Embroidered Ground Planes for Wearable Antennas

Abstract

Various embroidered structures with differing amounts of stitch spacing, stitch density, and various stitching patterns are characterized through scattering experiments. From the scattering measurements, an effective sheet resistance is determined for a variety of embroidery parameters. Based on observations from the characterization procedure, several hybrid ground planes incorporating both computerized embroidery and metallized fabric are then realized and compared in view of their applications to textile antennas. The main contribution of the current study is then to provide a practical means of realizing selectively embroidered antenna structures that can serve as a viable, if not equivalent, replacement to purely metallized fabric-based antennas.