A Compact Dual-Band Antenna for Wireless Body-Area Network Applications

A novel compact dual-band antenna for wireless body-area network (WBAN) is presented. The miniaturization is realized by bisecting a quadrant circular microstrip antenna along the fictitious magnetic wall, while the electric field distribution at 2.45 GHz is preserved. By slitting an open-ended quarter-wavelength slot, a second resonant mode at 5.8 GHz is excited. The proposed antenna is fabricated and measured both in free space and on-body. Enhancement in bandwidth and radiation patterns is observed for on-body performance compared to that in free-space. Measured fractional bandwidths of 1.2% and 2.0% are obtained at the two bands, respectively, when the antenna is mounted on-body, along with the corresponding simulated radiation efficiency values of 60% and 76%. The robust on-body performance reveals the proposed antenna as a good candidate for low-data-rate WBAN applications.