Optimal Design of Switchable Wearable Antenna Array for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

In the paper, we present a novel approach to the optimum design of wearable antenna arrays intended for off-body links of wireless body area networks. Specifically, we investigate a four-element array that has a switchable radiation pattern able to direct its higher gain towards a signal source and a lower gain towards an interference. The aim is to increase the signal to interference ratio. We apply a genetic algorithm to optimize both the spatial placement and the feed phasing of the elementary on-body antennas. We propose a simplified, computationally efficient model for the simulation of the array radiation pattern. The model is based on full-wave simulations obtained with a simplified cylindrical model of the human body. We also propose, implement, and evaluate four objective functions based on signal to interference ratio, i.e., min-max, nadir point distance maximization, utopia point distance minimization, and full Pareto-like. Our optimized design obtained with this approach exhibits a significant performance improvement in comparison to the initial heuristic design.

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

“…The development of body area network will result in a more context-aware and personalized communication in an intelligent wireless environment. WBAN is a network distributed around human, which is mainly used to detect and transmit physiological data of users, and cooperate with other networks to integrate the human into the overall network [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Through WBAN, communication and data synchronization can take place to complete the other communication networks, such as wireless sensor networks and mobile communication networks [ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…WBAN is a network distributed around human, which is mainly used to detect and transmit physiological data of users, and cooperate with other networks to integrate the human into the overall network [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Through WBAN, communication and data synchronization can take place to complete the other communication networks, such as wireless sensor networks and mobile communication networks [ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 ]. An important application of WBAN is in healthcare, where the body area network can transmit physiological information obtained from patients through various physiological sensors, such as blood pressure, blood sugar concentration, temperature, weight, and heartbeat [ 1 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] to the hospital’s medical monitoring equipment or the user’s personal mobile terminal [ 11 ].…”