Elastic antenna has role in wearable technologies

’Many researchers – including our lab – have developed prototype sensors for wearable health systems, but there was a clear need to develop antennas that can be easily incorporated into those systems to transmit data from the sensors, so that patients can be monitored or diagnosed,’ said Dr. Yong Zhu, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper describing the work.

The researchers wanted to develop an elastic because wearable systems can be subject to a variety of stresses as patients move around.

According to NCSU, the researchers used a stencil to apply silver nanowires in a specific pattern and then poured a liquid polymer over the nanowires to create an appropriately resilient, effective antenna. When the polymer set, it formed an elastic composite material that has the nanowires embedded in the desired pattern.