Dual-band Sierpinski textile PIFA efficiency measurements

This work seeks to validate textile planar inverted-F antennas´ (PIFAs) efficiency in free space to assess the theoretical material parameters, as a prelude to characterizing the antennas in an operational environment (i.e. on body). Measurements are carried out using two methods, the first using conventional reverberation chamber (RC), and another using a new source-stirred cap (SSC) method. Two types of flexible antenna builds are evaluated; one fabricated using flexible copper foil and the other using ShieldIt conductive textile. The results from both methods showed that the fractal PIFAs are highly efficient, and provided a good agreement against a simulated model. Less than 7 % of total efficiency difference is observed, which shows that the theoretical properties used are accurate and comparable to the real life model.