Low-cost Smart Antennas

Qi Luo, Steven Shichang Gao, Chao Gu, Wei Liu

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119422778
• eBook ISBN: 9781119422877
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

An authoritative guide to the latest developments for the design of low-cost smart antennas

Traditional smart antenna systems are costly, consume great amounts of power and are bulky size. Low-cost Smart Antennas offers a guide to designing smart antenna systems that are low cost, low power, and compact in size and can be applied to satellite communications, radar and mobile communications. The authors — noted experts on the topic — provide introductions to the fundamental concepts of antennas, array antennas and smart antennas. The book fills a gap in the literature by presenting the design techniques of low-cost radio frequency (RF) smart antennas as well as approaches for implementing the hardware of the antenna and the beamforming network (BFN).

A comprehensive and accessible book, Low-cost Smart Antennas not only presents an up-to-date review of the topic but includes illustrative case studies that contain in-depth explorations of the theory and technology of smart antennas. While other resources highlight the software (signal processing algorithms), this book is unique by focusing on the antenna hardware. This important book:

• Offers an introduction to the most recent developments of the design of low-cost smart antennas and their applications
• Presents a unique book that puts the focus on antenna hardware
• Includes a variety of case studies that clearly demonstrate the implementation of current design techniques
• Introduces both fundamental theories as well as more advanced topics

Written for students and researchers and antenna engineers, Low-cost Smart Antennas explores the most recent advances in the field with an emphasis on antenna hardware.

1
Introduction to Smart Antennas

1.1 Introduction

Smart antennas, also known as intelligent antennas or adaptive arrays, are a key technology for advanced wireless systems, such as satellite communications, inter‐satellite links, radars, sensors, mobile communications (5G and beyond), wireless local area networks, global navigation satellite systems, and wireless power transfer. One of the most important features of smart antennas is electronic beam scanning or switching. Smart antennas enable wireless systems to achieve optimum performance and increase channel throughput by electronically steering maximum radiation towards the desired directions while forming nulls against interfering sources.

The adaptive array is ‘smart’ because it has signal processing units with smart signal processing algorithms. Recent years have seen the development of efficient algorithms for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation and adaptive beamforming. Algorithms for adaptive beamforming include the classical least mean squares (LMS) type algorithm, constant modulus algorithm (CMA) etc. Traditional smart antennas are, however, complicated in structure, bulky in size, and costly. Thus, it is highly desirable to reduce the size, mass, power consumption, and cost of smart antennas.

Generally speaking, smart antennas can be divided into three components: the antenna, the beamforming network (BFN), and the signal processing unit. It is believed that radio frequency (RF) designs such as the architecture design and configurations of antenna and BFN play an important role in determining the overall cost of a smart antenna. A good example is the phased array in which each of the antenna elements has its own RF chain, and the number of active antenna elements determines the number of transmit/receive (T/R) modules and the complexity of the BFN. An active phased array with 1000 antenna elements typically requires 1000 RF phase shifters, 1000 RF transceivers, and a highly complicated BFN, resulting in large size, heavy weight, high power consumption, and high cost. For civilian applications, it is crucial to develop low‐cost smart antennas. Here low‐cost smart antennas refer to antenna systems which can achieve electronic beam scanning, multiple beams or electronic beam‐switching, and have significantly lower cost compared to traditional smart antennas such as phased arrays or digital beamforming smart antennas. Low‐cost smart antennas can be achieved by designing innovative antenna system architectures that require a significantly reduced number of T/R modules and RF phase shifters, or simplified BFNs with low‐cost beamforming algorithms.

This...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgement
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction to Smart Antennas
• 2 Beamforming Algorithms for Smart Antennas
• 3 Electronically Steerable Parasitic Array
• 4 Beam‐Reconfigurable Antennas Using Active Frequency Selective Surfaces
• 5 Beam Reconfigurable Reflectarrays and Transmitarrays
• 6 Compact MIMO Antenna Systems
• 7 Other Types of Low‐cost Smart Antennas
• Index
• End User License Agreement