Title :
High Frequency Properties of Electro-Textiles for Wearable Antenna Applications
Author :
Ouyang, Yuehui ; Chappell, William J.
Author_Institution :
Purdue Univ., West Lafayette
Abstract :
A systematic study of the high frequency electrical properties of electro-textiles is presented in this paper. First, conductive thread characterization is completed with a waveguide cavity method. The effect of conductive thread density and comparison of several different types of conductive threads are included. Second, comparisons of knitted patterns and weave patterns are made in terms of effective electrical conductivity through a microstrip resonator method. The effect of various weave patterns on conductive and dielectric loss is detailed. Finally, the relevance of the high frequency characterization of the electro-textile materials is shown through electro-textile patch antenna fabrication and measurements. The efficiency of the fully fabric patch antenna is as high as 78% due to the use of low loss electrotextiles characterized in this paper.
Keywords :
antenna radiation patterns; dielectric losses; electrical conductivity; microstrip antennas; microstrip resonators; mobile antennas; textiles; conductive loss; conductive thread density; dielectric loss; electrical conductivity; electro-textile high frequency electrical properties; electro-textile patch antenna fabrication; knitted patterns; microstrip resonator method; waveguide cavity method; wearable antenna applications; weave patterns; Antenna measurements; Conducting materials; Conductivity; Dielectric losses; Dielectric materials; Fabrication; Frequency; Microstrip resonators; Patch antennas; Conducting materials; electro-textile; materials testing; microwave resonators;
Journal_Title :
Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TAP.2007.915435
