Design and measurement-based evaluation of multi-antenna mobile terminals for LTE 3500MHz band

Abstract

Design of multi-element antennas (MA) for small mobile terminals operating at higher frequencies remains challenging despite smaller antenna dimension and possibility of achieving electrically large separation between them. In this paper, the importance of the type of radiating elements operating at 3400-3600MHz and their locations on the terminal chassis is highlighted. An isotropic radiation pattern that receives incoming signals from arbitrary directions is obtained by combining the radiation patterns of multiple antennas with localized chassis current distribution. Four MA configurations with two- and eight-element antennas are designed and evaluated experimentally in indoor propagation environments. Our proposed designs of MAs provide the highest MIMO channel capacity compared to their counterparts using antennas with less localized chassis current distribution, even in the presence of user's hand.