Robust and compact PDMS antennas for search and rescue operations and emergency communications

Wearable antennas are a topic of interest in the RF and microwave community. Over the last two decades many studies have been conducted which have led to the development of several devices that are now used in many sectors such as healthcare, military and athletics. In this paper, a folded-shorted patch (FSP) compact antenna and a circular polarized (CP) patch antenna were developed and are operational at about 400 MHz and 2.45 GHz, respectively. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is used as the substrate for both the antennas in order to make them resilient to different environments, be low profile and wearable. These antennas can be useful for search and rescue operations and emergency services as they can provide compactness and flexibility of movement while maintaining antenna radiation performances. To prove durability and resiliency of the fabricated antennas, robustness tests such as bending, wet and temperature tests were performed for the CP patch. Additionally, the realized gain pattern was measured when the CP patch antenna was placed inside a ballistics jacket with experimental results demonstrating antenna operation.