Design and development of textile antennas and sensors

Abstract

Wearable electronic sector is developing in a rapid pace thereby newlineexpanding electronic component downsizing which results in the manufacture newlineof gadgets that may be worn or mounted on the userand#8223;s clothing. Textile newlineantennas and sensors are of prime importance for such gadgets. Design and newlinedevelopment of wearable textile antennas and sensors have garnered newlineundivided attention in the recent years. The development of textile structures newlineimposes a large number of challenges starting with the fabrication technique newlineused. The design needs to done keeping in mind the limitation of the newlinefabrication technique. It is of prime importance to achieve the necessary newlineresonant frequency, return loss, bandwidth and gain as the antenna is flexible newlineand conforms to the surface on which it is mounted. newlineThis thesis investigates the use of textile materials and fabrication newlinetechniques for realizing antennas and sensors. Initially textile antennas for newlineusage in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS bands were designed and developed using newlineconventional machine embroidery. The second part of the thesis examines newlinetabletop weaving for fabrication. This study on conventional fabrication newlinetechniques proved that there was a need for exclusive machinery to be newlinedeveloped for fabrication of e-textile antennas and sensors. Hence a semi newlineautomatic custom made e-textile fabrication unit based on weaving was newlinedesigned and developed. The last part covers the validation of this unit by newlinefabricating a multi-layered antenna and a multi-layered sensor. newline