E-textiles antenna

Multilayer fabrics or 3D fabrics are necessary to integrate electronics into textiles. E-textile antennas are multilayer interwoven panels, and each layer depends on the other to work properly. The 3D fabrics are also necessary for nodes and network configurations. 

Top view of 3D woven E-textile antenna is shown in Eigure 9.6. Conductive patch of stainless steel and U-shaped slot are shown at the top. The challenge inherent to many advanced communication and navigation application is achieving wideband operation from a single antenna. One such antenna architecture that is capable of achieving the types of bandwidth required is the slotted patch antenna. This antenna used a thick substrate ( 1.5 cm) and the U-shaped slot to increase the bandwidth. 

Figure 9.6 E-textile antenna (Courtesy of Bally Ribbon Mills).

Figure 9.7 shows a conductive layer of stainless steel on face of lower spacer of E-textile antenna. This E-textile antenna was woven with Quartz fiber spacers, conductive stainless steel, conductive stripline, and conductive patch with Quartz fiber. 

Research (Courtesy of Bally Ribbon Mills) showed that the performance of E-textiles antenna equaled that of antenna produced by conventional methods, whereas the cost and weight were significantly reduced. This technology using textile components and methods allows microwave and ultra-high-frequency antenna. 

These antennas can be used on a variety of projects to realize battlefield wireless anteimas or to incorporate antennas into airframes or vehicles. E-textile antennas could be incorporated into composite structures during the manufacturing process. The use of composite antenna encapsulation allows radar and communications anteimas to be incorporated into airframes and ship hulls in a manner not before possible. This advanced E-textile-based antenna process can find application in the incorporation of antennas and other microwave circuits into UAVs and vehicles. Government and commercial applications of this technology include the incorporation of these wireless antennas into uniforms, truck covers, tents, and seats. They can stitch onto carpets, ceiling tiles, and headliners as well as tapestries and many other textile products that surround us every day. 

E-textiles may be defined as textiles with electronic properties, and the markets for E-textiles are rapidly growing. An E-textile is an application built within a textile. E-textiles are finding their use in wearable technology, sports and fitness markets, medical and health monitoring systems, sleep apnea monitoring systems, antenna applications, space, military, infotainment, fashion, and others. Conductive tapes, webbings, fabrics, and 3D preforms are being used for E-textile applications. E-textile markets will soon be a billion dollar industry. 

Scientist of NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA Tech Briefs, 2008) demonstrated flexible, electrically conductive patterns on textile substrate for many applications including high-speed digital circuits, antennas, and RF circuits. E-textile circuits... 

E-textiles are being used in wearable technology, the sports and fitness market, health monitoring systems, sleep apnea monitoring systems, antenna applications, and space, defense, and military applications. 

To demonstrate the RF performance of textile antennas, sample patch antennas are fabricated for experimental verification on both planar and curved surfaces (Wang et al., 2012b). Measurements showed that the RF performance of the E-fiber patch antennas on polymer substrate is as good as that of their copper counterparts. 

We also evaluated the E-fiber anteima s RF performance when the textile antenna was embroidered on a polyester scarf (see Figure 10.21a). The textile antenna s performance was measured outdoors in windy weather (Wang et al., 2013a), as shown in Figure 10.21a, to ensure repeatable and reliable performance even when the scarf... 

Figure 10.22 (a) Embroidered multiband textile antenna using E-fibers, and measured and simulated RF performance of the textile antenna in free space (b) Sll, (c) realized gain, and (d) radiation patterns. 

K. Koski, E. Lohan, L. Sydanheimo, L. Ukkonen, Y. Rahmat-Samii, Electro-textile UHE RFID patch antennas for positioning and localization applications, in IEEE RFID Technology and Applications Conference (RFID-TA), September 2014. 

Among the listed embroidered conductive textiles in Table 10.1, those noted as (6) exhibit the best combination of RF performance, mechanical strength, and load-bearing capability (Wang et ah, 2012b Toyobo Co., Ltd, 2005). In this chapter, we evaluate the RF characteristics of these embroidered E-fibers and their applications to antenna design. Of importance is that the materials used for the dielectric substrate of the embroidered textiles must also preserve the flexibility, integrity, and RF performance of the stmcture. In this chapter, we use polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)... 

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