On the design and performance analysis of wristband MIMO/diversity antenna for smart wearable communication applications

The design of a silicone rubber-based wristband wearable antenna exploiting pattern diversity is presented in this paper. The wristband diversity antenna consists of four identical antenna elements with an inter-element spacing of 0.68λ(0), where λ(0) is the lower cut-off wavelength. A modified trapezoidal-shaped radiator with a rectangular ground structure is used to achieve ultra-wide bandwidth. The proposed multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)/diversity antenna covers a frequency range of 2.75–12 GHz. The antenna element offers a radiation efficiency of 89.3% and a gain of 3.41 dBi. The size of the wristband diversity antenna is 1.1λ(0) × 18.4λ(0) × 0.18λ(0). The diversity performance characteristics of the prototype antenna are examined, with the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) < 0.18, apparent diversity gain (ADG) > 9.5, effective diversity gain (EDG) > 9.5, mean effective gain (MEG) < 1 dB, total active reflection coefficient (TARC) < − 10 dB, and channel capacity loss (CCL) < 0.1 bits/s/Hz over the entire operating band. The specific absorption rate (SAR) of the proposed wristband antenna is analyzed to determine its radiation exposure on the human body, and the results show that the values are less than 0.02 W/kg.