Electro-textile wearable antennas in wireless body area networks: materials, antenna design, manufacturing techniques, and human body consideration—a review

Abstract

The latest progress in the emerging wireless technology has resulted in the development of wearable antennas made of various fabrics. This unique antenna is an integral part of the wireless body area network (WBAN). A wide range of applications are made by the wearable antennas in the fields of the Internet of Things, sport, defense, public safety, telemedicine, navigation, and tracking. The focus point of the current review is the recent progress of electro-textiles research with special attention on the materials properties, criteria, and manufacturing techniques. Existing as well as upcoming materials specifically and potentially used for electro-textile fabrication are discussed. Various manufacturing techniques are discussed to match the importance of material selection. The current work highlights the performance when the antennas tagging are applied in WBAN objects and illustrates how the human body affects the performance of the wearable antenna and vice versa. The findings of this review by introducing the best materials, techniques, and designs could be used in future to provide high-performance materials for body-centric applications.

Knowledge map visualization of technology hotspots and development trends in China’s textile manufacturing industry

“…It was found that the quality of the employee service plays a moderating role between RFID and the operation of the textile manufacturing and apparel industry, and it helps practitioners solve related industry problems [11]; Almohammed et al introduced the material properties, standards and manufacturing process of electronic textile manufacturing, and analysed the importance of current electronic textile manufacturing processes and material selection. It was found that the electronic textile manufacturing materials, technology, and design can provide high-performance materials for body-centric applications in the future [12].…”

The Effect of Miss and Tuck Stitches on a Weft Knit Strain Sensor

“…In the last decade, the application of knit fabrics has expanded from the traditional textile applications to their use in the creation of wearable electronics. From the use of warp knit to create textile antennas to the use of weft knit to create strain sensors, the application of knitting to create conventional electronics is being rapidly adopted [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. In particular, conductive weft knitted fabrics have been utilised as strain sensors, because of their elastic structure and piezoresistivity [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”

Meta-Wearable Antennas—A Review of Metamaterial Based Antennas in Wireless Body Area Networks

“…Wearable antennas, as a vital component in WBAN systems, enable wireless communication with other devices on or off human bodies [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Compared to traditional antennas, the design of wearable antennas are facing many development bottlenecks: The electromagnetic coupling between the human body and the antenna, the varying physical deformations, the widely varying operating environments, and limitations of the fabrication process [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ].…”

“…Compared to traditional antennas, the design of wearable antennas are facing many development bottlenecks: The electromagnetic coupling between the human body and the antenna, the varying physical deformations, the widely varying operating environments, and limitations of the fabrication process [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Further, the requirements for these wearable antennas include mechanical robustness, low-profile, lightweight, user comfort, fabrication simplicity [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], wideband [ 25 , 26 ], and multiband [ 20 , 27 , 29 ]. Thus, advanced design methods and techniques are urgently needed to address these problems and demands of wearable antennas.…”

“…Thus, advanced design methods and techniques are urgently needed to address these problems and demands of wearable antennas. In recent years, there has been much literature reporting the fabric material manufacturing and treatment: Embroidered fabric material, sewn textile materials, woven fabrics, materials that are not woven, knitted fabrics, spun fabrics, braiding, coated fabrics through/lamination, printed fabrics, and chemically treated fabrics [ 18 , 19 ]. Furthermore, novel forms of flexible devices such as a fully inkjet-printed antenna [ 30 , 31 ], a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based antenna [ 21 , 22 ], embroidery [ 32 ], and a silicone-based antenna [ 33 ], and devices combined with new design methods such as substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) technology [ 34 ], miniature feeding network [ 23 ], magneto-electric dipole [ 35 ], characteristic mode theory [ 27 , 36 , 37 ], textile-type indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO)-based transistors [ 30 ], and thin-film transistor technologies [ 24 ], are presented for special application scenarios.…”