The BodyWave™ antenna is the first commercially available antenna designed specifically for wearable devices. Due to the wireless performance benefits the BodyWave™ antenna provides, an attractive application of the technology would be for use within headphones and other hearables. This application can produce a number of wireless challenges related to antenna performance such a reduced range related to body shadowing caused by the head and marginal on-body communication links when the users phone is placed in a back pocket for example. This case study looks at a number of these scenarios and compares the performance of the BodyWave™ antenna with existing printed antennas, showing that the BodyWave™ antenna can add 10 - 20 dB of link budget in various scenarios and increase the overall wireless reliability of the hearable device.
