TY - JOUR A1 - Marterer, Verena A1 - Radouchová, Michaela A1 - Soukup, Radek A1 - Hipp, Susanne A1 - Blecha, Tomáš T1 - Wearable textile antennas: investigation on material variants, fabrication methods, design and application JF - Fashion and Textiles N2 - With the ongoing miniaturization of wireless devices, the importance of wearable textiles in the antenna segment has increased significantly in recent years. Due to the widespread utilization of wireless body sensor networks for healthcare and ubiquitous applications, the design of wearable antennas offers the possibility of comprehensive monitoring, communication, and energy harvesting and storage. This article reviews a number of properties and benefits to realize comprehensive background information and application ideas for the development of lightweight, compact and low-cost wearable patch antennas. Furthermore, problems and challenges that arise are addressed. Since both electromagnetic and mechanical specifications must be fulfilled, textile and flexible antennas require an appropriate trade-off between materials, antenna topologies, and fabrication methods—depending on the intended application and environmental factors. This overview covers each of the above issues, highlighting research to date while correlating antenna topology, feeding techniques, textile materials, and contacting options for the defined application of wearable planar patch antennas. KW - Wearable communication KW - Textile antenna KW - Patch antenna KW - Design requirements KW - Smart textiles KW - E-textiles Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40691-023-00369-1 VL - 11 PB - Springer Open ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Marterer, Verena A1 - Muhr, Franz-Xaver A1 - Soukup, Radek A1 - Hipp, Susanne A1 - Blecha, Tomáš T1 - Material Characterization Using Waveguide Measurement Technique for the Development of Textile Antennas T2 - 2025 19th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Stockholm, Sweden, 3/30/2025 - 4/4/2025 N2 - Significant advances in using conductive textiles have been made over the past two decades, particularly in knitted fabrics. The aim is to deepen understanding of how knitted structures, especially those with hybrid yarns containing fine conductive elements (microwires), interact with electromagnetic fields. To establish simulation models that align with subsequent measurements, it is crucial to determine the dielectric properties, specifically relative permittivity and loss tangent/conductivity. This research investigates whether knitted structures with hybrid yarns exhibit anisotropic permittivity, meaning different dielectric properties along orthogonal axes within the fabric plane. These properties were measured using a waveguide technique’ whereby the structures were rotated by 90° to observe changes. The results demonstrate that the knitted structure exhibits metallic-like reflective behavior in one direction, while rotation leads to dielectric material characteristics. This effect is influenced by the number of conductive microwires and the materials used for these wires, such as silver-plated copper or bronze. KW - Anisotropic KW - Anisotropic magnetoresistance KW - conductive textiles, anisotropy, polarization KW - Dielectric loss measurement KW - Electromagnetic interaction KW - Electromagnetic waveguides KW - Fabrics KW - Hybrid yarns KW - Knitted structure KW - Permittivity KW - Permittivity measurement KW - Textile antennas KW - Wires KW - Yarn Y1 - 2025 SN - 978-88-31299-10-7 U6 - https://doi.org/10.23919/EuCAP63536.2025.10999278 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Marterer, Verena A1 - Muhr, Franz-Xaver A1 - Soukup, Radek A1 - Hipp, Susanne A1 - Blecha, Tomáš T1 - Material characterization using waveguide measurement technique for the development of textile antennas T2 - 2025 19th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP); 30. March - 04. April 2025, Stockholm, Sweden N2 - Significant advances in using conductive textiles have been made over the past two decades, particularly in knitted fabrics. The aim is to deepen understanding of how knitted structures, especially those with hybrid yarns containing fine conductive elements (microwires), interact with electromagnetic fields. To establish simulation models that align with subsequent measurements, it is crucial to determine the dielectric properties, specifically relative permittivity and loss tangent/conductivity. This research investigates whether knitted structures with hybrid yarns exhibit anisotropic permittivity, meaning different dielectric properties along orthogonal axes within the fabric plane. These properties were measured using a waveguide technique, whereby the structures were rotated by 90° to observe changes. The results demonstrate that the knitted structure exhibits metallic-like reflective behavior in one direction, while rotation leads to dielectric material characteristics. This effect is influenced by the number of conductive microwires and the materials used for these wires, such as silver-plated copper or bronze. KW - textile antennas KW - electromagnetic interaction KW - hybrid yarns KW - knitted structure KW - conductive textiles Y1 - 2025 SN - 978-88-31299-10-7 U6 - https://doi.org/10.23919/EuCAP63536.2025.10999278 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Marterer, Verena A1 - Soukup, Radek A1 - Hipp, Susanne A1 - Blecha, Tomáš T1 - Effective material approach for simulating knitted bowtie antennas T2 - 2025 6th International Conference in Electronic Engineering & Information Technology (EEITE); 4-6 June 2025, Chania Greece N2 - Textile antennas offer a promising solution for the integration of communication and sensor functions into wearable systems. Their flexibility, lightweight and seamless compatibility with garments make them ideal for wearable technology and medical monitoring applications. This paper investigates the characterization and simulation of a bowtie antenna made from knitted textile structures with hybrid yarns. These yarns, which consist of metallic microwires combined with textile threads, exhibit unique electromagnetic properties. The aim is to create a comprehensive simulation model using the effective material approach to reduce computational complexity while maintaining accuracy. Compared to a full three-dimensional simulation of the knitted structure, the effective material approach significantly reduces computational time and effort. Practical measurements were carried out in the frequency range from 3.3 GHz to 4.9 GHz to determine the dielectric properties of the materials. KW - Textile antennas KW - Electromagnetic simulation KW - Effective material KW - Waveguide measurement Y1 - 2025 SN - 979-8-3315-4419-5 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/EEITE65381.2025.11165995 PB - IEEE ER -