Researchers working on a wearable antenna

Ever wanted to wear a sweatshirt with a built in antenna? Researchers at Ohio State University are currently working on a sweatshirt transmitter that may perform better than current iterations of wearable antennas.

The problem with wearable antennas is that they tend to bend a lot, and the bending and reshaping has resulted in not-so-ideal performance, but the researchers at Ohio State University may have found a way to fix that problem.

Through the use of a thin and flexible plastic substrate with brass etched onto it, it sort of transforms into an antenna thread that can be weaved into clothes. A controller is the mounted on a belt which monitors the signal of each antenna. The monitoring is the key to making wearable antennas a functional and effective reality, as the controller monitors the signals and switches between antennas whenever it feels that one of the antennas may not be receiving a strong enough signal.

Unfortunately it does not appear to be available any time soon, as the costs of implementing such technology is currently at $200 per person.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gadgets