Flexible Antenna on Polymer-Conductive Textile Composite for Epidermal Electronics

In this paper, we investigate the applicability of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-conductive textile composite for realization of a robust flexible antenna for skin-mounted applications. For this purpose, we present the design, manufacture, and testing of an ultra high frequency (UHF) 868 MHz loop antenna with the specified material. The antenna performance has been investigated through simulations and measurements on a human forearm phantom. Apart from having a low-profile implementation and being mechanically flexible, and thus comfortable for on-skin use, the novel antenna presented demonstrates a wide operating bandwidth with acceptable gain for epidermal electronics.