A Flexible RFID Antenna for On-Body Biomedical Sensing
An antenna design uses a shielding layer to improve simulated RFID performance near the body while reducing specific absorption.
The on-body radio problem
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags can support small, battery-free sensing systems, but the human body complicates antenna design. Tissue can detune an antenna and affect both communication range and the amount of radio-frequency energy absorbed nearby.
A paper in Sensors presents a flexible ultra-high-frequency RFID antenna backed by an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) layer. The design was modeled for on-body biomedical sensing and uses a high-permittivity, silicon-doped substrate.
What the design reports
The authors report a 50% reduction in unit-cell size relative to the comparison geometry. In their modeled on-body configuration, adding the AMC layer increased gain by about 13 dB and reduced specific absorption rate by more than an order of magnitude compared with the standalone tag. The proposed flexible stack is 2.23 mm thick; the paper also estimates a theoretical read range of 5 m at 868 MHz under its stated link assumptions.
These are engineering results tied to the design and evaluation conditions. They should not be read as proof of a clinically validated wearable monitor or as a general safety conclusion for all people and placements.
The next evidence step
A practical device would need measured performance across body locations, movement, manufacturing variation, and realistic readers. Validation should also distinguish radio link performance from the accuracy of any physiological sensor attached to the tag.
The work is useful because it treats the antenna, body interaction, and flexible packaging as a coupled design problem. The route from simulation to reliable long-term use, however, still requires prototyping and human-factors testing.
Source and credit
Independent summary of “Compact AMC-Backed Flexible UHF RFID Tag Antenna for On-Body Biomedical Applications,” Sensors, published 18 March 2026. Original paper, DOI: 10.3390/s26061922. Source article license: CC BY 4.0. No source figures or tables are reproduced here.
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