Inflatable Lifejacket-Integrated Flexible Multiband Antenna

Abstract

In this paper, we suggested multiband antenna that can be equipped on a inflatable life-jacket, operating VHF-DSC band(156 MHz), COSPAS-SARSAT band(406 MHz) and GPS band(1,575 MHz) for search and rescue survivors quickly. The GPS band antenna was implemented with a square ring-slot planar antenna, and the COSPAS-SARSAT and VHF-DSC band antenna were implemented meander type dipole antennas. In order to place the antenna on a life-jacket, we installed it on 0.2 mm thickness FR-4 substrate to obtain a flexibility. It appeared that the antenna has -14.6 dB, -30.9 dB, and -18 dB return loss in COSPAS-SARSAT, GPS, and VHF-DSC band, respectively. In addition, its gain has 0.83 dBi, 2.1 dBi in COSPAS-SARSAT and GPS band, respectively.