Currently, communication system requires multiband small antennas for 5G mobile applications. Driven this motivation, this paper proposes a multiband patch antenna for Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 5G applications. The proposed antenna can effectively operate at 2.4 GHz as Wi-Fi, 7.8 GHz as WiMAX and 33.5 GHz as 5G communication purposes. The proposed antenna arrays have given directional radiation patterns, very small voltage standing wave ratio, high gain (VSWR) and directivity for each aforementioned systems operating frequency. This antenna is made for multiband purpose which can be effective for not only Wi-Fi and WiMAX but also 5G applications.
Wi-Fi improves the third-generation (3G) cellular and long-term evolution (LTE) broadband internet access. The IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n standards have support for frequency, polarization, and spatial diversity to meet the demand for higher throughput with greater coverage. Wi-Fi systems frequency ranges from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz as well as 5.150 - 5.350 GHz, 5.470 - 5.725 GHz, and 5.725 - 5.850 GHz. The channel bandwidth within each band varies from 5 to 20 MHz [
Conventional 4G technology uses frequency band of 2 - 8 GHz providing a bandwidth of 5 - 20 MHz but, nowadays as IoT is becoming popular, user bandwidth requirement has increased. To support this large data traffic 5G is the latest possible solution. For 5G, frequencies of around 50 GHz are being considered and this will present some real challenges in terms of the circuit design. 5G antennas are expected to be smaller, high-gain systems than those that have served 3G and 4G systems, and they will need more advanced steering and scanning techniques in order to function well at millimeter wave frequencies. Using frequencies much higher in the frequency spectrum provides the possibility of having wider channel bandwidth possibly 1 - 2 GHz. However, this poses new challenges for handset development where maximum frequencies of around 2 GHz and bandwidths of 10 - 20 MHz are currently in use. Recent works shows to show that a four-element dual-band printed slot antenna array for 5G mobile communication networks provide good impedance matching at the desired frequency bands of 28/38 GHz for |S11| less than −10 dB, with a gain of 10.58 dBi at 28 GHz and 12.15 dBi at 38 GHz [
This paper introduces an advanced multiband patch antenna to explore the possibility of covering frequency bands of Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 5G. At the first time a triple band 5G antenna has been proposed in this paper. This antenna is more compact, highly directive which is essential for mobile application. It also has a very small return loss compared with other existing antennas. Its enormous bandwidth makes this antenna more appropriate for wireless communication systems.
The geometric and detailed information of the proposed advanced patch antenna is shown in
The large patch element comparing between the twos is made for the keeping in mind of the measurement of 2.4 GHz which is for Wi-Fi application. The smaller patch element comparing between the twos is made for the keeping in mind of the measurement of 33.5 GHz which is for 5G application. Both the patch elements are connected through co-axial feed cable which has been passed through the ground for the input or output connection. Actually 31.6 × 30 mm2 is covered by the larger patch for the Wi-Fi application and 3.5 × 3.6 mm2 is covered by the smaller patch for 5G application. The WiMAX is possible because of the extended feeding line of the both of the patches for this reason it works in between of the applications at 7.8 GHz. The designed antenna is shown in
From the simulation of the antenna, it has been observed that the S-parameter at the range of 1 GHz to 38 GHz. The entire result of S-parameter has been shown in
In
In
In
Applications | Operating frequency (GHz) | Bandwidth (MHz) | Return Loss (dB) |
---|---|---|---|
Wi-Fi | 2.4 | 152 | −22.372 |
WiMAX | 7.8 | 235 | −26.023 |
5G | 33.5 | 4503 | −29.013 |
From the simulated result, it has been shown that the least return loss of the proposed antenna occurred at 33.5 GHz and it is about −29 dB and the bandwidth of this application is about 4.5 GHz which is discussed in
From the
The value of VSWR should be between 1 and 2 for efficient performance of an antenna [
The total efficiency of an antenna is the radiated efficiency multiplied by impedance mismatch loss of the antenna, when connected to a transmission line or receiver. If ε t is the total efficiency, I L is the impedance mismatch loss or
antenna’s loss and ε r is the radiated efficiency then,
ε t = I L ∗ ε r
Systems | Operating frequency (GHz) | VSWR |
---|---|---|
Wi-Fi | 2.4 | 1.27 |
WiMAX | 7.8 | 1.11 |
5G | 33.5 | 1.07 |
This equation [
In this proposed antenna, for Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 5G operating frequency, the lower antenna loss or impedance mismatch has been occurred from
The radiation efficiency is the ratio of radiated power to the accepted power or input power of an antenna. If radiation efficiency is η, accepted power is P i n and radiated power is P r a d . then,
η = P i n / P r a d (1)
At 33 GHz, for 5G application, from the analysis of far-field in
The e-field for main lobe magnitude is 19.8 dBV/m, h-field for main lobe magnitude is −31.7 dBA/m and power of the pattern is −5.93 dBW/m2. The gain of the radiation pattern is 5.06 for main lobe magnitude. All of them are discussed in
At 7.8 GHz, for WiMAX application, from the analysis of far-field in
Systems | Radiated efficiency (dB) | Total efficiency (dB) | Antenna efficiency |
---|---|---|---|
Wi-Fi | −9.15 | −9.20 | 99.5% |
WiMAX | −5.56 | −5.57 | 99.8% |
5G | −3.33 | −3.34 | 99.7% |
Systems | Accepted Power (dB) | Radiated Power (dB) | Radiated Efficiency (dB) |
---|---|---|---|
Wi-Fi | −3 | −12.2 | 24.6% |
WiMAX | −3 | −8.3 | 35.8% |
5G | −3 | −7.2 | 41.67% |
At 2.4 GHz, for Wi-Fi application, from the analysis of far-field in
Systems | Directivity (dBi) | Gain (dB) | E-Field (dBV/m) | H-Field (dBA/m) | Power Pattern (dBW/m2) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5G | 8.4 | 5.06 | 19.8 | −31.7 | −5.93 |
WiMAX | 6.62 | 1.1 | 15.8 | −35.7 | −9.96 |
Wi-Fi | 5.9 | −3.3 | 11..5 | −40.1 | −14.3 |
degree, angular bandwidth at 3 dB point is 101.8 degree and side lobe level is none. The e-field for main lobe magnitude is 11.5 dBV/m, h-field for main lobe magnitude is −40.1 dBA/m and power of the pattern is −14.3 dBW/m2. The gain of the radiation pattern is −3.3 dB for main lobe magnitude. All of them are discussed in
An advanced multiband simply structured patch antenna has been designed and simulated by the help of CST Microwave Studio software. This antenna can be potential for future mobile communication systems as it can operate not only at
Wi-Fi & WiMAX bands but also 5G frequency band. This antenna satisfies the basic needs of Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 5G operations having the bandwidth of 152 MHz, 235 MHz and 4.5 GHz respectively. Because of its low VSWR and high directivity this antenna can be very effective for the next generations’ communication purposes.
Though this antenna has various advantages, it can be improved. In future, this antenna’s height and width can be deduced to make it light-weight, more frequency bands can be added to it to make it more effective and directivity can be improved so that it can cover more areas.
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers. Authors also thank to the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology to support. Note that the first author conducted simulations and first, third and fourth authors wrote the whole paper, whereas the other two authors supervised the first author. The fifth author is provided paper writing guideline and technical corrections.
Mahabub, A., Rahman, Md.M., Al-Amin, Md., Rahman, Md.S. and Rana, Md.M. (2018) Design of a Multiband Patch Antenna for 5G Communication Systems. Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 6, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojapr.2018.61001