This paper presents a wideband, low-profile and semi-flexible antenna for wearable biomedical telemetry applications. The antenna is designed on a semi-flexible material of RT/duroid 5880 (r = 2.2, tanδ = 0.0004) with an overall dimensions of 17 mm × 25 mm × 0.787 mm (0.2λ • × 0.29λ • × 0.009λ •). A conventional rectangular patch is modified by adding rectangular slots to lower the resonant frequency, and the partial ground plane is modified to enhance the operational bandwidth. The final antenna model operates at 2.4 GHz with a 10-dB bandwidth (fractional bandwidth) of 1380 MHz (59.7 % at the centre frequency of 2.4 GHz). The proposed antenna maintains high gain (2.50 dBi at 2.4 GHz) and efficiency (93 % at 2.4 GHz). It is proved from the simulations and experimental results that the antenna has negligible effects in terms of reflection coefficient, bandwidth, gain, and efficiency when it is bent. Moreover, the antenna is simulated and experimentally tested in proximity of the human body, which shows good performance. The proposed wideband antenna is a promising candidate for compact wearable biomedical devices. INDEX TERMS On-body antenna, wideband antenna, wearable antenna, SAR, flexible antenna, biomedical antenna.

A printed and minimal size antenna having the functionality of frequency shifting as well as pattern reconfigurability is presented in this work. The antenna proposed in this work consists of three switches. Switch 1 is a lumped switch that controls the operating bands of the antenna. Switch 2 and Switch 3 controls the beam switching of the antenna. When the Switch 1 is ON, the proposed antenna operates at 3.1 GHz and 6.8 GHz, covering the 2.5-4.2 GHz and 6.2-7.4 GHz bands, respectively. When Switch 1 is OFF, the antenna operates only at 3.1 GHz covering the 2.5-4.2 GHz band. The desired beam from the antenna can be obtained by adjusting the ON and OFF states of Switches 2 and 3. Unique beams can be obtained by different combination of ON and OFF states of the Switches 2 and 3. A gain greater than 3.7 dBi is obtained for all four cases.

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