Comparison of copper covered and copper core sheath yarn for the fabrication of textile antenna / N. I. Zaidi ...[et al.]

This paper presents the comparison between
copper covered and copper core sheath yarn performance for
the development of conductive fabric antenna. Conductive
fabric is a fabric that are able to conduct electromagnetic. This
kind of fabric is crucial in the development of textile antenna for
wearable application. Thus, the types of yarns to be used are
important in order to develop conductive fabric antenna. Two
designs of yarn are investigated, which are copper covered yarn
and copper core sheath yarn. Antenna prototypes fabricated by
using both yarns are developed and measured to validate the
performance of the antenna. The antennas are fabricated on
conductive fabrics, which are made from copper covered and
copper core sheath yarn. The relation between different types of
conductive yarns is studied and the antenna performance is
analyzed. The results show that the copper covered yarn is
superior as compared to the copper core sheath yarn in terms of
its return loss (S11) and radiation pattern performance. From
the studies, copper covered yarn closely resembles PEC and
hence the result of copper covered structure has good agreement
with simulation.