PIFA-Top-Loaded-Monopole Antenna With Diversity Features for WBAN Applications

A miniaturized diversity antenna dedicated to wireless body area network (WBAN) applications is described. The combination of a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) and a top-loaded monopole yields distinct patterns fitting the different natures of the received waves. The strong isolation observed between the broadside and endfire ports is an important feature to limit the correlation between the received signals. The diversity gain is measured for three links and three scenarios between body-worn antennas, showing the improvement brought by the antenna diversity in the WBAN context.