Executive Summary : | Military warfare in recent times has been technology intensive. For catering to the needs of a geographically dispersive force, body area network (BAN) technology, a prominent wireless network technology is usually employed. Effective linking of the devices that a soldier carries as well as the communications to command centre have increased the demand for antennas and propagation research for body communication systems of military forces. To achieve the above objectives, some wearable device or wearable electronics should be designed and developed. One of the dominant research topics in antennas for body area networks is wearable and textile-based antennas. Commonly, wearable antenna requirements for all modern applications require small size, light weight, low cost, maintenance-free and easy installation. In addition to the applications discussed earlier, BAN also widely used for the monitoring the physiological signals like ECG, EEG, Blood pressure etc., of armed soldiers sensed through biosensors. In many studies, wearable antennas were often designed to be flexible, with textile materials, and a planar structure was used to disguise the antenna as part of the clothing. Various textile antenna structures have been reported in the literature. However, button antennas show some clear advantages compared to the fully textile antennas. Buttons can be easily mounted on shirts and jeans, and the fact that a button is rigid in most circumstances may considerably contribute to a stable antenna performance. Recently, Additive manufacturing technology (AMT) is gaining traction with the printed electronics industry. The future of electronic manufacturing is largely distributed, low cost and mass customized due to the development of low-cost inkjet printing technologies. Several limitations need to be resolved before advanced microwave components and antennas can be printed in a 3D fashion. Among them, the design of antennas, with well-defined electrical properties within the frequency band of operation and the integration of high quality conducting materials on to a polymer substrate with good adhesion and bonding for rugged military use is a challenge to be overcome in this project. The key deliverables in this project include a method of 3D printing a button antenna for military personnel, the design of a high-frequency antenna and the low-cost manufacturing technology for producing this antenna at distributed locations near the military base. As part of this project, studies involving process-structure-property relations for depositing uniform thick layers of conductive material on a polymer substrate will be carried out. A proof-of-concept for a dispenser which deposits various inks with large variations in viscosity would be part of the three-year project outcomes. In addition, several electromagnetic effects on human body subjected to antenna radiation would be analyzed and suitable remedial measures would be proposed. |
Co-PI: | Dr Eswaramoorthy KV, Visiting Faculty, Indian Institute of Information Technology Design & Manufacturing (IIITDM), Kurnool, Dr Karthikeyan Sholampettai Subramanian, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirappalli |