An Artificial Magnetic Conductor-Backed Compact Wearable Antenna for Smart Watch IoT Applications

Smart watch antenna design is challenging due to the limited available area and the contact with the human body. The strap of smart watch can be utilized effectively for integration of the antenna. In this study, an antenna integrated on a smart watch strap model using computer simulation technology (CST) was designed. The antenna was designed for industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency bands at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz. Roger 3003C was used as substrate due to its semi-flexible nature. The antenna size is 28.81 × 19.22 × 1.58 mm3 and it has a gain of 1.03 and 5.97 dB, and efficiency of 80% and 95%, at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, on the smart watch strap, respectively. A unit cell was designed having a dimension of 19.19 × 19.19 × 1.58 mm3 to mitigate the effect of back radiation and to enhance the gain. The antenna backed by the unit cell exhibited a gain of 2.44 and 6.17 dB with efficiency of 50% and 72% at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively. The AMC-backed antenna was integrated into a smart watch strap and placed on a human tissue model to study its human proximity effects. The specific absorption rate (SAR) values were calculated to be 0.19 and 1.18 W/kg at the designed ISM frequencies, and are well below the permissible limit set by the FCC and ICINPR. Because the antenna uses flexible material for wearable applications, bending analysis was also undertaken. The indicated results prove that bending along the x- and y-axes has a negligible effect on the antenna’s performance and the antenna showed excellent performance in the human proximity test. The measured results of the fabricated antenna were comparable with the simulated results. Thus, the designed antenna is compact, has high gain, and can be used effectively for wireless IoT applications.