Abstract: The radiation characteristics of wearable antennas in wireless body area networks (WBAN) are investigated by using analytical method. According to the principle of reciprocity, and by means of elliptic cylindrical wave expansion and impedance boundary condition (IBC), the radiation pattern and gain of short dipole antenna with arbitrary placement near the human body are formulated. The radiation characteristics of the antenna versus its polarization tropism and distance to the body are calculated, and the results have been verified by the data from Software simulation and experimental test. This analytical method with higher speed can be valuable to antenna design for WBAN.