Abstract

This paper presents a flexible and wearable textile array antenna designed to generate Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) waves with Mode +2 at 3.5 GHz (3.4 to 3.6 GHz) of the sub-6 GHz fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) band. The proposed antenna is based on a uniform circular array of eight microstrip patch antennas on a felt textile substrate. In contrast to previous works involving the use of rigid substrates to generate OAM waves, this work explored the use of flexible substrates to generate OAM waves for the first time. Other than that, the proposed antenna was simulated, analyzed, fabricated, and tested to confirm the generation of OAM Mode +2. With the same design, OAM Mode −2 can be generated readily simply by mirror imaging the feed network. Note that the proposed antenna operated at the desired frequency of 3.5 GHz with an overall bandwidth of 400 MHz in free space. Moreover, mode purity analysis is carried out to verify the generation of OAM Mode +2, and the purity obtained was 41.78% at free space flat condition. Furthermore, the effect of antenna bending on the purity of the generated OAM mode is also investigated. Lastly, the influence of textile properties on OAM modes is examined to assist future researchers in choosing suitable fabrics to design flexible OAM-based antennas. After a comprehensive analysis considering different factors related to wearable applications, this paper demonstrates the feasibility of generating OAM waves using textile antennas. Furthermore, as per the obtained Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), it is found that the proposed antenna is safe to be deployed. The findings of this work have a significant implication for body-centric communications.