Antenna Design Solutions for Next Generation Mobile Devices

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Antenna Design Solutions for Next Generation Mobile Devices [Copy link]

Rapid innovation in next-generation mobile devices presents significant engineering challenges in antenna implementation. The key issue is that 5G phones typically have more than twice the RF path of LTE phones due to new frequency bands and requirements defined by cellular, Wi-Fi, ultra-wideband (UWB), millimeter wave (mmW) and GPS standards. However, lack of space limits the ability to add new antennas and/or share antennas between multiple bands, which further complicates the issue. Industrial design innovations such as foldable or rollable screens and the use of virtual controls instead of physical buttons place significant constraints on antenna design and layout. Additional challenges arise from the conflict between increased carrier power requirements and OME system efficiency goals and improvements such as battery life. Qorvo has extensive experience helping companies solve tough RF problems, and its reimagined Qorvo Antenna Solutions (QASR) helps engineers address space, design and performance challenges to harness antenna power in RF architectures.

The fast-growing mobile industry

The pace of innovation in the mobile industry continues to accelerate as smartphone and wearable device manufacturers and mobile operators compete to deliver greater coverage, higher data rates, new wireless communication capabilities and transformative industrial designs.

Smartphone manufacturers are beginning to expand 5G support across their product lineups to meet the growing demand for data-intensive services such as video streaming, video conferencing, music, and gaming. As a result, 5G’s high-bandwidth sub-6 GHz bands (n77/n78 and n79) and wider mmWave bands (n257-n261) used in premium phones are now also being used in mid-range and mass-market phones. While increasing RF complexity, 5G requires not only the addition of new cellular bands, but also support for 4x4 MIMO on higher frequency bands for faster data speeds.

Manufacturers are also adding more non-cellular bands to phones to provide faster networks and support new location services. For example: Wi-Fi 6E/7 extends Wi-Fi to the 6 GHz band and provides ultra-wide 160-320 MHz channels to provide higher performance for applications such as HD streaming, virtual reality, and peer-to-peer gaming, while alleviating congestion caused by widespread use of the Wi-Fi spectrum.

Initially used in high-end mobile phones, UWB technology is now also being used in mid-range and mass-market mobile phones. UWB can calculate distance and position with unprecedented accuracy (within a few centimeters) indoors or outdoors, and is beginning to support new positioning applications and devices. As the name implies, UWB uses a channel width of at least 500 MHz and a frequency range of 3.1-10.6 GHz, while mobile applications currently mainly use the frequency range of 6-9 GHz. Manufacturers are also beginning to add new GPS L5 and L2 bands, which provide various advantages such as higher positioning accuracy for mission-critical applications.

At the same time, smartphones are beginning to add more and more complex combinations of multiple cellular bands as mobile operators seek to optimize the use of existing spectrum to increase data rates. Many operators are starting to use EN-DC (E-UTRAN New Radio — Dual Connectivity), which allows for faster deployment of 5G data rates in certain areas by using a 4G anchor band combined with a 5G data band. Carrier aggregation (CA) combines multiple component carriers (CCs) to achieve greater bandwidth and higher data rates. CA is now becoming more complex as more and more bands are added to the combination options. 5G defines hundreds of new combinations of up to 16 CCs, each with up to 100 MHz of contiguous bandwidth and a total aggregate bandwidth of around 1 GHz. These include challenging new aggregations of two or more low-bands, such as B20 + B28 in Europe or Asia and B5 + B12, B13 or B14 in North America, which offer advantages such as greater range and throughput.

Manufacturers are also beginning to use higher transmit powers to extend the range of high-frequency signals, which do not travel as far as low-frequency signals. Power Class 2, which doubles the transmit power of an antenna (to 26 dB), is already widely used, and the industry is now beginning to explore Power Class 1.5, which further triples the power (to 29 dB).

Who will be the first to solve the challenge?

As this article has demonstrated, the next generation of mobile devices presents a considerable number of antenna design and engineering problems. So who will be the first to solve the challenges? In addition to the well-deserved pride that comes with overcoming an extremely difficult challenge, the team that wins the innovation race will have a significant competitive advantage in the battle for consumer support.

Click to read the original article to see how QASR can help. Reimagining Qorvo Antenna Solutions (QASR) is uniquely positioned to help smartphone engineers solve the antenna challenges facing next-generation smartphones and other devices.

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