Antenna technologies are expected to play a pivotal role in telecommunication, particularly with the advent of IoT and 5G communications.
The adoption of suitable antenna systems are critical to expedite commercialization of solutions which can support high-speed communications.
Manufacturers especially need to pay attention.
Awareness and research initiatives of antenna technologies improving wireless communication and high-speed data transfer have created opportunities for antenna manufacturers to discover a wide range of applications across various sectors.
Demand for new and high-quality applications which require antennas with wider impedance bandwidth, high gain and rotatable radiation patterns, particularly in higher frequencies are encouraging advancements in antenna technologies.
As wireless technology evolved from 1G to 4G, the frequency steps were primarily evolutionary — no large technology change or discontinuity was required. The changes required for the antenna were evolutionary as well — antenna technology migrated from an external antenna to an internal one.
Band requirements changed from single-band to dual-band, multi-band to multi-antenna and antenna diversity to multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) implementations. 5G implementations, however, provide for up to a tenfold increase in frequencies for some applications.
This is a dramatic change from previous technologies, which will provide significant challenges as well as new opportunities. For example, beam forming and beam steering (using antenna arrays) will be possible given that, at higher frequencies, individual antennas can be much smaller.
At these high frequencies, the wavelength (lambda) is around 1 cm, so the device is a multi-lambda platform. This implies that the placement of the antenna becomes much more critical, replacing the integration aspect key in previous technologies.
These more complex aspects of 5G development also make it critical to try out multiple implementations to optimally identify and adjust trade-offs.
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For more information, questions, comments, contact us.