Wearable Waveguide Surface for Low-Loss Body Area Network Communications

In this letter, a wearable waveguide surface for body area network communications is proposed. The designed structure is a via-less easy-to-manufacture waveguide surface optimized to work in 2.6 GHz band. It is built on a flexible substrate, which makes it suitable for integration in clothes. The experimental measurement of the waveguide surface placed around the human torso is presented. This waveguide structure increases the transmission level between two half-wave dipole end-launchers from −60 to −8 dB over a 435.8 mm distance.