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This thesis describes the possibilities of wearable antennas and the basic properties description. Numeric model for ISM 2,4 GHz band is created by CST Microwave Studio®. The thesis also deals with the human body proximity effect by two models of human tissue. The effect of flexibility to antenna parameters is evaluated. Several samples of the antenna has been created and measured. Obtained results has been compared with numeric model and with the literature.

Presented thesis is oriented on wearable antennas. The main aim of this thesis is to introduce the basic properties, measurement of textile’s electric properties and several manufacturing methods. The antenna design for the ISM 5.8 GHz bandwidth is also included and further observed by numerical model in CST Microwave Studio. The impact of flexibility and the influence of human tissue are evaluated in the case of designed equipment. According to the optimized design was made several samples by various technologies and samples were measured. Achieved results are further compared to equivalent results listed in actual available references.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / Balasubramaniam Natarajan / Wireless body area networks (WBANs) are an important part of the developing internet of things (IOT). NASA currently uses space suits with wired sensors to collect limited biomedical data. Continuous monitoring and collecting more extensive body vital signs is important to assess astronaut health. This dissertation investigates wireless biomedical sensor systems that can be easily incorporated into future space suits to enable real time astronaut health monitoring. The focus of the work is on the radio-wave channel and associated antennas. We show that the space suit forms a unique propagation environment where the outer layers of the suit’s thermal micrometeoroid garment are largely radio opaque. This environment can be modeled as a coaxial one in which the body itself plays the role of the coax center conductor while the space suit shielding materials play the role of the outer shield. This model is then validated through simulations and experiments. Selecting the best frequency of operation is a complex mixture of requirements, including frequency allocations, attenuation in propagation, and antenna size. We investigate the propagation characteristics for various frequency bands from 315 MHz to 5.2 GHz. Signal attenuation is analyzed as a function of frequency for various communication pathways through 3D simulations and laboratory experiments. Small-scale radio channel results indicate that using lower frequency results in minimal path loss. On the other hand, measurements conducted on a full-scale model suggest that 433 MHz and 2400 MHz yield acceptable path loss values. Propagation between the left wrist and left ankle yielded the worst overall path loss, but signals were still above –100 dBm in raw measurements for a 0dBm transmission indicating that the intra-suit environment is conducive to wireless propagation. Our findings suggest that the UHF bands are best candidate bands since there is interplay between the body conductivity favoring lower frequencies, and the difficulty of coupling RF energy into and out of the channel using suitably sized antennas favoring higher frequencies. Finally, a new self-shielded folded bow-tie antenna is proposed that can be a promising choice for the general area of WBAN technologies as well as potential new space suit environments.

Although current head imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) are capable of providing accurate diagnosis of brain injuries such as stroke and brain tumour, they have several limitations including high cost, long scanning time, bulky and mostly stationary. On the other hand, radar-based microwave imaging technology can offer a low cost, non-invasive and non-ionisation method to complement these existing imaging techniques. Moreover, a compact and wearable device for microwave head imaging is required to facilitate frequent or real-time monitoring of a patient by providing more comfort to the patient. Therefore, a wearable head imaging device would be a significant advantage compared to the existing wideband microwave head sensing devices which typically utilise rigid antenna structure. Furthermore, the wearable device can be integrated into different microwave imaging setups such as real-time wearable head imaging systems, portable systems and conventional stationary imaging tools for use in hospitals and clinics. This thesis presents the design and development of wearable devices utilising flexible antenna arrays and compact radio frequency (RF) switching circuits for wideband microwave head imaging applications. The design and characterisation of sensing antennas using flexible materials for the wearable head imaging device are presented in the first stage of this study. There are two main variations of monopole antennas that have been developed in this research, namely trapezoidal and elliptical configurations. The antennas have been fabricated using different flexible substrate materials such as flexible FR-4, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and textile. Wideband performances of the antennas have been achieved by optimising their co-planar waveguide feeding line structures. Importantly, the efficiencies of the fabricated antennas have been tested using a realistic human head phantom by evaluating their impedance matching performances when operating in close proximity to the head phantom. The second stage of the study presents the development of wearable antenna arrays using the proposed flexible antennas. The first prototype has been built using an array of 12 flexible antennas and a conformal absorbing material backed with a conductive sheet to suppress the back lobe radiation of the monopole antennas. Additionally, the absorber also acts as a mounting base to hold the antennas where the wearable device can be comfortably worn like a hat during the measurement and monitoring processes. The effect of mutual coupling between adjacent antennas in the array has been investigated and optimised. However, the use of the absorbing material makes the device slightly rigid where it can only be fitted on a specific head size. Thus, a second prototype has been developed by using a head band to realise a stretchable configuration that can be mounted on different sizes of human heads. Furthermore, due to the stretchable characteristic of the prototype, the antennas can be firmly held in their positions when measurements are made. In addition, fully textile based sensing antennas are employed in this prototype making it perfectly suitable for monitoring purposes. Low cost and compact switching circuits to provide switching mechanism for the wearable antenna array are presented in the third stage of this study. The switching circuit is integrated with the antenna array to form a novel wearable microwave head imaging device eliminating the use of external bulky switching network. The switching circuit has been built using off-the-shelf components where it can be controlled wirelessly over Bluetooth connection. Then, a new integrated switching circuit prototype has been fabricated using 6-layer printed circuit board (PCB) technology. For the purpose of impedance matching for the radio-frequency (RF) routing lines on the circuit, a wideband Microstrip-to-Microstrip transition is utilised. The final stage of this study investigates the efficacy and sensitivity of the proposed wearable devices by performing experiments on developed realistic human head phantoms. Initially, a human head phantom has been fabricated using food-based ingredients such as tap water, sugar, salt, and agar. Subsequently, lamb's brains have been used to improve the head phantom employed in the experiments to better mimic the heterogeneous human brain. In terms of imaging process, an interpolation technique developed using experimental data has been proposed to assist the localisation of a haemorrhage stroke location using the confocal delay-and-sum algorithm. This new technique is able to provide sensible accuracy of the location of the blood clot inside the brain. The wearable antenna arrays using flexible antennas and their integrations with compact and low cost switching circuits reported in this thesis make valuable contribution to microwave head imaging field. It is expected that a low-cost, compact and wearable radar-based microwave head imaging can be fully realised in the future for wide range of applications including static scanning setup in hospitals, portable equipment in ambulances and as a standalone wearable head monitoring system for remote and real-time monitoring purposes.

Grâce aux progrès réalisés ces dernières années dans la conception de réseaux intelligents, tels que les réseaux centrés sur la personne (WBAN) ou les réseaux sans fils de proximité (WPAN), de nouveaux types d’applications émergent et utilisent des capteurs d’informations capables de relever les paramètres physiologiques, environnementaux et plus particulièrement le positionnement des personnes. Dans ce cadre, nous nous sommes attachés dans ce travail de recherche à la conception et la réalisation d’antennes en polarisation circulaire pouvant être intégrées dans des vêtements, pour les standards de géolocalisation européen Galiléo et Américain GPS. Nous avons utilisé pour ces antennes des structures métamatériaux de type conducteurs magnétiques artificiels, afin d’augmenter les performances en rayonnement et pour diminuer le couplage avec et le corps humain. Une autre voie explorée est l’utilisation d’antennes patchs qui sont de nature faible encombrement. La bande de fréquence du standard de communications par satellite Iridium étant très proche du standard de géolocalisation GPS, nous avons trouvé intéressant de développer une solution de type patch couvrant les deux bandes GPS (1,575 GHz) et Iridium (1,621 GHz). L’antenne devant être intégrée sur une boite crânienne, les niveaux de débit d’absorption spécifique et les modifications du rayonnement sous conformation de l’antenne ont également été étudiés. L’évolution de ce travail a été ensuite d’étudier le comportement de cette antenne posée sur le dessus d’un casque militaire français. Les performances en rayonnement ont été satisfaisantes et ont montré la possibilité d’une telle application. / Thanks to the progress made in the recent years in the design of smart networks, such as wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), or Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), a novel type of emerging applications using smarts sensor measuring physiologic parameters, environmental et more particularly positioning of the persons are nowadays available. In the research presented in this manuscript, we are committed to design and realize antennas that can be possibly integrated into clothes, dedicated to the American GPS (1.227 GHz - 1.575 GHz) and European Galileo (1.180 GHz - 1.575 GHz) global navigation satellite systems. We used for these antennas a type of metamaterial structure named artificial magnetic conductor, to increase and enhance the radiation performance and reduce the coupling between the antenna and the human body. Another way has been explored using patch antenna solutions that are inherently low profile antennas. As the frequency band of the satellite communication system Iridium is close to the GPS one, we developed a dual band antenna solution covering both GPS (1.575 GHz) and Iridium (1.612 GHz) standards. The antenna being dedicated to be integrated over a human skull, the specific absorption rate and the radiation modification was also studied.

Actuellement, les fantassins de l'armée française sont équipés d'un système de radiocommunication quand ils sont en intervention sur le terrain. L'antenne utilisée pour émettre et recevoir les signaux radiofréquences (RF) est du type monopole appelée antenne fouet placée parallèlement au corps du fantassin au niveau de la clavicule gauche. Cependant, l'antenne fouet perturbe le champ de vision des fantassins surtout lorsqu'ils tournent leur tête vers la gauche. De plus, la position de l'antenne fouet gêne les fantassins gauchers lorsqu'ils sont en position de tir. Enfin, l'antenne fouet rajoute un poids supplémentaire. Il est évident alors que l'intégration de l'antenne dans les gilets militaires permet de mieux répondre aux besoins des fantassins notamment en termes d'ergonomie. Cependant une telle intégration doit aussi répondre aux besoins d'efficacité de rayonnement, de couverture spatiale et de protection du corps vis-à-vis du rayonnement de l'antenne. De plus les contraintes liées à la technologie de réalisation doivent être prises en compte. La thèse est focalisée sur la conception et la caractérisation d'antennes intégrées aux gilets militaires. Le travail de recherche s'est fait dans le cadre du projet collaboratif GIANTE, soutenu par le dispositif DGA-RAPID, associant les partenaires complémentaires : SAFRAN Sagem, le laboratoire LCIS et ARDEJE. Le travail inclue tous les développements relevant de la conception électromagnétique avec la prise en compte du corps humain et le suivi de la réalisation par impression numérique assurée par ARDEJE qui possède la technologique jet d'encre. Il concerne également la caractérisation RF (adaptation, bande passante, diagramme de rayonnement) des antennes avec un banc expérimental adapté et l'évaluation des performances globales des antennes en environnements fonctionnels (milieu dégagé, milieu urbain, forêt). / Nowadays, the infantrymen of French army are equipped with a radio communication system when they are in field action. The antenna used to transmit and receive Radiofrequency (RF) signals is a monopole antenna called as whip antenna. It is placed parallel to the infantryman's body at the left clavicle. However, the whip antenna disrupts the field of view of infantrymen particularly when they turn their head to the left. Moreover, the position of the whip antenna bothers the left-handed infantrymen when they are in fire position. Finally, the whip antenna adds an additional weight to the infantrymen. Thus, it is obvious that the integration of the antenna into the military jackets allows to better meet the needs of infantrymen particularly in terms of ergonomy. However such an integration must also meet the needs in terms of radiation efficiency, spatial coverage and protection of the body against the antenna radiation. Moreover, the constraints of realization technology must be taken into account. The thesis is focused on the design and characterization of integrated antennas into military jackets. The research work is performed within the collaborative project GIANTE, supported by the DGA-RAPID frameproject, associating complementary partners: SAFRAN Sagem, laboratory LCIS, and ARDEJE. The work includes all the electromagnetic studies required by the environmental constraints by taking account the human body. It also includes the follow-up of the realizations made by ARDEJE that masters inkjet printing technologies. The RF characterization (impedance matching, bandwidth, radiation pattern) of antennas with a suitable bench test and the evaluation of global performances of antennas in functional environments (environment free from obstructions, urban areas, forest) are also part of the thesis work.

Actuellement, les fantassins de l'armée française sont équipés d'un système de radiocommunication quand ils sont en intervention sur le terrain. L'antenne utilisée pour émettre et recevoir les signaux radiofréquences (RF) est du type monopole appelée antenne fouet placée parallèlement au corps du fantassin au niveau de la clavicule gauche. Cependant, l'antenne fouet perturbe le champ de vision des fantassins surtout lorsqu'ils tournent leur tête vers la gauche. De plus, la position de l'antenne fouet gêne les fantassins gauchers lorsqu'ils sont en position de tir. Enfin, l'antenne fouet rajoute un poids supplémentaire. Il est évident alors que l'intégration de l'antenne dans les gilets militaires permet de mieux répondre aux besoins des fantassins notamment en termes d'ergonomie. Cependant une telle intégration doit aussi répondre aux besoins d'efficacité de rayonnement, de couverture spatiale et de protection du corps vis-à-vis du rayonnement de l'antenne. De plus les contraintes liées à la technologie de réalisation doivent être prises en compte. La thèse est focalisée sur la conception et la caractérisation d'antennes intégrées aux gilets militaires. Le travail de recherche s'est fait dans le cadre du projet collaboratif GIANTE, soutenu par le dispositif DGA-RAPID, associant les partenaires complémentaires : SAFRAN Sagem, le laboratoire LCIS et ARDEJE. Le travail inclue tous les développements relevant de la conception électromagnétique avec la prise en compte du corps humain et le suivi de la réalisation par impression numérique assurée par ARDEJE qui possède la technologique jet d'encre. Il concerne également la caractérisation RF (adaptation, bande passante, diagramme de rayonnement) des antennes avec un banc expérimental adapté et l'évaluation des performances globales des antennes en environnements fonctionnels (milieu dégagé, milieu urbain, forêt). / Nowadays, the infantrymen of French army are equipped with a radio communication system when they are in field action. The antenna used to transmit and receive Radiofrequency (RF) signals is a monopole antenna called as whip antenna. It is placed parallel to the infantryman's body at the left clavicle. However, the whip antenna disrupts the field of view of infantrymen particularly when they turn their head to the left. Moreover, the position of the whip antenna bothers the left-handed infantrymen when they are in fire position. Finally, the whip antenna adds an additional weight to the infantrymen. Thus, it is obvious that the integration of the antenna into the military jackets allows to better meet the needs of infantrymen particularly in terms of ergonomy. However such an integration must also meet the needs in terms of radiation efficiency, spatial coverage and protection of the body against the antenna radiation. Moreover, the constraints of realization technology must be taken into account. The thesis is focused on the design and characterization of integrated antennas into military jackets. The research work is performed within the collaborative project GIANTE, supported by the DGA-RAPID frameproject, associating complementary partners: SAFRAN Sagem, laboratory LCIS, and ARDEJE. The work includes all the electromagnetic studies required by the environmental constraints by taking account the human body. It also includes the follow-up of the realizations made by ARDEJE that masters inkjet printing technologies. The RF characterization (impedance matching, bandwidth, radiation pattern) of antennas with a suitable bench test and the evaluation of global performances of antennas in functional environments (environment free from obstructions, urban areas, forest) are also part of the thesis work.