Patent Grant
7319432
The present invention relates generally to antennas for radio communication terminals and, in particular, to compact built-in antennas devised to be incorporated into portable terminals and having a wide bandwidth to facilitate operation of the portable terminals within different frequency bands.
Since the end of the 2000th century the cellular telephone industry has had enormous development in the world. From the initial analog systems, such as those defined by the standards AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) and NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), the development has during recent years been almost exclusively focused on standards for digital solutions for cellular radio network systems, such as D-AMPS (e.g., as specified in EIA/TIA-IS-54-B and IS-136) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). Different digital transmission schemes are used in different systems, e.g. time division multiple access (TDMA) or code division multiple access (CDMA). Currently, the cellular technology is entering the so called 3rd generation, providing several advantages over the former, 2nd generation, digital systems referred to above. Among those advantages an increased bandwidth will be provided, allowing effective communication of more complex data. The 3rd generation of mobile systems have been referred to as the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephony System) in Europe and CDMA2000 in the USA, and is already implemented in Japan to some extent. Furthermore, it is widely believed that the first generation of Personal Communication Networks (PCNs), employing low cost, pocket-sized, cordless telephones that can be carried comfortably and used to make or receive calls in the home, office, street, car, etc., will be provided by, for example, cellular carriers using the next generation digital cellular system infrastructure.
One evolution in cellular communication services involves the adoption of additional frequency bands for use in handling mobile communications, e.g., for Personal Communication Services (PCS) services. Taking the U.S. as an example, the Cellular hyperband is assigned two frequency bands (commonly referred to as the A frequency band and the B frequency band) for carrying and controlling communications in the 800 MHz region. The PCS hyperband, on the other hand, is specified in the United States to include six different frequency bands (A, B, C, D, E and F) in the 1900 MHz region. Thus, eight frequency bands are now available in any given service area of the U.S. to facilitate communication services. Certain standards have been approved for the PCS hyperband (e.g., PCS1900 (J-STD-007)), while others have been approved for the Cellular hyperband (e.g., D-AMPS (IS-136)). Other frequency bands in which these devices will be operating include GPS (operating in the 1.5 GHz range) and UMTS (operating in the 2.0 GHz range). Each one of the frequency bands specified for the Cellular and PCS hyperbands is allocated a plurality of traffic channels and at least one access or control channel. The control channel is used to control or supervise the operation of mobile stations by means of information transmitted to and received from the mobile stations. Such information may include incoming call signals, outgoing call signals, page signals, page response signals, location registration signals, voice channel assignments, maintenance instructions, hand-off, and cell selection or reselection instructions as a mobile station travels out of the radio coverage of one cell and into the radio coverage of another cell. The control and voice channels may operate using either analog modulation or digital modulation.
The signals transmitted by a base station in the downlink over the traffic and control channels are received by mobile or portable terminals, each of which have at least one antenna. Historically, portable terminals have employed a number of different types of antennas to receive and transmit signals over the air interface. For example, monopole antennas mounted perpendicularly to a conducting surface have been found to provide good radiation characteristics, desirable drive point impedances and relatively simple construction. Monopole antennas can be created in various physical forms. For example, rod or whip antennas have frequently been used in conjunction with portable terminals. For high frequency applications where an antenna's length is to be minimized, another choice is the helical antenna. In addition, mobile terminal manufacturers encounter a constant demand for smaller and smaller terminals. This demand for miniaturization is combined with desire for additional functionality such as having the ability to use the terminal at different frequency bands and different cellular systems.
It is commercially desirable to offer portable terminals which are capable of operating in widely different frequency bands, e.g., bands located in the 1500 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2.0 GHz and 2.45 GHz regions. Accordingly, antennas which provide adequate gain and bandwidth in a plurality of these frequency bands will need to be employed in portable terminals. Several attempts have been made to create such antennas.
Japanese patent no. 6-37531 discloses a helix which contains an inner parasitic metal rod. In this patent, the antenna can be tuned to dual resonant frequencies by adjusting the position of the metal rod. Unfortunately, the bandwidth for this design is too narrow for use in cellular communications.
Dual-band, printed, monopole antennas are known in which dual resonance is achieved by the addition of a parasitic strip in close proximity to a printed monopole antenna. While such an antenna has enough bandwidth for cellular communications, it requires the addition of a parasitic strip. Motel AB in Sweden has designed a coil matching dual-band whip antenna and coil antenna, in which dual resonance is achieved by adjusting the coil matching component (¼.lambda. For 900 MHz and ½.lambda. For 1800 MHz). This antenna has relatively good bandwidth and radiation performances and a length in the order of 40 mm.
In order to reduce the size of the portable radio terminals, built-in antennas have been implemented over the last couple of years. The general desire today is to have an antenna, which is not visible to the customer. Today different kinds of patches are used, with or without parasitic elements. The most common built-in antennas currently in use in mobile phones are the so called planar inverted-F antennas (PIFA). This name has been adopted due to the fact that the antenna looks like the letter F tilted 90 degrees in profile. Such an antenna needs a feeding point as well as a ground connection. If one or several parasitic elements are included nearby, they can be either grounded or dielectrically separated from ground.
The PIFA can, as mentioned, be built in into a radio terminal antenna, e.g. a mobile phone, with fairly low profile. However, as mobile phones become smaller and smaller, the height of the PIFA antennas are still a limiting factor for decreasing the terminal size. The geometry of a conventional PIFA antenna includes a radiating element, a feeding pin for the radiating element, a ground pin for the radiating element, and a ground substrate commonly arranged on a printed circuit board (PCB). Both the feeding pin and the ground pin are arranged perpendicular to the ground plane, and radiating element is suspended above the ground plane in such a manner that the ground plane covers the area under the radiating element. This type of antenna, however, generally has a fairly small bandwidth in the order of 100 MHz. In order to increase the bandwidth for an antenna of this design, the vertical distance between the radiating element and the PCB ground has to be increased, i.e. the height at which the radiating element is placed above the PCB is increased. This, however, is an undesirable modification as the height increase makes the antenna unattractive for small communication devices. One solution to this problem is to add a dielectric element between the antenna and the PCB, in order to make the electrical distance longer than the physical distance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,326,921 to Yang et al discloses a built-in, low-profile antenna with an inverted planar inverted F-type (PIFA) antenna and a meandering parasitic element, and having a wide bandwidth to facilitate communications within a plurality of frequency bands. A main element is placed at a predetermined height above a substrate of a communication device and the parasitic element is placed on the same substrate as the main antenna element and is grounded at one end. The feeding pin of the PIFA is proximate to the ground pin of the parasitic element. The coupling of the meandering, parasitic element to the main antenna results in two resonances. These two resonances are adjusted to be adjacent to each other in order to realize a broader resonance encompassing the DCSS (Digital Cross-Connect System), PCS (Personal Communications System) and UMTS frequency ranges.
However, prior art antenna designs will still be a limiting factor when developing radio terminals with adequate bandwidth to cover, for example, all of the DCSS, PCS and UMTS frequency bands, at the same time recognizing the desire to provide compact terminals. The known solutions have mainly dual band performance, e.g. GSM+DCSS. They need a ground plane underneath the antenna structure. The larger distance the better antenna performance, to a certain degree, and since the mobile phones of today must be as small and thin as possible, this is a dilemma. A more general problem with built-in antennas is not only small band width, but also significantly worse gain performance than a traditional external antenna i.e. Some kind of stub antenna.
Hence, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-identified deficiencies related to the prior art, and more specifically to provide a planar antenna structure suitable for built-in antennas, at the same time having a wide bandwidth which enables the antenna to be operable at a plurality of frequency bands.
According to a first aspect, this object is fulfilled by a multi-band radio antenna device for a radio communication terminal, comprising a flat ground substrate, a flat main radiating element having a radio signal feeding point, and a flat parasitic element. Said main radiating element is located in the same plane as said ground substrate, wherein a first elongated portion of the main radiating element extends in an L shape away from a side edge of the ground substrate, the longer leg of said L shape extending substantially parallel to said side edge.
Preferably, said first elongated portion has a first width and extends into a second elongated portion having a second width, smaller than said first width. The length of said first portion preferably corresponds to the resonance of a first radio wavelength zone and the combined length of said first and second portion corresponds to the resonance of a second radio wavelength zone, by interaction with the parasitic element.
Preferably, said flat parasitic element comprises a first L-shaped parasitic member extending from an electrical connection point to said ground substrate essentially parallel to said first portion of the main antenna element. In one embodiment, said flat parasitic element further comprises a second L-shaped parasitic member extending from an electrical connection point to said ground substrate, essentially parallel to said first parasitic member. The main radiating element is preferably dielectrically separated from the ground substrate.
In a preferred embodiment, said second portion of the main element is meandered, and preferably, said first width is at least 5 times larger than said second width. In one embodiment, said first width is at least 10 times larger than said second width.
According to a second aspect, the object of the invention is fulfilled by a communication terminal devised for multi-band radio communication, comprising a housing, a user input and output interface, and in said housing a built-in antenna device including a flat ground substrate, a flat main radiating element having a radio signal feeding point, and a flat parasitic element. Said main radiating element is located in the same plane as said ground substrate, wherein a first elongated portion of the main radiating element extends in an L shape away from a side edge of the ground substrate, the longer leg of said L shape extending substantially parallel to said side edge.
Preferably, said first elongated portion has a first width and extends into a second elongated portion having a second width, smaller than said first width. The length of said first portion preferably corresponds to the resonance of a first radio wavelength and the combined length of said first and second portion corresponds to the resonance of a second radio wavelength.
Preferably, said flat parasitic element comprises a first L-shaped parasitic member extending from an electrical connection point to said ground substrate essentially parallel to said first portion of the main antenna element. In one embodiment, said flat parasitic element further comprises a second L-shaped parasitic member extending from an electrical connection point to said ground substrate, essentially parallel to said first parasitic member. The main radiating element is preferably dielectrically separated from the ground substrate.
In a preferred embodiment, said second portion of the main element is meandered, and preferably, said first width is at least 5 times larger than said second width. In one embodiment, said first width is at least 10 times larger than said second width.
According to a third aspect, the object of the invention is fulfilled by a multi-band radio antenna for a radio communication terminal, comprising a flat main radiating element having a radio signal feeding point, and a flat parasitic element, wherein said antenna is connectable to a flat ground substrate by interconnection with said parasitic element. Said main radiating element is located in the same plane as said ground substrate, wherein a first elongated portion of the main radiating element extends in an L shape away from a side edge of the ground substrate, the longer leg of said L shape extending substantially parallel to said side edge.
According to a fourth aspect, the object of the invention is fulfilled by an integrated multi-band radio antenna and ground substrate device for a radio communication terminal, comprising a flat ground substrate, a flat main radiating element having a radio signal feeding point, and a flat parasitic element. Said main radiating element is located in substantially the same plane as said ground substrate, wherein a first elongated portion of the main radiating element extends in an L shape away from a side edge of the ground substrate, the longer leg of said L shape extending substantially parallel to said side edge.
Preferably, said ground substrate, said main radiating element and said parasitic element are formed of a single sheet of electrically conductive material, and in one embodiment they are etched out from a metal layer on a printed circuit board. In one embodiment, the features of which are equally applicable to any of the previously mentioned aspects, said ground substrate is formed on one layer of a printed circuit board, whereas said main radiating element and said parasitic element are formed on another layer on said printed circuit board. The ground substrate and the antenna will nevertheless be substantially located in the same plane, particularly compared to the conventional PIFA design.
By substantially parallel is here meant that the distance between longer leg of the radiating element and the edge of the ground substrate is essentially constant over the extension of said longer leg, within the accuracy given by the used method of manufacture.
The features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, on which
The present description refers to radio terminals as a device in which to implement a radio antenna design according to the present invention. The term radio terminal includes all mobile equipment devised for radio communication with a radio station, which radio station also may be mobile terminal or e.g. a stationary base station. Consequently, the term radio terminal includes mobile telephones, pagers, communicators, electronic organizers, smartphones, PDA:s (Personal Digital Assistants), vehicle-mounted radio communication devices, or the like, as well as portable laptop computers devised for wireless communication in e.g. a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). Furthermore, since the antenna as such is suitable for but not restricted to mobile use, the term radio terminal should also be understood as to include any stationary device arranged for radio communication, such as e.g. desktop computers, printers, fax machines and so on, devised to operate with radio communication with each other or some other radio station. Hence, although the structure and characteristics of the antenna design according to the invention is mainly described herein, by way of example, in the implementation in a mobile phone, this is not to be interpreted as excluding the implementation of the inventive antenna design in other types of radio terminals, such as those listed above. Furthermore, it should be emphasized that the term comprising or comprises, when used in this description and in the appended claims to indicate included features, elements or steps, is in no way to be interpreted as excluding the presence of other features elements or steps than those expressly stated.
Several of the larger mobile phone manufacturers, e.g. Ericsson® and Nokia®, have launched mobile phones for cellular communication networks and implementing built-in antennas for both dual band and triple band operation. By built-in is here meant that the antenna is placed inside, or adjacent to, the housing or chassis of the mobile phone without protruding elements. The principles of the Planar Inverted F Antenna type have been briefly discussed above. Although it may be embodied in different ways, it is basically defined by the following features:
The present invention provides an antenna design which does not need a ground plane underneath the antenna structure. This makes it possible to make a very thin product. Computer simulations with surprisingly good results have been made. These simulations have been performed using the tool IE3D, distributed by Zeland Inc. This tool uses the Moment Method as a mathematical solver, and simulation results obtained correlate well with measurement tests on prototypes disclosed in
An antenna concept or design is described herein, comprising the antenna structure, its relation to ground, and its implementation in a radio terminal, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Some features of one embodiment of the antenna design are a very wide feeding and two parasitic elements without feeding.
L=c/3f,
wherein L is the ground plane length, c is the speed of light in vacuum and f is the radio frequency. In one example said lower band is f=900 MHz, wherein the ground plane length can be calculated to approximately 11 cm.
The main radiating element of the antenna comprises a first flat elongated member 2, which extends from a position 4 close to the upper edge 21 of ground plane 20. In the preferred and disclosed embodiment, this elongated member is bent 90 degrees in order to make the total length of the antenna device 1, including the ground plane 20, as short as possible. The main radiating element is fed at a feeding point 3 at or near its base 4, adjacent to the edge 21 of the ground plane 20, but it is dielectrically separated from the ground plane 20, e.g. by a gap.
The elongated member 2 has a large width, in the disclosed embodiment about 5.4 mm. This large width contributes to the large bandwidth shown in
A thin parasitic element member 5 is connected to the ground plane 20 at 7, and runs parallel with the main antenna member 2. The width of this first parasitic element member 5 is approximately 1 mm, and it is positioned close to, about 1 mm, the electrically fed antenna element 2,9. The total length of the first parasitic member 5 is approximately 21.1 mm in the disclosed embodiment.
Another thin parasitic element 6, likewise connected to the ground plane at 8, extends parallel with parasitic member 5. The approximate length of this second parasitic member 6 is 21 mm in the disclosed embodiment. The width of member 6 and the distance between member 6 and 5 is of the same order as the width of member 5 and the distance between member 5 element 2, respectively.
As can be seen from
Contrary to the preceding figure,
The results of the VSWR measurements show excellent results for both the antenna orientation according to
Consequently, one way to get a really low SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) value is to have the antenna near the mouth rather than the ear, an “upside down concept”, as in
Tests have also been performed on the gain, and indicate a good performance compared to the designs available today. Those experiments were also made with additional ground planes parallel to the antenna structure 12, behind it. Distances between 5 mm and 10 mm were tested, with the ground planes either hanging freely or grounded to the PCB ground 20. The best result was achieved without any additional ground plane, i.e. with the antenna design proposed in this description, with the antenna upside down as in
Several effects and advantages are obtained by the invention. As evidenced by the graphs of
No ground plane is needed underneath the antenna 12, which is otherwise the common case for the built-in antennas existing on the market. The built-in antenna is fairly small and very thin. Furthermore, it is possible to manufacture antenna 12 and PCB 41, having a ground plane 20, in one piece 40, which is mechanically very robust. The antenna structure can be etched out from the PCB directly. No grounding of the antenna is needed, only the parasitic elements 5,6 need ground. The design also has capabilities of rendering a low cost manufacture process, since no antenna connector is needed, and in that the antenna device 1 may be formed from a single film of e.g. copper.
With the antenna device 1 arranged upside down, it is also possible to obtain very low SAR. It is however important that the user A realizes how to hold the mobile phone properly.
The proposed design does not have an antenna volume in an ordinary sense, since the height to the ground plane is zero. A very thin mobile phone 30 can therefore be built. The antenna 12 area is approximately 41*20 mm, and is preferably etched on the PCB. The antenna 12 comprises two parasitic elements 5,6 which are parallel with the main antenna structure 2, and with each other. They are not meandered and do not have any capacitive end load.
The foregoing has described the principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention. However, the invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed above. For example, while the antenna of the present invention has been discussed primarily as being a radiator, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the antenna of the present invention would also be used as a sensor for receiving information at specific frequencies. Similarly, the dimensions of the various elements may vary based on the specific application. Thus, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and it should be appreciated that variations may be made in those embodiments by workers skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02005816 | Mar 2002 | EP | regional |
This patent application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/366,514 filed on Mar. 19, 2002. This application incorporates by reference the entire disclosure of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/366,514.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP03/02473 | 3/11/2003 | WO | 00 | 12/2/2004 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO03/077360 | 9/18/2003 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5583521 | Williams | Dec 1996 | A |
| 6326921 | Egorov et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
| 6348897 | Alameh et al. | Feb 2002 | B1 |
| 6408190 | Ying | Jun 2002 | B1 |
| 6414637 | Keilen | Jul 2002 | B2 |
| 6466170 | Zhou | Oct 2002 | B2 |
| 6650294 | Ying et al. | Nov 2003 | B2 |
| 6674409 | Cheah | Jan 2004 | B2 |
| 20010050636 | Weinberger | Dec 2001 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 0757405 | Feb 1997 | EP |
| 06-037531 | Feb 1994 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20050110692 A1 | May 2005 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60366514 | Mar 2002 | US |
