of both of the communicating 6. REFERENCES
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