Dielectric-Insensitive Phased Array with Improved Characteristics for 5G Mobile Handsets

YesIn this manuscript, a high-performance beam-steerable phased array antenna is introduced for fifth-generation (5G) mobile handsets. The configuration of the design is arranged by employing eight dielectric-insensitive L-ring/slot-loop radiators in a linear form on the top edge of the handset mainboard. The beam-steerable array design exhibits high radiation performances even though it is implemented on a lossy FR-4 material. The proposed design exhibits an impedance bandwidth of 18-20 GHz with the center frequency of 19 GHz. It provides satisfactory characteristics such as wide beam-steering, high gain and efficiency characteristics indicating its promising potential for beam-steerable 5G smartphones. The characteristics of the antenna array are insensitive for different types of dielectrics. Furthermore, the designed antenna array offers quite good radiation behavior in the presence of hand phantom

A Design of Crossed Exponentially Tapered Slot Antenna with Multi-Resonance Function for 3G/4G/5G Applications

YesIn this research work, a planar crossed exponentially tapered slot antenna with a multi-resonance function is introduced. The presented antenna design is ascertained on a low-cost Rogers 5870 dielectric with a circular schematic. The antenna is designed to support several frequency spectrums of the current and future wireless communications. The configuration of the design contains a pair of crossed exponentially tapered slots intersected by a star-shaped slot in the back layer and a bowtie-shaped radiation stub with a discrete feeding point extended among the stub parts. The crossed exponential slots exhibit a wide impedance, and the star slot generates an extra resonance at the upper frequencies. For S11 ≤ -6, the antenna provides a wide operation band of 1.7 to 5.9 GHz supporting several frequency bands of 3G, 4G, and 5G communication. The fundamental characteristics of the proposed slot radiator are studied, and good performances have been achieved.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424

Metamaterials and Metasurfaces

Ye

Special Issue “Metamaterials and Metasurfaces”

[Abstract not available.

Editorial: Special Issue “Antenna Design for 5G and Beyond”

Note: In lieu of an abstract, this is an excerpt from the first page.The demand for high data rate transfer and large capacities of traffic is continuously growing as the world witnesses the development of the fifth generation (5G) of wireless communications with the fastest broadband speed yet and low latency [...

Design of Multi-Mode Antenna Array for Use in Next-Generation Mobile Handsets

In this study, a new design of a tri-band multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array is proposed for fifth-generation (5G) cellular systems. Its structure is composed of eight identical planar-inverted F antenna (PIFA) elements placed at different edge corners of the handset mainboard with overall dimensions of 150 × 75 mm2. The PIFA elements and ground plane of the MIMO antenna system are arranged on the back layer of the platform, which makes the design easy to integrate with the handset circuit. For S11 ≤ −10 dB, the radiation elements of the MIMO design operate at the frequency ranges of 2.5–2.7 GHz, 3.4–3.75 GHz, and 5.6–6 GHz covering the long-term evolution (LTE) 41, 42/43, and 47 operation bands, respectively. The array achieves better than 15 dB return loss results across the three operating bands. The presented antenna array not only exhibits multi-band operation but also generates the polarization diversity characteristic, which makes it suitable for multi-mode operation. The proposed antenna array was simulated and experimentally tested. Fundamental characteristics of the proposed design are investigated. It offers three band S-parameters with acceptable isolation and dual-polarized radiation with quite good efficiency and gain results. Besides this, the total active reflection coefficient (TARC) and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) results of the PIFAs are very low over the bands. In addition, the radiation characteristics of the MIMO antenna in the presence of the user and handset components are studied. Moreover, a new and compact phased array millimeter-wave (MM-Wave) antenna with broad bandwidth and end-fire radiation is introduced which can be easily integrated into the smartphone antenna system. Due to its good performance and simple structures, the proposed smartphone antenna array design is a good candidate for future multi-mode 5G cellular applications

Design of very compact Combline Band-Pass Filter for 5G applications

NoIn this paper, a compact microstrip band-pass filter (BPF) covering the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz spectrum bandwidth for 5G wireless communications is presented. The planar filter uses three resonators, each terminated by a via to hole ground at one end and a capacitor at the other end with 50 Ω transmission line impedances for input and output terminals. The coupling between the lines is adjusted to resonate at the centre frequency with third-order band-pass Butterworth properties. The proposed combline filter is designed on an alumina substrate with a relative dielectric constant of 9.8 and a very small size of 9×5×1.2 mm3. The proposed filter is simulated and optimized using CST microwave studio software.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424, UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/E022936/

MM-Wave phased array Quasi-Yagi antenna for the upcoming 5G cellular communications

This article belongs to the Special Issue Millimeter-wave and Terahertz Applications of Metamaterials.The focus of this manuscript was to propose a new phased array antenna design for the fifth generation (5G) mobile platforms. Eight elements of compact Quasi-Yagi antennas were placed on the top portion of smartphone printed circuits board (PCB) to form a beam-steerable phased array design. The −10 dB impedance-bandwidth of proposed 5G smartphone antenna spans from 25 GHz to 27 GHz providing 2 GHz bandwidth with less than −16 dB mutual coupling function. A coax-to-microstripline with a truncated crown of vias around the coaxial cable was used as a feeding mechanism for each radiation element. An Arlon Ad 350 substance with properties of ε = 3.5, δ = 0.003, and h = 0.8 mm was chosen as the antenna substrate. The proposed phased array antenna provides wide-angle scanning of 0°~75° with more than 10 dB realized gain levels. For the scanning angle of 0°~60°, the antenna array provides more than 90% (−0.5 dB) radiation and total efficiencies. In addition, the specific absorption rate (SAR) function and radiation performance of the design in the presence of the user-hand/user-hand have been studied. The results validate the feasibility of the proposed design for use in the 5G handheld devices. Furthermore, using the presented Quasi-Yagi elements, the radiation properties of 2 × 2, 4 × 4, and 8 × 8 planar arrays were studied and more than 8.3, 13.5, and 19.3 dBi directivities have been achieved for the designed planar arrays. The results show that the designed arrays (linear & planar) satisfy the general requirements for use in 5G platforms.This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424

Recent developments of reconfigurable antennas for 4G and 5G wireless communications: A survey

YesReconfigurable antennas play important roles in smart and adaptive systems and are the subject of many research studies. They offer several advantages such as multifunctional capabilities, minimized volume requirements, low front-end processing efforts with no need for a filtering element, good isolation, and sufficient out-ofband rejection; these make them well suited for use in wireless applications such as fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) mobile terminals. With the use of active materials such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), varactor or p-i-n (PIN) diodes, an antenna’s characteristics can be changed through altering the current flow on the antenna structure. If an antenna is to be reconfigurable into many different states, it needs to have an adequate number of active elements. However, a large number of high-quality active elements increases cost, and necessitates complex biasing networks and control circuitry. We review some recently proposed reconfigurable antenna designs suitable for use in wireless communications such as cognitiveratio (CR), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ultra-wideband (UWB), and 4G/5G mobile terminals. Several examples of antennas with different reconfigurability functions are analyzed and their performances are compared. Characteristics and fundamental properties of reconfigurable antennas with single and multiple reconfigurability modes are investigated.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424

Eight-Element Antenna Array with Improved Radiation Performances for 5G Hand-Portable Devices

This study aims to introduce a new phased array design with improved radiation properties for future cellular networks. The procedure of the array design is simple and has been accomplished on a low-cost substrate material while offering several interesting features with high performance. Its schematic involves eight air-filled slot-loop metal-ring elements with a 1 × 8 linear arrangement at the top edge of the 5G smartphone mainboard. Considering the entire board area, the proposed antenna elements occupy an extremely small area. The antenna elements cover the range of 21–23.5 GHz sub-mm-wave 5G bands. Due to the air-filled function in the configurations of the elements, low-loss and high-performance radiation properties are observed. In addition, the fundamental characteristics of the introduced array are insensitive to various types of substrates. Moreover, its radiation properties have been compared with conventional arrays and better results have been observed. The proposed array appears with a simple design, a low complexity profile, and its attractive broad impedance bandwidth, end-fire radiation mode, wide beam steering, high radiation coverage, and stable characteristics meet the needs of 5G applications in future cellular communications. Additionally, the smartphone array design offers sufficient efficiency when it comes to the appearance and integration of the user’s components. Thus, it could be used in 5G hand-portable devices