Diversity antenna combining slot-loop DRA for BAN applications

A compact dual pattern diversity antenna combining a slot loop and a dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is presented for body area network (BAN) applications at 2.4 GHz. A common bandwidth of 1.5 is obtained with an isolation of 12dB. The slot loop provides slightly asymmetric broadside radiation patterns while purely symmetric end-fire type radiation patterns are obtained with the DRA. The diversity gain performance of the antenna has been tested in receiving mode for three different on-body communication channels.