Low-profile Button Sensor Antenna Design for Wireless Medical Body Area Networks

Abstract

A button sensor antenna for wireless medical body area networks (WMBAN) is presented, which works through the IEEE 802.11b/g/n standard. Due to strong interaction between the sensor antenna and the body, an innovative robust system is designed with a small footprint that can serve on- and off-body healthcare applications. The measured and simulated results are in good agreement. The design offers a wide range of omnidirectional radiation patterns in free space, with a reflection coefficient (S11) of -29.30 (-30.97) dB in the lower (upper) bands. S11 reaches up to -23.07 (-27.07) dB and -30.76 (-31.12) dB, respectively, on the human body chest and arm. The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values are below the regulatory limitations for both 1-gram (1.6 W/Kg) and 10-gram tissues (2.0 W/Kg). Experimental tests of the read range validate the results of a maximum coverage range of 40 meters.