Lifejcket-Integrated Antenna for Search and Rescue System

Lim, Ji-Hun; Yang, Gyu-Sik; Jung, Sung-Hun; Park, Dong-Kook

Journal of Navigation and Port Research 2014;38(4):367-371.
Published online August 31, 2014.

탐색 및 구조 시스템용 구명조끼 내장형 안테나

임지훈, 양규식, 정성훈, 박동국

Lifejcket-Integrated Antenna for Search and Rescue System

Ji-Hun Lim, Gyu-Sik Yang, Sung-Hun Jung, Dong-Kook Park

Abstract

When the crew or passengers fall into the water due to marine accident of vessel, it is very important to rescue them quickly. In the case of marine accidents, most people in distress have been wearing a lifejacket, so if the GPS and Cospas-Sarsat communication module will be integrated within the lifejacket, it is easy to rescue them. In this paper, development of the dual band lifejacket-integrated antenna for GPS and Cospas-Sarsat communication is discussed. The antenna with the FR-4 substrate of 0.2mm thickness for flexibility was designed that it can be fitted close to the shoulder of the life jacket and operate at 1.575GHz and 406MHz. The GPS communication antenna was implemented with a ring-slot antenna having a circular polarized characteristic and a meander type linear polarized antenna is used as Cospas-Sarsat communication. The two antennas are fed by a single microstrip line and an open stub is used to minimize the mutual interference between the two antennas. The performance of the fabricated antenna attached to the life vest is confirmed by the measurement of the return loss at GPS and Cospas-Sarsat frequency bands.

Key Words: 내장형 안테나 Lifejacket antenna;wearable antenna;maritime antenna;search and rescue antenna;integrated antenna