MINIATURIZATION OF STACKED WEARABLE ANTENNA FOR 5G APPLICATIONS

Wearable antennas have significantly expanded the capabilities of electronic devices, as they can now be seamlessly integrated into clothing for user convenience. The advent of 5G has opened up possibilities for enhanced functionality, necessitating compact antennas with high gain for efficient data transmission. In this paper, a sub-6GHz 5G stacked wearable antenna is proposed. The choice of a rectangular patch structure was made for its simplicity and ease of fabrication. A comprehensive analysis of antenna design, progressing from a single layer to a multilayer configuration is explained. The antenna was designed using 1mm felt and Shieldit Super conductor, with a 50 ohm coaxial feed. The proposed stacked three-layer antenna, with substrate dimensions of 44 x 44 mm2, achieves a gain of 2.7 dBi. Stacking the substrate and patch layer improves the antennas' performance, especially the impedance bandwidth and gain. On top of that, the antenna dimensions were reduced to 57% while maintaining its performance. Bending tests conducted in both X- and Y-axes demonstrate that the antenna's performance remains within an acceptable range. Although the resonating frequency shifted to 3.4 GHz in 3 layers during bending in Y-axis, the gain was kept to 1.8dBi. Both measured and simulated results exhibit good consistency, with a slight shift observed in the case of the three-layer structure.