Dual band flexible Planar Inverted-F antenna for Internet of Healthcare Things applications

Planar Inverted-F antennas (PIFAs), due to their planar topology and compact dimensions combined with multi-band working frequencies, are becoming increasingly popular in the scientific community and the technology industry places so much emphasis on them. The design and the fabrication of PIFAs on innovative substrates become crucial to facilitate their integration in wireless sensor network systems and to enhance the connectivity of Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) network nodes. In this work we propose the fabrication and characterization of a compact (13x26 mm(2)) PIFA placed on a flexible 250 lam-thick Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) substrate working in both the sub-6GHz and 6GHz bands of 5G spectrum. The antenna has been realized by means of a multi-material 3D printer, NanoDimension's Dragonfly LTM. The use of the 3D printer entails the rapid prototyping and increases the scalability of the process.