Wearable Antenna on Nylon Fabric Based on Aluminium Foil Tape at GPS L1 Frequency

Abstract

GPS L1 is a satellite system that serves to determine location, navigation, and time. It operates at 1.5 GHz frequency. In GPS L1, a minimum of three satellites are needed for accurate positioning of objects. During positioning, the GPS discards considerable electromagnetic waves. Actually, these electromagnetic waves can be converted into electrical energy using energy harvester so that the energy produced by the GPS L1 satellite can be used as a source of renewable energy.
Therefore, an antenna that function as an energy harvester is needed to capture the electromagnetic energy produced by GPS L1 satellites, convert that energy into an electric current, and then store it into a rechargeable battery or as a power supply to a device. It aims to utilize the available electromagnetic energy and facilitate the use of devices or modules whose power supply can be automatically recharged if the electromagnetic energy emitted by the GPS L1 satellite is obtained.
In this paper presents a microstrip antenna that uses patches made from aluminum foil tape and nylon fabric as substrate. The purposed antenna simulation results have a good agreement with the measurement results. Furthermore, in free space and on body conditions, antenna can be operated properly, even though it has a small gain value.