The twentyāfirst century is the wireless century. In the near future, it is very likely that most electronic devices will include some wireless functionality. If we look at the job market, known brands which seem to have nothing to do with antennas, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and so on, are all recruiting engineers with antenna knowledge. On the other hand, there are not that many antenna engineers out there. The root cause of the shortage of antenna engineers can be traced all the way back to the university. The cornerstone of antenna engineering is electromagnetics (EMs), which is a quite abstract class and involves a lot of mathematics. The world unveiled by EMs is a fourādimensional one, which includes three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension. To most students, the many new concepts introduced in the class are counterintuitive and confusing. As a logical consequence of natural selection, the EM major is removed by most students from their list of favorites.
People like to think of antennas as a black box of magic. The explanations given by antenna engineers are always so vague that it seems they never give people a definitive answer. It is easy to come to the conclusion that even designing a simple antenna requires years of experience. The truth is that if there was an appropriate book which presented all the required information, most electronic engineers who have studied some EM theory in university could design antennas. You do not need any mathematics to design an antenna. What you need is an understanding of how an antenna works. Of course, if you want to be an exceptional antenna engineer and design antennas with extreme constraints, a solid knowledge of EM theory and years of experience are still necessary.
This book provides a comprehensive discussion of the stateāofātheāart technologies of antenna design for mobile communications. The book covers all the important aspects an engineer might need when designing an antenna, which includes how to make a fixture, how to design various antennas, how to optimize match circuits, and carry out different measurements.
It is recommended that the book is read in its entirety. However, for engineers who only want to design a singleāband antenna in the shortest time possible, Section 1.6 will provide enough knowledge to kickāstart a simple antenna project.
The book has six chapters, and the chapters are arranged as follows:
Chapter 1 provides an overview of most antenna design technologies used in mobile devices. Before anyone starts to design an antenna, it is very helpful for him or her to understand the following: (1) What can be done? (2) What kind of freedom do we have? Both topics will be briefly discussed here. Based on readersā feedback from the bookās first edition, a practical example is added in Section 1.6. The section can also serve as a gamebook which can divert readers to different sections if they want to explore more.
Chapter 2 describes different matching techniques used in antenna design. In realāworld engineering, antenna matching circuits are widely used, probably in at least half of all devices. The popularity of the matching network is due to two reasons: (1) it gives the engineer more freedom, one more parameter to play with when making design tradeāoffs; and (2) the value change of a matching component is quite a quick process, which can be a lastāminute change. On the other hand, an antenna modification needs at least several days of lead time. The chapter discusses singleāband matching, multiband matching, and advanced matching techniques. Complementary software written by the author will be provided to provide practice matching techniques (see the web address on the back cover).
Chapter 3 introduces different external antennas, including both stubby and whipāstubby antennas. The external antenna dominated the cell phone antenna design. The market share of external antennas has been consistently decreasing in the past decade, but it is still a very important antenna configuration. Many basic techniques used in external antennas, such as multimode singleāradiator multiband antennas and multiāradiator multiband antennas, are also used in internal antennas.
Chapter 4 introduces different internal antennas. The internal antenna is the current fashion. Under the internal antenna category, there are several different concepts, such as folded monopole, invertedāF antenna/planar invertedāF antenna (IFA/PIFA), loop, and ceramic antenna. All of these will be discussed in the chapter.
Chapter 5 introduces important issues related to engineering antenna measurement. Besides the passive antenna measurement, which is familiar to most electronic engineers, active measurement will also be discussed. Some details, which are key to accurate measurement, such as how to make fixtures and use a choke, will all be covered in the chapter. Various antenna measurements in the production line are also covered in the chapter.
Chapter 6 is about the various regulations which are important to antenna engineers. These can be split into three topics: (1) specific absorption rate (SAR), which is about the radiation to the head and body; (2) hearing aid compatibility (HAC), which is about electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) with hearing aids; and (3) EMC, which is about the EMC with other devices.
