The present disclosure generally relates to a dual-band antenna, and more particularly, to a compact dual-band antenna with wide bandwidth and related wireless communication apparatuses.
Antenna is an important component for a wireless communication apparatus, but it often occupies considerable area and volume of the circuitry module. With the increasing demand on lighter, thinner, and smaller wireless communication devices, the volume of the antenna has to be further reduced for meeting the trend of device miniaturization.
Some wireless communication devices are required to support transmitting/receiving signals at multiple frequency bands, such as 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. To transmit/receive wireless signals at multiple frequency bands, the wireless communication device has to be provided with multiple antennas. However, it is difficult to reduce the overall volume of the wireless communication device because that the required space for arranging multiple antennas is hard to be reduced.
In view of the foregoing, it is appreciated that a substantial need exists for antenna structure that is compact in size and capable of providing good radiation characteristic, supporting transmitting/receiving signals at multiple frequency bands, and having sufficient operation bandwidth.
An exemplary embodiment of a dual-band antenna is disclosed comprising: a first antenna for operating at a first frequency band and comprising: a first radiating portion comprising a plurality of separated radiating strips positioned on a first plane of a circuit board; a second radiating portion comprising a plurality of separated radiating strips positioned on a second plane of the circuit board; and a plurality of vias for coupling the plurality of radiating strips on the first plane with the plurality of radiating strips on the second plane to form a spiral radiating body; a second antenna for operating at a second frequency band and comprising a radiating plane coupled with the first radiating portion or the second radiating portion; a shorting element coupled with the radiating plane and shared by the first antenna and the second antenna; and a feeding element coupled with the radiating plane and shared by the first antenna and the second antenna; wherein the area of the radiating plane is greater than that of each of the radiating strips of the first and second radiating portions, and the width of part of the radiating plane gradually increases along a first direction.
An exemplary embodiment of a wireless communication apparatus is disclosed comprising: a circuit board comprising a first plane, a second plane, and a grounded region; a first antenna for operating at a first frequency band and comprising: a first radiating portion comprising a plurality of separated first radiating strips positioned on the first plane; a second radiating portion comprising a plurality of separated second radiating strips positioned on the second plane; and a plurality of first vias for coupling the plurality of first radiating strips with the plurality of second radiating strips to form a three-dimensional spiral for the first antenna; a second antenna for operating at a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band, the second antenna comprising a first radiating plane coupled with the first radiating portion or the second radiating portion; a first shorting element coupled with the first radiating plane and shared by the first antenna and the second antenna; and a first feeding element coupled with the first radiating plane and shared by the first antenna and the second antenna; wherein the area of the first radiating plane is greater than that of each of the radiating strips of the first and second radiating portions, and the width of part of the first radiating plane gradually increases along a first direction.
It is understood that both the foregoing general descriptions and the following detailed descriptions are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts or components.
Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, vendors may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not in function. In the following description and in the claims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but not limited to . . . ” Also, the phrase “coupled with” is intended to compass any indirect or direct connection. Accordingly, if this document mentioned that a first device is coupled with a second device, it means that the first device may be directly or indirectly connected to the second device through an electrical connection, wireless communications, optical communications, or other signal connections with/without other intermediate devices or connection means.
Please refer to
The circuit board 110 comprises a first plane 112, a second plane 114, and a grounded region 116. In implementations, the first plane 112 may be positioned on the upper surface of the circuit board 110, and the second plane 114 may be positioned on the lower surface of the circuit board 110, as illustrated in
The antenna 120 comprises a plurality of separated radiating strips 122 positioned on the first plane 112 and a plurality of separated radiating strips 124 positioned on the second plane 114. Those radiating strips 122 constitutes a first radiating portion of the antenna 120 and those radiating strips 124 constitutes a second radiating portion of the antenna 120. In implementations, the afore-mentioned radiating strips 122 may include radiating strips of different shape and length. In the embodiment of
In manufacturing, each of the radiating strips 122 may be directly printed to form on the first plane 112, and each of the radiating strips 124 may be directly printed to form on the second plane 114 so as to reduce the complexity and cost of manufacturing.
The antenna 120 further comprises a plurality of vias 126 for coupling the plurality of radiating strips 122 on the first plane 112 with the plurality of radiating strips 124 on the second plane 114 to constitute a three-dimensional spiral radiating body.
In one embodiment, the vias 126 of the antenna 120 are conductive through holes, each of which has an interior surface coated with conductive material, such as copper. The conductive vias 126 cause inductive effect during operations, so that the length of the radiating body of the antenna 120 can be reduced to less than one quarter wavelength of the radio signal received/transmitted by the antenna 120. In other words, for supporting a particular operating frequency, the use of the vias 126 is able to effectively reduce the required size or radiating body length of the antenna 120, thereby effectively reducing the required volume for the antenna 120.
The antenna 130 comprises a radiating plane 132. The radiating plane 132 may be directly printed to form on the layer, on which the first radiating portion or the second radiating portion of the antenna 120 is positioned, and directly connected to the antenna 120. Alternatively, the radiating plane 132 may be coupled with the first radiating portion or the second radiating portion of the antenna 120 via a through hole. The area of the radiating plane 132 is greater than that of each of the radiating strips of the first and second radiating portions of the antenna 120. In implementations, the radiating plane 132 may be configured to have a main body substantively in the form of a rectangle, a trapezoid, a triangle, a polygon, a half circle, a bell, an irregular, etc.
In order to provide greater operation bandwidth for the antenna 130, the radiating plane 132 is so designed that the width of part of the radiating plane 132 is gradually increased along a first direction. In addition, for obtaining better impedance matching, the dual-band antenna 102 is configured to have a gap between the radiating plane 132 and the grounded region 116 and the gap is gradually increased along a second direction. The afore-mentioned first direction and the second direction may be substantially perpendicular to each other or may have an included angle ranging from 30 to 150 degrees.
In the embodiment shown in
The shorting element 140 may be directly connected to the radiating plane 132 of the antenna 130, or coupled with the radiating plane 132 of the antenna 130 through a via. The feeding element 150 may be directly connected to the radiating plane 132 of the antenna 130, or coupled with the radiating plane 132 of the antenna 130 through a via. In the wireless communication apparatus 100, the shorting element 140 and the feeding element 150 are shared by the antenna 120 and the antenna 130. In the dual-band antenna 102, if the feeding element 150 defines an axis, then more than 65% of the area of the antenna 120 would be located in one side of the axis, and more than 50% of the area of the radiating plane 132 of the antenna 130 would be located in another side of the axis. For example, in the embodiment shown in
As illustrated in
In some embodiments where the antenna 120 operates at the 2.4 GHz band and the antenna 130 operates at the 5 GHz band, the dual-band antenna 102 for simultaneously supporting the operations at both the 2.4 GHz band and the band of 5.15˜5.85 GHz requires only an area about 14 mm×8 mm. This offers a much greater effective bandwidth for the antenna 130 than conventional mini-sized dual-band antennas. Accordingly, the disclosed dual-band antenna 102 is very suitable for mini-sized wireless communication apparatuses, such as USB dongle wireless cards.
Please refer to
The circuit board 310 comprises a first plane 312, a second plane 314, and a grounded region 316. The structure and implementations of the circuit board 310 are similar to that of the embodiments described previously, and thus further details are omitted here for the sake of brevity.
The antenna 320 comprises a plurality of separated radiating strips 322 positioned on the first plane 312 and a plurality of separated radiating strips 324 positioned on the second plane 314. Those radiating strips 322 constitutes a first radiating portion of the antenna 320 and those radiating strips 324 constitutes a second radiating portion of the antenna 320. In implementations, the radiating strips 322 may include radiating strips of different shape and length. In the embodiment of
In manufacturing, each of the radiating strips 322 may be directly printed to form on the first plane 312, and each of the radiating strips 324 may be directly printed to form on the second plane 314 so as to reduce the complexity and cost of manufacturing.
In addition, the antenna 320 comprises a plurality of vias 326 for coupling the plurality of radiating strips 322 positioned on the first plane 312 with the plurality of radiating strips 324 positioned on the second plane 314 to constitute a three-dimensional spiral radiating body.
The vias 326 of the antenna 320 are conductive through holes, each of which has an interior surface coated with conductive material, such as copper. The conductive vias 326 cause inductive effect during operations, so that the length of the radiating body of the antenna 320 can be reduced to less than one quarter wavelength of the radio signal received/transmitted by the antenna 320, thereby effectively reducing the required volume for the antenna 320.
The antenna 330 comprises a radiating plane 332. The radiating plane 332 may be directly printed to form on the layer, on which the first radiating portion or the second radiating portion of the antenna 320 is positioned, and directly connected to the antenna 320. Alternatively, the radiating plane 332 may be coupled with the first radiating portion or the second radiating portion of the antenna 320 via a through hole. The area of the radiating plane 332 is greater than that of each of the radiating strips of the first and second radiating portions of the antenna 320. In implementations, the radiating plane 332 may be configured to have a main body substantively in the form of a rectangle, a trapezoid, a triangle, a polygon, a half circle, a bell, an irregular, etc.
In order to offer wider operation bandwidth for the antenna 330, the radiating plane 332 is so designed that the width of part of the radiating plane 332 is gradually increased along a fourth direction. In addition, for obtaining better impedance matching, the dual-band antenna 302 is configured to have a gap between the radiating plane 332 and the grounded region 316 of the circuit board 310 and the gap is gradually increased along a fifth direction. The afore-mentioned fourth direction and the fifth direction may be substantially perpendicular to each other or may have an included angle ranging from 30 to 150 degrees.
In the embodiment shown in
The shorting element 340 may be directly connected to the radiating plane 332 of the antenna 330, or coupled with the radiating plane 332 of the antenna 330 through a via. The feeding element 350 may be directly connected to the radiating plane 332 of the antenna 330, or coupled with the radiating plane 332 of the antenna 330 through a via. In the wireless communication apparatus 300, the shorting element 340 and the feeding element 350 are shared by the antenna 320 and the antenna 330.
In the dual-band antenna 302, if the feeding element 350 defines an axis, then more than 65% of the area of the antenna 320 would be located in one side of the axis, and more than 50% of the area of the radiating plane 332 of the antenna 330 would be located in another side of the axis. For example, in the embodiment shown in
As illustrated in
Similar to the embodiment illustrated in
In conventional mini-sized wireless communication apparatuses, such as USB dongle wireless cards, it is difficult for the antenna to support both dual-band operations and multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) functions. This is because the interior space of the mini-sized wireless communication apparatus is very limited and it is difficult to obtain sufficient isolation between two dual-band antennas. Thus, signal coupling between two dual-band antennas often occurs, thereby causing adversely affect to the signal transmission performance of the wireless communication apparatus.
Fortunately, the drawback of the conventional mini-sized wireless communication apparatuses can be overcame by employing the architecture of the disclosed dual-band antenna 102 and/or dual-band antenna 302.
Please refer to
The circuit board 510 comprises a first plane 512, a second plane 514, and a grounded region 516. The structure and implementations of the circuit board 510 are similar to the circuit boards 110 and 310 described previously, and thus further details are omitted here for the sake of brevity.
In the embodiment shown in
As shown, the radiating body of the antenna 120 of the dual-band antenna 102 is spirally extended toward a direction D3 from a place with which the antenna 120 and the antenna 130 are coupled, and the radiating body of the antenna 320 of the dual-band antenna 302 is spirally extended toward a direction D6 from a place with which the antenna 320 and the antenna 330 are coupled. As the included angle between the directions D3 and D6 approaches 180 degrees, the coupling effect between the antennas 102 and 302 reduces accordingly. Accordingly, the signal coupling effect between the dual-band antenna 102 and the dual-band antenna 302 can be minimized if the direction D3 is substantially perpendicular to the direction D6.
Furthermore, in the wireless communication apparatus 500, the grounded region 516 of the circuit board 510 is arranged between the antenna 130 and the antenna 330 so that the grounded region 516 can be utilized as an electrical isolator between the dual-band antenna 102 and the dual-band antenna 302 for reducing the signal coupling between the dual-band antenna 102 and the dual-band antenna 302. The signal coupling between the dual-band antenna 102 and the dual-band antenna 302 can be further reduced by configuring the grounded region 516 to have sawtooth shaped edges and dimensioning some of the edges to have a right angle as illustrated in
In implementations, the first radiating portion of the antenna 120 and the first radiating portion of the antenna 320 may be positioned on the same plane or different planes of the circuit board 510. In one embodiment, for example, the first radiating portion of the antenna 120 and the first radiating portion of the antenna 320 are both positioned on the first plane 512. In another embodiment, the first radiating portion of the antenna 120 is positioned on the first plane 512 and the first radiating portion of the antenna 320 is positioned on the second plane 514.
In addition, the antenna 130 of the dual-band antenna 102 and the antenna 330 of the dual-band antenna 302 may be positioned on the same plane of the circuit board 510, such as the first plane 512. Alternatively, the antenna 130 and the antenna 330 may be respectively positioned on different planes of the circuit board 510. For example, the antenna 130 may be positioned on the first plane 512 while the antenna 330 is positioned on the second plane 514.
In the embodiment shown in
In implementations, the above functions and advantages may be achieved by utilizing the combination of two dual-band antennas 102 or the combination of two dual-band antennas 302.
Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and embodiments be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.