New Wi-Fi 6, 5G, mm Wave Antennas Unveiled by Antenna Company at MCW19
A new 64 antenna 5G DRA covers 24-30 GHz frequency bands, MIMO device is aimed at Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax).
Although modern wireless systems require multiple antennas that take up board space, devices continue to shrink.
The Antenna Company has unveiled two antenna systems to help OEMs meet these conflicting realities: the 64-antenna DRA (Dielectric Resonator Antenna) and a Wi-Fi 6-compatible MIMO antenna system.
Johan Gielis’ Sperformula. Image from the Antenna Company
The Antenna Company, a Dutch manufacturer of antennas for embedded 5G applications, has announced the two systems at the Mobile World Conference (MWC19) in Los Angeles—a far-reaching, 5G-focused platform.
The company's supershape dielectric resonator technology has replaced standard ceramic antenna materials with polymers that can be fashioned according to the Gielis superformula for the highest gain and efficiency and the lowest losses.
64-Antenna DRA
The new antenna, according to the Antenna Company, is the first DRA (Dielectric Resonator Antenna) array for 5G millimeter-wave applications. The 64-antenna DRA design is said to be a significant improvement from the conventional patch arrays now commonly used.
The mm-wave DRA array in a testing environment. Image from the Antenna Company
The 64-antenna DRA carries out a wide-band operation over millimeter-wave bands covering a 24 to 30 GHz range by exploiting the Antenna Company’s DRA and supershape technology.
The DRA array, when compared to similarly-configured patch arrays, offers:
- Lower sidelobe levels
- Reduced scanning losses
- Greater maximum scan angle
This design offers more than 40 dBm of peak EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power) and is aimed at applications in CPE (customer premise equipment) products. In addition, this design is highly scalable and is applicable to frequency bands ranging from 37 to 40 GHz.
The mm-wave array. Image from the Antenna Company
“Antenna Company is excited to announce this breakthrough in mm-wave antenna performance,” said company CEO, David Favreau. Adds Joe Madden, Chief Analyst at Mobile Experts, “With the roll-out of 5G services worldwide, antenna performance is mission-critical for achieving reliable coverage."
A production version of the design is also planned to be released in 2020. The device will feature the 64 dual-polarization antenna elements as well as an RF front-end and a 5G NR radio transceiver; it will also support beamforming and beam steering.
Wi-Fi-Compatible MIMO Antenna System
This Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)-compatible 10-antenna MIMO (multiple-in multiple-out) antenna system is designed to reduce latency, increase network capacity in enterprise networks, and enable over-the-air speeds well into the multi-gigabit range.
The device supports a 4×4 5GHz + 4×4 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi configuration. Also included within the system is a 2.4GHz BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) antenna and a dedicated 2.4GHz/5GHz antenna. The purpose of the former is to support such IoT tasks like location tracking, while the latter is intended for radio spectrum management.
The Wi-Fi 6-compatible enterprise antenna. Image from the Antenna Company
This device supports concurrent operation of dual 5GHz radios with greater than 40 decibels of isolation. Over-the-air speeds of up to 5.2 Gbps are achievable in the dual-radio mode.
The compact, robust design resists de-tuning even in rough physical environments. Peak rates during 1024-QAM operation are made possible by the antenna system’s low input impedance.
“Antenna Company has optimized the performance of the antenna system to meet the demanding requirements of enterprise-class products”, said company CEO, David Favreau. “With our scalable design, OEMs can deploy enterprise access-points that offer 4x improvement over previous generation access-points.”
This Wi-Fi 6 solution is part of a family of antenna systems. Also included is a 4×4 2.4/5GHz option targeted at small and middle-size enterprise deployments.
Both of the new antenna systems will be showcased at MWC19 in Los Angeles this week. The Antenna Company will be located at South Hall Stand, MR1477.
Have you worked with Wi-Fi 6? Do you have experience in designing devices that utilize mm-wave technology? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
