A novel Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) backed, wearable, wide-band monopole antenna is designed for the investigation of path gain at the entire 5 GHz Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) band. To confirm the flexibility and user comfort requirement, the monopole and the AMC structure are printed on a textile denim substrate. The integrated wearable antenna with AMC was fabricated using a laser cutting technology and occupies a dimension of 0.66λ × 0.66λ × 0.10λ mm3 (λ is calculated at a resonant frequency of 5.2 GHz). For the evaluation of path gain, the simulation and measured transmission coefficient (S21) data were collected over distances of 1000 mm for free space and on-body. Furthermore, the simulation and measured results prove that the performance of the antenna is dynamic to the lossy human body and structural deformation at the entire band of operation. Additionally, experimental analysis was successfully carried out by pouring water on the antenna to test its performance in wet conditions.
Kulkarni et al. (Thu,) studied this question.