Omnidirectional Vest-Mounted Body-Worn Antenna System for UHF Operation

Author

Lee, Gil-Young ; Psychoudakis, Dimitris ; Chen, Chi-Chih ; Volakis, John L.

Author_Institution

Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH, USA

Volume

10

fYear

2011

fDate

7/3/1905 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

581

Lastpage

583

Abstract

We present an omnidirectional UHF body-worn antenna specifically designed for vests worn by law enforcement agencies. Typically, body-worn antennas suffer from pattern nulling that decreases communication reliability. The proposed antenna system consists of a compact diversity module (79 × 41 × 28 mm³) and four antennas mounted on a typical body-worn vest to achieve an omnidirectional pattern. Each antenna element is carefully designed for body-worn mounting onto fitted vests and can operate at UHF frequencies with reasonable on-body gain. Radiation patterns are calculated and validated via measurements. Performance is also evaluated in an indoor environment for several realistic human activities. Comparison to a simple whip monopole antenna is also provided.

Keywords

UHF antennas; antenna radiation patterns; diversity reception; omnidirectional antennas; wearable antennas; UHF frequency; UHF operation; antenna element; communication reliability; diversity module; law enforcement agency; omnidirectional vest mounted body worn antenna system; radiation pattern; Antenna measurements; Antenna radiation patterns; Broadband antennas; Dipole antennas; Gain; Body-worn antennas; diversity methods; radio diversity; wireless communication;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-1225

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LAWP.2011.2158381

Filename

5783293