Wearable aperture-coupled shorted solar patch antenna for remote tracking and monitoring applications

This paper presents the design and characterization of a compact wearable aperture-coupled shorted patch antenna combined with flexible solar cells covering the 902–928 MHz ISM band. The antenna is constructed solely out of flexible foam and textile materials. The parallel connected amorphous silicon (a:Si-H) solar cells are able to deliver a maximum DC power output of about 96 mW. Combining solar cells with a shorted patch antenna allows a simple realization of the DC output wire connections without disturbing the antenna's radiation characteristics. A measured on-body antenna gain and bandwidth of about 1.6 dBi and 63 MHz are realized, respectively.

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