Novel Compact Design and Investigation of a Super Wideband Millimeter Wave Antenna for Body-Centric Communications

Abstract

This paper presents a novel design for a multiple band millimeter wave antenna with a wide active region in the extremely high frequency (EHF) range. The antenna's performance was tested at three evenly separated frequencies: 60 GHz within the V-band region, 80 GHz within the E-band region, and 100 GHz. Simulation exhibits satisfactory results in terms of gain and efficiency, although the efficiency falling tendency for higher frequency persists. As millimeter wave antennas have miniature-like dimensions and low penetration depth into human body layers, the performance of these antennas is less disturbed by the presence of a human body, making them ideal for body-centric wireless communication (BCWC) applications. Thus, a human body model was created virtually with the necessary property data. Simulations are repeated at the same frequencies as before, with the antenna kept close to the constructed human body model. The results were promising as the gains found increased radiation patterns and return loss curves remained almost identical, except some efficiencies that were considered. Some H-plane radiation patterns are changed by the presence of a human body. Although all three frequencies present satisfactory results, 60 GHz is found to be more balanced, but 100 GHz shows better gain and directivity. Multiple band operability makes this antenna suitable for various applications. Finally, a distance-based analysis was conducted to realize the in-depth characteristics of the antenna by placing the antenna at five different gaps from the human body. The result verifies the antenna’s category as suitable for body-centric communications.