Systematic Investigation from Material Characterization to Modeling of Jute-Substrate-Based Conformal Circularly Polarized Wearable Antenna
This study considers emerging trends to develop a textile-based circularly polarized (CP) conformal textile antenna on jute textile material as a natural fiber substrate due to its durability, ecofriendliness, and skin-friendly nature. The jute fabric material was subject to extensive study by scanning electron microscopy to compared it with other, related materials such as cotton and silk. Considering the infeasibility of using cotton or silk, jute textile is considered to be an effective textile substrate due to its active fiber interaction, low level of noncellulose impurities, and excellent antistatic properties. The topology of the proposed textile antenna is inspired by the tai chi symbol, where the main radiating structure has a semicircular shape and the ground structure include a similar form but complementary to the main radiating element. Industrial-grade conductive copper paint was used to achieve conducting radiating elements. The designed antenna resonates with circular polarization (CP) at 3.5 GHz, 4.9 GHz, and 5.8 GHz in the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, wireless local area network, and industrial, scientific, and medical radio bands. The variations of the resonant frequencies, axial ratios, and surface current distributions of the textile-based antenna were systematically investigated with bending at different angles to evaluate its use in body-mounted applications.