A Robust Printed Antenna for UHF Wearable Applications

A novel printed antenna is designed for wearable and RFID applications in the UHF band. The antenna design is performed following energy-based design guidelines available in the recent literature. High robustness with respect to the human body coupling is achieved by confining the electric energy density in a region far from the antenna borders. The proposed configuration also provides a compact realization, and a high versatility, since it can be easily matched to different commercial chips. A prototype of this wearable antenna has been manufactured and tested in an anechoic environment. Experimental measurements of the read range confirm the results of the numerical simulations and demonstrate the antenna robustness with respect to the variations of the body–antenna coupling scenario.