A transparent and flexible polymer-fabric tissue UWB antenna for future wireless networks

Abstract

A flexible and transparent ultrawideband (UWB) antenna that uses a transparent conductive fabric tissue on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate is presented in this letter. The fabric tissue is integrated onto the PDMS having a thickness of 2 mm to produce an efficient UWB antenna. To achieve this, first, a sheet of the conductive fabric tissue was attached to the upper and lower surface of a PDMS layer to produce a fabric panel with three layers. Then, the radiating elements were formulated precisely in the upper and lower layers, using a laser machine. The measured transparency of the fabric tissue and the PDMS can attain a value of more than 70% and 90%, respectively, in the visible spectrum. The antenna operates at a 2.2-25-GHz band with average efficiency of over 75% throughout the operating band and shows satisfactory gain and a good radiation pattern. It performs well under bending conditions, as ensured by its measurements. The proposed antenna's optical transparency, mechanical flexible properties, and seamless integration process indicate its promising potential in a variety of transparent antenna applications for future wireless networks.