3D printed miniaturized UWB antenna for wireless body area network

A wireless body area network (WBAN) is a network of compact low power devices that are either wearable or implantable. A compact antenna with suitable radiation pattern and polarization is useful for WBAN applications. Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology can be used in WBAN applications that require high data rates. This paper present a small wearable (17 × 17 × 15 mm) UWB antenna designed and optimized in a FDTD full wave simulator. The simulated -10 dB impedance bandwidth is from 4.8 GHz to 29.8 GHz in free space. The lower -10 dB cut-off frequency shifts down to 3.5 GHz when placed on the body. The antenna is vertically polarized with respect to the body which makes it a suitable candidate for on-body to on-body UWB WBAN applications. The antenna was fabricated by 3D printing technology. The measured lower cut-off frequency for an on-body case was found to be 3.6 GHz and the antenna was well-matched in rest of the UWB band.