A Design of Beam-Steerable Antenna Array for Use in Future Mobile Handsets

A design of beam-steerable antenna array for the future cellular communication (5G) is presented. The proposed design contains eight elements of compact end-fire antennas arranged on the top edge of smartphone printed circuit board (PCB). Configuration of the antenna element consists of the conductive patterns on the top and bottom copper foil layers and a substrate layer with a via-hole. The simulated results including input-impedance and also fundamental radiation properties have been presented and discussed. The impedance bandwidth (S11 ≤ -10 dB) of the antenna spans from 17.5 to 21 GHz (more than 3 GHz bandwidth) with a resonance at 19 GHz. The antenna exhibits end-fire (directional) radiation beams with wide-angle scanning property and could be used for the future 5G beam-forming. Furthermore, the characteristics of the array design in the vicinity of user-hand are studied.





References:
[1] P. Gupta, “Evolvement of mobile generations: 1G to 5G,” International Journal for Technological Research in Engineering, vol. 1, pp. 152-157, Nov. 2013.
[2] Y. Wang, et al., “5G mobile: Spectrum broadening to higher-frequency bands to support high data rates,” IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 9, pp. 39-46, 2014.
[3] H. J. Basherlou, et al., “MIMO monopole antenna design with improved isolation for 5G WiFi applications,” International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Science, vol. 7, pp. 1-5, 2019.
[4] T. Bai, and R. Heath, “Coverage and rate analysis for millimeter wave cellular networks,” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 14, pp. 110-1114, 2015.
[5] N. O. Parchin, et al., “Design of low cost FR4 wide-band antenna arrays for future 5G mobile communications,” International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP), Xian, China, 2019.
[6] W. Roh et al., “Millimeter-wave beamforming as an enabling technology for 5G cellular communications: Theoretical feasibility and prototype results,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 52, pp. 106–113, 2014.
[7] N. O. Parchin et al., “A radiation-beam switchable antenna array for 5G smartphones,” Photonics & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Xiamen, China, 2019.
[8] Y. Al-Yasir, et al., “New radiation pattern-reconfigurable 60-GHz antenna for 5G communications,” Modern Printed Circuit Antennas, IntechOpen, 2019.
[9] N. O. Parchin, et al., “Frequency-switchable patch antenna with parasitic ring load for 5G mobile terminals,” International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP), Xian, China, 2019.
[10] N. O. Parchin, R. A. Abd-Alhameed, “A compact Vivaldi antenna array for 5G channel sounding applications,” EuCAP, London, UK, 2018.
[11] S. Rajagopal, S. Abu-Surra, Z. Pi and F. Khan, “Antenna array design for multi-gbps mmwave mobile broadband communication,” Proc. IEEE GLOBECOM’2011, Houston, Texas, USA, pp.1-6, 2011.
[12] N. Ojaroudiparchin, M. Shen, and G. F. Pedersen, “Multi-layer 5G mobile phone antenna for multi-user MIMO communications,” Telecommunications Forum, November 2015, Serbia.
[13] W. Hong, et al., “Design and analysis of a low-profile 28 GHz beam steering antenna solution for future 5G cellular applications,” IEEE international microwave symposium, 1-6 June 2014, Florida, 2014.
[14] W. Hong, et al., “mmWave phased-array with hemispheric coverage for 5th generation cellular handsets,” EuCAP, pp. 714-716, 2014.
[15] N. O. Parchin, et al., “Frequency reconfigurable antenna array for mm-Wave 5G mobile handsets,” BroadNets, Faro, Portugal, 19–20, September 2018.
[16] N. Ojaroudiparchin, M. Shen, and G. F. Pedersen, “Beam-steerable microstrip-fed bow-tie antenna array for fifth generation cellular communications,” EuCAP 2016, Switzerland, 2016.
[17] N. Ojaroudiparchin, et al., “Design of Vivaldi antenna array with end-fire beam steering function for 5G mobile terminals”, 23rd Telecommunications Forum, Belgrade, Serbia, 2015, pp. 587–590.
[18] Y. Ojaroudi et al., “Circularly polarized microstrip slot antenna with a pair of spur-shaped slits for WLAN applications”, Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 57, pp. 756-759, 2015.
[19] N. O. Parchin, “Low-profile air-filled antenna for next generation wireless systems,” vol. 97, pp. 3293–3300, 2017.
[20] Q. Chen, et al. “Design considerations for millimeter wave antennas within a chip package,” IEEE International Workshop on Anti-counterfeiting, Security, Identification, Xiamen, pp. 13-17, 2007.
[21] A. Ullah, et al., “Coplanar waveguide antenna with defected ground structure for 5G millimeter wave communications,” IEEE MENACOMM'19, Bahrain, 2019.
[22] N. Ojaroudiparchin, M. Shen, and G. F. Pedersen, “Investigation on the performance of low-profile insensitive antenna with improved radiation characteristics for the future 5G applications,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 58, pp. 2148-2158, 2016.
[23] N. Amitay, V. Galindo, C. P. Wu, “Theory and analysis of phased array antennas,” Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1972.
[24] N. O. Parchin, et al., “UWB mm-wave antenna array with quasi omnidirectional beams for 5G handheld devices,” IEEE International Conference on Ubiquitous Wireless Broadband (ICUWB), 2016.
[25] N. O. Parchin et al., “A substrate-insensitive antenna array with broad bandwidth and high efficiency for 5G mobile terminals,” Photonics & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Xiamen, China, 2019.
[26] N. O. Parchin et al., “High-performance Yagi-Uda antenna array for 28 GHz mobile communications,” 23th Telecommunications Forum, TELFOR 2019, 25–27 November, 2019, Belgrade, Serbia.
[27] N. O. Parchin et al., “Reconfigurable phased array 5G smartphone antenna for cognitive cellular networks,” 23th Telecommunications Forum, TELFOR 2019, 25–27 November, 2019, Belgrade, Serbia.
[28] N. Ojaroudiparchin, M. Shen, and G. F. Pedersen, “8 × 8 planar phased array antenna with high efficiency and insensitivity properties for 5G mobile base stations,” EuCAP 2016, Davos, Switzerland, pp. 1–5.
[29] J. Ilvonen, et al., “Mobile terminal antenna performance with the user’s hand,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 10, pp. 772-775, 2000.
[30] N. O. Parchin, et al., “MM-wave phased array quasi-yagi antenna for the upcoming 5G cellular communications,” Applied Sciences, vol. 9, pp. 1-14, 2019.