In this paper, impedance matching enhancement of a grounded wearable low-profile loop antenna is investigated using a high-impedance surface (HIS) structure. The wearable loop antenna along with the HIS structure is maintained low-profile, making it a suitable candidate for healthcare applications. The paper starts with investigating, both numerically and experimentally, the effects of several textile parameters on the performance of the wearable loop antenna. The application of impedance enhancement of wearable grounded loop antenna with HIS structure is then demonstrated. Numerical full-wave simulations are presented and validated with measured results. Unlike the grounded wearable loop antenna alone with its degraded performance, the wearable loop antenna with HIS structure showed better matching performance improvement at the 2.45 GHz-band. The computed overall far-field properties of the wearable loop antenna with HIS structure shows good performance, with a maximum gain of 6.19 dBi. The effects of bending the wearable loop antenna structure with and without HIS structure as well as when in close proximity to a modeled human arm are also investigated, where good performance was achieved for the case of the wearable antenna with the HIS structure.

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Seamless integration of electronics within clothing is key for further development of efficient and convenient wearable technologies. Therefore, the characterization of textile and fabric materials under environmental changes and other parametric variations is an important requirement. To our knowledge, this paper presents for the first time the evaluation of dielectric characterization over temperature for non-conductive textiles using resonating structures. The paper describes the effects of temperature variations on the dielectric properties of non-conductive fabrics and how this can be derived from the performance effects of a simple microstrip patch antenna. Organic cotton was chosen as the main substrate for this research due to its broad presence in daily clothing. A dedicated measurement setup is developed to allow reliable and repeatable measurements, isolating the textile samples from external factors. This work shows an approximately linear relation between temperature and textile’s dielectric constant, giving to fabric-based antennas temperature sensing properties with capability up to 1 degree Celsius at millimeter-wave frequencies.

Flexible printed antennas have attracted a great deal of attention due to their significant potential for different technologies. Using novel materials such as graphene and inkjet printing fabrication techniques is key for further developing this technology. Several studies have characterised them separately, but it is still challenging to merge them to produce plausible flexible antennas. This paper presents the whole methodology, covering the design, fabrication process, and characterisation of a flexible, inkjet-printed graphene-based antenna intended to use within flexible electronics. The antenna pattern follows a new optimised quasi-Yagi–Uda design working in the desired range of operational frequencies (5–6 GHz). It consists of four directors and a pair of reflectors to improve the directivity with an efficiency of 42%. A co-planar waveguide feeding method is designed to tune the impedance matching, ensuring the wearer’s comfort. The flexible Kapton film was treated with plasma to improve the ink’s adhesion and coverage. The novel antenna suggested potential in advanced materials devices, suitable for various wireless applications for next-generation conformal and flexible electronic devices and applications.

Electronic textiles have become a dynamic research field in recent decades, attracting attention to smart wearables to develop and integrate electronic devices onto clothing. Combining traditional screen-printing techniques with novel nanocarbon-based inks offers seamless integration of flexible and conformal antenna patterns onto fabric substrates with a minimum weight penalty and haptic disruption. In this study, two different fabric-based antenna designs called PICA and LOOP were fabricated through a scalable screen-printing process by tuning the conductive ink formulations accompanied by cellulose nanocrystals. The printing process was controlled and monitored by revealing the relationship between the textiles’ nature and conducting nano-ink. The fabric prototypes were tested in dynamic environments mimicking complex real-life situations, such as being in proximity to a human body, and being affected by wrinkling, bending, and fabric care such as washing or ironing. Both computational and experimental on-and-off-body antenna gain results acknowledged the potential of tunable material systems complimenting traditional printing techniques for smart sensing technology as a plausible pathway for future wearables.