Design Concept of Antennas for Small

Mobile Terminals and the

Future Perspective
Hisashi Morishita', Yongho Kim', and Kyohei Fujimoto2
'Department of Electrical Engineering, National Defense Academy
1-10-20 Hashirimizu, Yokosuka 239-8686 Japan
Tel: +81 468-41-3810 ext. 2261; Fax: +81 468-44-5911; E-mail: morisita@cc.nda.ac.jp

*FAIS, University of Tsukuba

589-6 Akatuka, Ushigabuchi, Tsukuba 305-0062 Japan

Abstract
With the recent progress and rapid increase in mobile terminals, the design of antennas for small mobile terminals is acquiring
great importance. In view of this situation, the design concept of antenna systems for small mobile terminals and its future
perspective are discussed, referring to the trends in modern mobile communications and the demands for the antenna sys-
tem. The design concept of antenna systems has changed along with the progress of mobile systems. In the conventional
design, the conducting material of the equipment case, existing near the antenna element, is included as a part of the radiator
in the antenna system, without regard to whether or not it has been considered. In the latest mobile phones, the design con-
cept has been advanced to aim at improving the antenna's performance, and the treatment of the case, etc., has become a
part of this. Some particular considerations for the design are to relieve the degradation of the antenna's performance due to
the human-body effect, to overcome the SAR problems, and yet to make the size small. Furthermore, it is now time to pro-
ceed to the more-advanced concept, in which implementation of adaptive control and software is considered, even in small
mobile terminals. Typical trends in modern communications systems are discussed, and the demands of these trends -which
are summarized as down-sizing, function, and intelligence - are taken up for future antenna structures. Small-antenna tech-
nology and the application of the integration technology to antenna systems are essential for realizing such future structures.

Keywords: Antennas; portable radio communication; telephone sets; antenna proximity factors; electromagnetic radiation
effects; land mobile radio cellular systems; land mobile radio cellular equipment

1. Introduction of the progress of small mobile terminals, the design of antennas is

acquiring great importance. The antennas are required to be small,
and yet to have prescribed characteristics and performance, such as

T he rapid growth of the cellular phone market has been

observed worldwide, particularly in Asian countries, like
China and Japan. One of the trends in cellular-phone technology in
the last decade has been to dramatically decrease the size and the
weight of the handset. In the initial offering (1984), the typical
portable cellular phone was nearly 600 cc in volume, and about
850 g in weight. In 1999, cellular handsets having a volume of less
than 60 cc and a weight of less than 60 g appeared. This remark-
able reduction in weight and volume has necessitated a rapid evo-
lution of the antennas used for the handsets. Accordingly, antenna
designers encountered difficulty in designing antennas that could
maintain their performance unchanged, even though the antenna
size became smaller, as a degradation of the gain and bandwidth
was inherently observed in small antennas.
In conjunction with such recent trends in mobile communica-
tions as personalization, mobile terminals have advanced to be not
only smaller, but also instrumental for acquiring various voice and
non-voice information, without regard to time and place. In view
wide bandwidth, operation in dual or triple frequency bands, diver-
sity, and so forth. In addition, further advanced design is required
for improving the antenna's performance in recent, small mobile
systems.
With these considerations in mind, this paper discusses the
design concept of antennas for small mobile terminals, and intro-
duces its latest examples. The future perspective for the antenna
structure is also discussed. These discussions are aimed at provid-
ing a clear comprehension of the design concept, so that it can
contribute to developing well-grounded and well-chosen antenna
systems for future small mobile terminals.
Discussions are presented referring to changes in the design
concept along with the progress in mobile systems. Mobile termi-
nals defined here as small, portable equipment, such as the hand-
sets used in cellular systems, and wireless data terminals, such as
used in PDAs (personal data assistants), for GPS, and so forth.
First, the parameters necessary for designing antennas used in

30 IEEE Antenna's and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44,No. 5,October 2002

 small mobile terminals are explained. These are summarized in Typical antenna elements used so far for small mobile termi-
terms of the system requirements, propagation, and environmental nals are the monopole (MP) [ 11, the dipole, the normal-mode helix
conditions. The words “antenna system” are often used herein to (NMHA) [2], the planar inverted-F (PIFA) [3], the microstrip
mean antennas used in small mobile terminals. The reason for this patch (MSA) [4],and the meander line. The majority of handsets
is that in almost all small mobile terminals, the radiation currents in the PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) systems in Japan use a
excited by the antenna element flow on the conducting materials
existing in the equipment. Hence, these conducting materials and
the antenna element constitute the electromagnetic system of the
mobile terminal. Next, the changes in the design concepts of
antennas for small mobile terminals are reviewed, beginning from
the early days of mobile communications to the present. It is
shown that three stages in the changes have been observed in the
past, and the major changes relate to whether or not the body of the I
equipment has been included in the antenna system as a part of
radiator. Examples of the design concepts in each stage are shown.
Following this review, an advanced design concept, which is
applied to the latest mobile terminals, is discussed. An example,
using a small, low-profile, rectangular loop, having a balanced
structure, is introduced. A feature of this concept is that it makes
the improvement of the antenna’s performance feasible: That is,
the influence of the human-body effect on the antenna’s perform-
ance is reduced, and the SAR value in the operator’s head is possi- multipath-----,--diversity
delay
bly lowered. In addition, this type of antenna structure can be interference- .-L..--atiaptive control
employed as a built-in antenna in small mobile phones, and yet the
concept may also be applied to future mobile terminals, for which
sophisticated antenna performance is required.

Regarding the progress in modern mobile systems, five typi-

cal trends are taken up, and the demands, based on these trends, are
discussed. Here, the demands are considered to be down-sizing,
function, and intelligence. Antenna structures in the future are dis-
cussed in the context of these key words. Finally, the future per-
spective of antenna design for small mobile terminals is described,
in conjunction with the expected future mobile systems. Also dis- Figure 1. The parameters related to mobile antenna system
cussed is the fact that small-antenna technology is essential for design.
down-sizing, and the application of integration concepts to antenna
systems is the key technology for realizing novel, small, func-
tional, and intelligent antenna systems.
/-

(a)
a---
_ - _ -__ - -- -
. ground plane

2. Design Parameters for Small Mobile Antenna

Terminal Antennas
In designing antennas for small mobile terminals, the prime
considerations - which, so far, have conventionally been taken into
account - are

small size, Case or GP as a part of radiator

light weight,
compact structure,
low profile,
robustness, and
flexibility.

In addition to these, durability against the user’s rough handling;

environmental conditions, such as temperature variations; low
cost; and so forth should be taken into account. Parameters that
utilized positivcly
should be taken into consideration when an antenna system is
designed are summarized in Figure 1, where they are classified
into communication systems, propagation problems, antenna, and
environmental conditions. In fact, all of these parameters are con-
sidered in conventional handset-antenna design. When systems
require particular specifications, additional parameters required for
the design are used. The implementation of signal processing Figure 2. Three stages in the change of the antenna-design con-
would be an example, when a certain function is required. cept.

/€€€Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002 31

 I
n- I

Figure 4b. The monopole on a ground plane.

111- I

Figure 3. A monopole antenna, mounted on the top of a piece

of portable equipment.

Figure 4c. The monopole and its image in the ground plane,
treated as a dipole.

monopole as the main element, along with a normal-mode helix

Figure 4a. A model of a piece of portable equipment with a
monopole.
and a planar inverted-F antenna, which are used as element pairs
with the monopole to comprise a diversity antenna. Presently,
practical PDC handsets and other mobile phones employ a built-in
planar inverted-F antenna that has been variously modified from
the basic principle. Recently, the use of a chip antenna - which is a
very small, ceramic encapsulated antenna - has become popular.
There is a growing tendency in recent mobile phones to employ
only a built-in antenna, instead of using a monopole that sticks out
of the equipment case.

32 /E€€ Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002
 antenna element, may contribute to producing fields that are not
3. Historical Review of Mobile Terminal only of vertical polarization, but also of horizontal polarization,
Antenna Design Concepts although this depends on the dimensions of the case. The more
interesting result was that almost no current flow on the case was
The essential parameters shown in Figure 1 have been used observed in the system where a half-wavelength element was used.
in practical antenna designs. However, the design concepts have This was advantageous in reducing the influence of the user’s hand
changed as mobile systems have made progress. The change in the
design concepts is mainly attributed to whether or not the mobile
terminal case is considered to be a part of the antenna system. The
mobile terminal case is hereafter simply called the “case.” In the
early days of mobile communications, the case, being made of
metal, was simply treated as a ground plane (GP), because radia-
tion currents flow on it as well as on the antenna element. No par-
ticular attention was paid on the antenna design, but simply a
quarter-wavelength element was generally used. This was the first
stage.

There was a change in treating thc case as the flow of radia-

tion currents on the case became involved in the design of an
antenna. In other words, antenna design had advanced to include
the case in an antenna system. This was the second stage.

Later, the dependence of the antenna’s performance on the

dimensions of the case and on the antenna element was analyzed,
both theoretically and experimentally. The results led to the estab-
lishment of a logical and practically useful design method. This is
recognized as the concept of the third stage. It should be noted that
the design of antennas used for almost all PDC handsets is based
on this concept.
Figure 5. An antenna model for a piece of small portable
The changes of the three stages in the design concepts are
equipment.
illustrated in Figure 2. In the first stage, between 1950 and 1960,
the antennas used in small portable equipment were mostly a sim-
ple monopole of about a quarter wavelength, A monopole was
usually mounted on the top of the equipment case, as shown in
Figure 3. Figure 4a equivalently illustrates a model of this type of

I
antenna. Since the case was made of metal in those days, it was
simply considered as a ground plane, as shown by Figure 4b. By
taking the image of the antenna element into account, the model
was treated as a half-wave dipole, as shown in Figure 4c. Thus, no Antennay
particular attention was paid to designing this sort of antenna at element
that time, and just a quarter-wavelength element was used.

In the second stage, the antenna-design concept had

advanced to include the case in the antenna system, as a part of the
radiator. The model shown in Figure 5 equivalently illustrates an
antenna system that is composed of a monopole and the case. Fig-
ure 6 shows an example of this type of an antenna system, which
was used in small, portable VHF equipment [ 5 ] . In this example, a
short monopole was about 1/50 wavelength long, and the metal
case was about 1/250 wavelength. This antenna can be modeled as
an asymmetric dipole, being composed of a long and thin element
on one side, and a short and thick element on the other side, as
shown in Figure7a. This model can be further divided into two
systems: a short and thick monopole and a long and thin mono-
pole, both standing against the ground plane, as shown in Fig-
ure 7b. As a consequence, this antenna system is treated as a par- -Unit
allel combination of a two-dipole system, as shown in Figure 7c.

This was the first treatment that had shown the concept in
which the case was considered to be a part of the radiator [ 5 ] .
However, this concept was not recognized until the detailed analy-
sis of the antenna system was introduced, and the contribution of
the case to the radiation was clarified [l]. Through the analysis, the
current distributions on the case as well as on the antenna element
were shown, for various dimensions of the antenna element and the Figure 6. An example of a piece of small VHF portable equip-
case. It was clarified that currents on the case, excited by the ment.

lEEE Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002 33
 on the antenna’s performance, because the variation of impedance
or frequency due to the handheld effect can be made small as a
result of a reduction of the currents on the case. In practice, how-
ever, a half-wavelength element that is fed between the element
and the case cannot be used, because the feed-point impedance
becomes very high. Instead, a monopole with a length of 318 or 5/8
wavelength has been employed in practice for PDC handsets or
other mobile terminals, since it has the appropriate input imped-
ance for matching to the load, and yet the current flow on the case
is very small. It is very significant to say that the analysis shown in
[5] and [6] provided the essential design concept for developing
antennas for PDC handsets and other small mobile terminals pres-
ently used.
v,r
r
ZI
Figure 7a. Equivalent expressions of a small portable-equip-
ment antenna: an asymmetric dipole.
7 days are made of plastics, not of metals, and it is the “conducting
Figure 7b. Equivalent expressions of a small portable-equip-
ment antenna: a short, thick monopole and a long, thin mono-
pole, both standing against the ground plane,
34
I
Figure 7c. Equivalent expressions of a small portable-equip-
ment antenna: a parallel combination of a two-dipole system.
In the next stage - from the 1980s to the present - the down-
sizing of mobile terminals made remarkable progress and, accord-
ingly, the size of the antennas - except for monopole elements -
was also forced to be made smaller. The down-sizing of mobile
terminals is beneficial for users, However, it is a serious problem
for antenna designers, as the antenna design should be such that
the antenna’s performance should remain unchanged, even though
the antenna’s size becomes smaller. Fortunately, they have not
really suffered from this problem, as the antenna’s performance
was not as significantly degraded as was expected. There was the
assistance of the conducting materials existing in the equipment,
which contributed to radiation as a part of the radiator. Here, “the
equipment case” is replaced by “conducting materials” existing in
the equipment, because almost all of the equipment cases these
materials” existing in the equipment that act as a radiator, instead
of the equipment case. The typical conducting material in the
equipment is a rectangular shielding plate or box, where RF and
other circuits are included. Usually a built-in antenna element is
placed on this plate or box, and it acts as a ground plane. Hence,
hereafter these are called the “ground plane.” Other electronic
components on the ground plane have more or less effect on the
antenna’s performance, because of the current flow induced on
them; however, their contribution to radiation is small, but their
contribution to loss is rather greater. As a ground plane performs
as a part of a radiator, when a small antenna element is placed on it
and induces currents on it, the antenna’s size is equivalently
enlarged and, hence, the antenna’s performance is enhanced. The
gain and bandwidth may be increased, although this depends on
the size of the ground plane and the type of the antenna.
A typical example of ground-plane performance can be
observed in PDC handsets, where a planar inverted-F antenna is
used as a built-in antenna. A bandwidth of up to 17% can be
achieved, although that of a planar inverted-F antenna in free space
is ordinarily only 1% to 2%. Several dB increase in gain is also
observed. Another example is a case where a built-in, small chip
/€€€Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5,October 2002
 antenna - such as a very small, ceramic-encapsulated normal-mode
helix antenna - is used. The gain of this antenna is fairly low, say
about -6 dB omnidirectional; however, when it is placed on a
ground plane inside the handset, the gain is raised to about -2 dB
omnidirectional. It is rather interesting to note that this design con-
cept - the use of a ground plane as a part of the radiator - had been
used without any conscious effort; Le., it had not necessarily been
applied on purpose to design small handset antennas.

The effective use of a ground plane can be seen in another

case, where the radiation mode is increased with the help of cur-
rents on the ground plane. Modal increase is one of the significant
concepts for developing a small antenna. By introducing multi-
modes into a small antenna system, enhanced antenna perform-
ance, such as gain and bandwidth, may be expected, so that a prac-
tically useful small antenna may be realized. This concept was
applied to a pager antenna system, where a small rectangular-loop
antenna was used [6], and a dipole mode was produced in addition
to the loop mode. Figure Sa shows the antenna model, where the
direct connection of a coaxial cable a-b to the loop input terminal
c-d, without using a balun, is shown. The direct connection of an
unbalanced system (a coaxial cable) to a balanced system (the loop Figure 8b. The circuit associated with the dipole mode of the
terminals) is not common; however, this connection was intention- pager antenna system.
ally done for the purpose of producing the dipole mode in the
antenna system. By this means, unbalanced currents I , are pro-
duced on the terminals a-b and c-d, and then flow into both the
ground parts (ground plane) of the printed-circuit board and the
surface of the loop element. These unbalanced currents lead to
producing a dipole mode in addition to the loop mode, as Fig-
ures 8b and SC show. The radiation pattern, which is actually the
receiving pattern, hence becomes almost omni-directional as a
result of the combined patterns of the loop and that of the dipole,
which has a 90-degree phase difference. This is a favorable pattern
for receiving paging signals. Also, the combination of both the
dipole and loop modes produces receiving patterns that allow the
pager to have appreciable sensitivity in various situations: for
example, with the pager unit being laid down, or placed so as to
stand erect on a desk. This concept - the use of a dual mode, like
the loop and dipole - is very useful for creating small antennas.
The “dual mode” may be a combination of electric and magnetic
modes, vertical and horizontal EM modes, and so on. It can, of
course, be applied in designing antennas for any other small
mobile terminals.

There are both advantages and disadvantages in utilizing cur-

rents on the ground plane inside mobile terminals. The advantage Figure 8c. The circuit associated with the loop mode of the
is the enhancement of antenna performance. To the contrary, the pager antenna system.

disadvantage is the possible degradation of the antenna’s perform-

ance due to the effect of adjacent materials, including the human
c*
r--- body. In fact, more than 6 dB gain degradation has been observed
I
in the talk position of mobile phones, mainly due to the effect of a
user’s hand. A hand holding a handset varies the currents on the
Loop element
ground plane, and thus the impedance and frequency, so that
antenna gain and efficiency deteriorate. The human head, when the
handset is in a talk position, also varies antenna performance in the
same way as does the hand. A decrease in the antenna’s gain is
also caused by both the hand and the head, which absorb radiation
power. Papers (for example, [7] and [SI) have reported human-
body effects on mobile phone handset antenna performance.
Printed circuit
Another disadvantage is the possible increase of SAR [specific
board
.
‘-.’ absorption rate] values in the human head [7, 91. With the increase
in the current distribution on the ground plane inside the handsets,
;.-- I-

the radiation toward the human head may increase, and so would
Figure 8a. A pager antenna system. the SAR. To reduce the undesired radiation toward the human

/E€€ Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002 35
 Figure 9a. A balanced loop antenna for a handset.

Figure 9b. An unbalanced feed for the loop of Figure 9a.

Figure 9e. A hand model for use with the loop antenna of Fig-
ure 9a.

I t head, and thus the SAR value in the head, the appropriate selection
of antenna type, the method of feeding it, and the place and

II
method of mounting the antenna element on the equipment, should
all be seriously considered.

4. Design Considerations for Antennas for

Figure 9c. A balanced feed for the loop of Figure 923. the Latest Small Mobile Terminals

So far, progress in the design concepts has been reviewed,

and it has been shown that there have been three stages, as Fig-
ure 2 illustrates. Although the concept classified as the third stage
is still being generally applied to design antennas for present-day
mobile terminals, further advanced considerations, in order to
improve the antenna performance for the latest mobile terminals,
are needed. These are concerned with reduction of the human-body
effect, reduction of the SAR value in the human head, mitigation
of multipath fading, the reduction of interference, adaptive control
for environmental conditions, and so forth. In addition to these,
there is a growing tendency for the monopole, which has long been
used in mobile terminals, to be replaced by a small, built-in
antenna.

Possible antenna characteristics, desired for the latest mobile

terminals, are

1. Having a magnetic current as a radiating source,

2. A balanced type, and

3. Having two polarization components.

Item 1 aims to create a built-in antenna by making an antenna

small and of low profile. A magnetic-current source - for example,
Figure 9d. A head model for use with the loop antenna of Fig- a loop - is effectively used by being placed on the ground plane
ure 9a. such that the source current is in parallel with the ground plane.

36 IEEE Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No,5, October 2002
 With this structure, the EM field produced in front of the ground
plane is doubled [6] by the additional field due to the image of the
source current. As a result, the antenna gain is doubled, compared
with an antenna system in free space, yet the antenna is small and
of low profile. By means of item 2, the currents on the ground
plane - which are generated by the antenna element - can be
reduced, so that the human-body effect can be mitigated. In prac-
tice, a loop, a normal-mode helical-antenna dipole, a meander-line
dipole - and any other type of antenna having a balanced structure,
so that no unbalanced current flow is generated on the feed line
and on the ground plane - can be used for this purpose. As for item
3, it has been shown that an antenna having two polarization com-
ponents, such as both vertical and horizontal components, can, to
some extent, reduce multipath fading [lo]. This because the
antenna system can have diversity gain, although it is not very
high. An L-shaped loop [I 11 can be used as one of the candidates
for this purpose. Now, by combining any one or all of items 1, 2,
and 3 with the conventional design concept, an advanced antenna
system can be developed.
An example is a small rectangular-loop antenna, which has
small, low profile, and a balanced structure, as shown in Fig-
ures 9a-9c. An analysis has shown a remarkable reduction in the
currents on the ground plane [12]. This is shown in Figure 10,
where Figures loa and 10b show the current distributions on the
ground plane and the antenna element in the balanced and the
Figure loa. The current distribution on the antenna system of
Figure 9a, for an unbalanced feed.
Figure lob. The current distribution on the antenna system of
Figure 9a, for a balanced feed (the color scale is the same as
shown in Figure loa).
/€€€Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002
unbalanced system, respectively. The radiation patterns have also
been analyzed, and are shown in Figure 11. The patterns of both
unbalanced and balanced systems are shown, for cases where the
effects of both the human head and hand are included. In this
analysis, the models of the human head and hand shown in Fig-
ures 9d and 9e were used. The head model had dielectric properties
of a relative permittivity of 43.37, and a conductivity of 1.204 Sim,
which correspond to brain tissue. The hand was simply modeled as
a layer of muscle that covered three sides of the handset unit, with
dielectric properties of a relative permittivity of 54.30, and a con-
ductivity of 1.448 S/m (in [8]). Figures 10 and 11 give evidence
that the balanced system is useful compared to the unbalanced
system, because of the much lower current flowing on the ground
plane, and because of smaller influences on the patterns due to the
human head and hand models [13]. Variations in the gain and
impedance were also found to be relatively small, although they
are not shown here. This fact suggests that the human-body effect
on the antenna’s performance in small mobile terminals would be
made very small, when an antenna system is made with a balanced
structure. The user’s finger may touch the handset antenna, and
degrade the antenna’s performance. This problem has been dis-
cussed in a recent paper [14]. The reduction of SAR values in the
human head has also been treated in [15].
This method of antenna design, which employs the above
items 1, 2, and 3, is considered to be an advanced concept. It is
classified to be the fourth stage, where the ground plane is essen-
tially separated from the antenna system, as expressed in Fig-
ure 12. It should be noted that the conventional design concept (the
third stage, Figure 2c) could not be used if reduction of the human-
body effect should be strongly required. This is because the cur-
rents on the ground plane, which are positively utilized to enhance
the antenna’s performance, are almost eliminated. In turn, antenna
designers would again encounter another difficulty in realizing an
antenna system that should have enough gain and bandwidth with-
out the assistance of the ground plane, when a very small antenna
element is used. The significant advantages of this concept may be
recognized even in future systems, when functional antennas -
which the functions of adaptive control, signal processing, and so
forth - are introduced in mobile terminals. In these antenna sys-
tems, several antennas are usually used. If there existed any cur-
rents other than those of the antenna, such as those on the ground
plane, the antenna performance truly required could hardly be
obtained.
In parallel with the design consideration of mitigating the
human-body effect, the optimization of antenna performance for
handsets is being investigated. Optimized design implies that the
highest achievable performance can be realized under complicated
environmental conditions. Problems pertaining to the environ-
mental conditions include not only the reduction of the user’s
influence on the antenna performance, but also the reduction of the
SAR in the human head, the improvement of the performance in a
multipath propagation environment, and so forth. As for the
antenna’s performance in a multipath environment, one example of
design recently being studied is the pursuit of how to improve the
gain by modifying radiation patterns, taking into account not only
amplitude, but also phase terms, in both vertical and horizontal
polarization [ 161. Hence, the significance of the fourth-stage
design concept should be understood to be the realization that
performance optimized to the practical environmental conditions is
essential.
The fifth-stage concept will follow, with employment of
adaptive control into the optimization process in the fourth-stage
concept, as will be described in the next section. The design con-
37
 180" 180"

Figure l l a . The radiation pattern for the unbalanced system of Figure l l d . The radiation pattern for the balanced system of
Figure 9a, without a human model: - Ed (calculated); 0 Ed Figure 9a, with a human head model (markings as in Fig-
(measured); e d . E, (calculated); x E, (measured). ure lla).

0'

180" 180"

Figure l i b . The radiation pattern for the balanced system of Figure l l e . The radiation pattern for the unbalanced system of
Figure 9a, without a human model (markings as in Fig- Figure 9% with a human hand model (markings as in Fig-
ure lla). ure lla).

0" 0'

180" 180"

Figure l l c . The radiation pattern for the unbalanced system of Figure l l f . The radiation pattern for the balanced system of
Figure 9a, with a human head model (markings as in Fig- Figure 9a, with a human hand model (markings as in Fig-
ure lla). ure lla).

38 /€€E Antenna's and Propagafion Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002

- 1 1 1 1 - separated
Antenna
Figure 12. The fourth stage in the change of the antenna-design
concept.
p - b a i i d aiiteniiii
MW. MMW aiitenna
'I'owaitl Mul1.i-
software iiiitcm~a
Figure 13. Trends and demands in modern mobile systems and
antenna structures for small mobile terminals.
cept for antenna systems has made progress, along with the pro-
gress of mobile systems. This trend will not be changed in the
future, and the design concept will continuously follow the
advancement and progress of mobile systems.
5. Typical Trends in Modern Mobile
Systems and Antenna Structures for
Small Mobile Terminals
Cellular mobile systems have now advanced to the third gen-
eration, the IMT-2000 (W-CDMA, wideband code-division multi-
ple access) system, which started services in April, 2001, in Japan.
It features various new services with higher data rates, video-
transmission capability, and other advanced capabilities. Other
types of wireless systems, such as MMCA (multimedia mobile
/€€E Antenna's and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002
communication access), wireless broadband systems, Bluetooth,
and so forth, may appear sooner or later.
The typical trends in modern mobile systems are considered
to be [17]
Personalization,
Globalization,
Increase of multimedia services,
0 Proceeding to a multi-dimensional network, and
0 Implementation of software into antenna systems.
In Figure 13, these trends and the demands for antennas in con-
nection with these trends are described. The most significant key-.
words demanded for antennas are down-sizing, function, and
intelligence. Antenna structural aspects to be considered are also
listed in the figure, in relation to these keywords. In terms of per-
sonalization, mobility in communications has promoted this as a
matter of course; however, recent down-sized, low-cost mobile
terminals have accelerated it further. In addition, the increase in
personal services provided through mobile phones - such as short-
message exchange, music delivery, video transmission, Internet
access, and so forth - has also acted as a spur to personalization.
The down-sizing of mobile terminals is further expected in the new
personal mobile systems, which may have such structures as a pen,
a wristwatch, a small notebook, a pendant, an eyeglasses frame,
and so forth. Such mobile terminals would be applied not only to
1 communications, but also to control, positioning, management
systems, etc. Among these, there would be short-range control and
data-transmission systems for computers, home appliances, and
such. Antennas used for such systems should naturally be small in
size, and yet functional, to satisfy the required performance. Again,
the realization of small antennas without deterioration of the sys-
tem's performance will become a great concern of antenna engi-
neers. It is a common understanding that the smaller the mobile
terminals become, the greater the contribution of the antenna to the
system's performance will be. In practical systems that employ
small antennas, the performance will almost depend on the
antenna's performance. In other words, the successful development
of small mobile, terminals greatly depends on small-antenna tech-
nology. Regardless of the quality of the other parts of the system
design, it can hardly be expected that degraded antenna perform-
J ance (because of small size) will be compensated for by them. As
new systems will require novel, small antennas, advanced antenna
design concepts will be called for.
Globalization is another important trend in mobile communi-
cations. Wide-spread availability of mobile-phone systems,
expanded from domestic use, has been demanded, as people trav-
eling worldwide feel the necessity of this availability in business or
private use. A mobile satellite system is the most typical approach
to realize mobile global communication. The recent trend is to
construct a global data-transmission system through a satellite, in
which small, handy, mobile terminals are used. Antennas for such
mobile terminals require a small size, a semi-spherical radiation
pattern, a satellite-tracking function, and so forth. Presently,
instead of satellite systems, a link by which mobile systems are
connected to the wire networks (such as IP-cored and ISDN-cored
networks) has been gaining attention. By linking mobile systems
with these fixed networks, the services are extended to cover
worldwide areas. The services include multimedia: Le., not only
voice, but also high-speed data, still and moving video, etc. The
link connecting the mobile networks with the wired networks may
use either microwave (MW) or millimeter-wave (MMW) systems,
which cover small, limited areas. Antennas in the microwave and
millimeter-wave mobile systems differ in some points from anten-
39
 nas in the lower-frequency regions. Examples include radiation
patterns that cover specified areas of a required zone, wide band-
width, and, possibly, circular polarization. Active antennas, in
which active devices are integrated into the antenna structure, will
be used.
The increase of multimedia services using mobile systems
has become notable in the past few years. Various new services,
such as sound delivery, slow video display, games, data and video
transmission, net-banking, and net-commerce have already been
made available by some types of PDC and PHS handsets. More
advanced multimedia services are offered by the IMT 2000IUMTS
and other wireless broadband systems. Antennas for these systems
require wide bandwidth, in addition to needing to be of small size
and light in weight. Functions such as interference rejection and
adaptive control, in order to achieve good quality-of-service, are
naturally desired. The introduction of small mobile terminals in
very limited areas, in order to transmit data, control and manage
signals for computer systems, home appliances, and so forth, will
appear before long. These limited areas include small offices and
homes. Again, the demand is for down-sized antennas.
Multimedia transmission is also required in ITS (intelligent
transportation systems). One example is the roadside-to-vehicle
(R-to-V) system, which provides traffic and road information to
drivers, with graphic display along with voice. Various new wire-
less systems may be used on a vehicle, in addition to conventional
AMIFMITV receivers, VHFIUHF communication systems, navi-
gation systems, and cellular systems. Examples of these include R-
to-V and V-to-R (vehicle to roadside) systems, GPS receivers,
ETC (electronic toll collection) systems, microwave and millime-
ter-wave systems, and radar. The frequency spectrum for all of
these systems covers from the HF regions to the millimeter-wave
regions. As the systems to be mounted on a vehicle increase, the
demand for down-sizing the systems and their antennas increases.
Henceforth, the unification of systems and also of antennas will be
promoted. Another way is to develop antennas that have wide
bandwidth, to cover the spectrum of several systems. The require-
ments for high-data-rate transmission by small, handy, mobile
systems tend to increase rather urgently. Typical examples of these
are PDAs (personal data assistants), mobile computing systems,
Bluetooth, and so forth. In these systems, a monopole antenna has
generally been used as the simplest and lowest-cost antenna. How-
ever, the smaller the equipment becomes, the smaller the antenna
system should be. In smaller systems, since modules are often used
in which an antenna element and the RF circuits are unified, a spe-
cific design for the antenna is needed.
Mobile networks are now being put forward to be unified
into multi-dimensional networks, which are formed with an inte-
grated structure of multi-information media, multi-transmission
media, and multi-layered networks. Nowadays, mobile systems
tend to be combined with wire networks, linked with fixed wide-
band systems with optical-fiber systems, and also with satellite
systems. This sort of network is then considered to have a multi-
dimensional structure, and is called a multi-dimensional network
Antennas used in such advanced systems are desired to have
both function and intelligence. These are typically realized by
implementing adaptive signal processing and control, software and
so forth, into the antenna system. Software implementation is the
most sophisticated method, and antennas developed with this
sophisticated concept are called software antennas. Functional
operations, such as multi-mode, multi-beam, and multi-frequency-
band capabilities will be realized by software antennas. The appli-
40
cation of these advanced antenna systems have, so far, been dis-
cussed mostly in connection with base stations; however, there
must be cases where small mobile terminals may also need
advanced functionality and intelligent performance,
6. Future Perspective of
Small Mobile Terminal Antennas
Major keywords for describing demands based on the trends
in modern mobile systems have been discussed in the previous
section. Now, in this section, the antenna structure in conjunction
with these demands will be discussed. For down-sizing, it is’
essential to make antennas small, compact, and light weight. Some
of the approaches for down-sizing include constructing antennas
with such structures as (1) conjugate, (2) complementary, and (3)
dual modes. Structure (1) aims to construct a small antenna in a
resonance condition, so that no large reactance component - which
has loss, which degrades the antenna’s efficiency - is necessary in
the matching circuit. A resonance condition within the antenna
structure can easily be obtained by placing a conjugate element
against the antenna impedance in the antenna system. The applica-
tion of structure (2) is intended to develop a small antenna having
a constant impedance structure, based on the self-complementary
principle [ 191. Since a practical antenna structure can not be ideal;
Le., not infinite and not perfectly self-complementary, perfect fre-
quency-independent characteristics can not be expected. However,
at least fairly wide bandwidth or multi-band characteristics can be
achieved in small antennas. In practice, both an electric-current
source, and a magnetic-current source that is self-complementary
to the electric source, are combined within an antenna system. An
example is a combination of a dipole, and a slot having structure
complementary to the dipole [20, 211. By means of structure (3),
the realization of wideband and/or enhanced radiation in small
antennas is intended. The antenna may be constructed by combin-
ing two modes: for example, a dipole mode and a loop mode,
which can be produced by modification of current distributions on
the antenna structure.
With regard to small antennas, there have been common
understandings that the gain and bandwidth are restricted below a
limitation according to the theory of small antennas [22-241. How-
ever, there seems to be a need for further discussion of the limita-
tion, and to reconsider how to realize desired, small antennas with
appropriate gain and bandwidth. Unfortunately, discussions of this
problem are beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, one pos-
sible way of creating a small antenna with wide bandwidth is to
apply integration technology to the antenna system. Here, integra-
tion implies the unification of some devices, including antenna
elements, into an antenna system in such a way that either the
antenna performance - such as gain, bandwidth, and so forth - can
be enhanced, or such that functions such as amplification, fre-
quency conversion, mode increase, and so forth, are brought into
the antenna system. This concept can be explained by using Fig-
ure 14a. There, an antenna system is expressed as a transducer that
transforms EM parameters - the field components, E and i? -
into circuit parameters: voltage, V, and current, I [25]. This trans-
ducer is further divided into two parts, the Space Domain and the
Immittance Domain, as shown in Figure 14b. The Space Domain
defines the relationship between the EM fields ( E and E?) and the
current distribution on the antenna system, which is expressed as
z= L [ J ]
/E€€ Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002

Antenna
H System
Space Circuit
Figure 14a. An antenna system as a transducer.
Space Domain Immittance Domain
I I
I I I 1
Figure 14b. The equivalent expression for an antenna system
as a transducer.
and
where L is the operator and C' is the inverse operator, and the
overhead bar denotes a vector quantity. The Immittance Domain
defines the relationships between the current distributions, J , and
the circuit parameters, V and I. These are expressed by using either
the impedance matrix, [ Z ] ,or the admittance matrix, [Y], as
where parameters are treated as scalar quantities. By integrating
devices - either passive, active, or both - into an antenna system,
the parameters in the Immittance Domain are varied, and thus so
are the currents, 7 . As a result, the antenna's performance is
modified, or a new function is implemented into the antenna sys-
tem. The bandwidth of a small antenna may be widened by appro-
priately integrating devices, which can transform the impedance in
the antenna system so as to create a wideband matching condition.
Antenna structures having conjugate, complementary, and dual
modes, mentioned before, may be created by integrating either
active or passive devices into an antenna system.
Another feature in the integration technology is the possibil-
ity of developing functional antennas, which perform adaptive
control, signal processing, and so forth. The adaptive ability here is
concemed not only with signals coming into the antenna system,
but also with the environmental conditions. Adaptive antennas are
generally understood to be a system that adaptively steers a null, so
that either the receiving-signal quality can be maximized, or so
that multiple beams can be adaptively controlled toward mobile
terminals, increasing channel capacity. Further useful applications
of adaptive control should be recognized in functions that recover
deteriorated gain, efficiency, bandwidth, and so forth, caused by
lEEE Anfenna's and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002
environmental conditions such as the influence of adjacent materi-
als, like the human body. Since the environment in which an
antenna system is used is not necessarily well defined or station-
ary, the concept of adaptive control should a further advanced con-
cept. The design of an antenna system by applying integration
technology is described as a concept advanced to the fifth stage. It
is expressed in Figure 15, where Figure 15a shows the concept of
the integration of devices, and Figure 15b shows the integration of
the function into an antenna system, respectively. More sophisti-
cated systems, which have intelligence, will be realized by imple-
menting software into antenna structures. Figure 15c shows this
concept. Adaptive controls in various means - signal processing
with time-variable status, the improvement of signal quality, com-
munications with multiple modes, and so forth - would be such,
functions, which should be exploited by functional and intelligent
antenna systems. Again, the integrated antenna structure will play
an important role for creating such functional and intelligent
antenna systems.
Future mobile networks will evolve into a revolutionary
advanced system: for example, a system, in which channel assign-
ment is done autonomously by distributed mobile terminals.
Accordingly, antennas should be functional and intelligent in order
to perform pattern control, channel selection, adaptive control for
environmental conditions, and signal processing, corresponding to
the system's performance. Adaptive control in mobile terminals
may be performed in cooperation with the base station. Small size
and compactness are naturally required at the same time. It should
be noted that the development of such devices as A/D (ana-
logldigital converters), D/A (digital/analog converters), DSP
(digital signal processors), LNA (low noise amplifiers), and VLSI
circuits in the microwave regions, as well as software, are inevita-
ble for the deployment of integrated antenna systems. These
(3) unified
(b) unified
n
w Soilw arL'
uiii f ied
Figure 15. The antenna design concept of the fifth stage.
41
 devices and software will determine the success of future antenna
systems. Mobile terminals need to be simple, small, light weight,
and low cost, all of which, in turn, may conflict to some extent in
making the antenna functional and intelligent. Overcoming these
problems is a severe challenge for antenna engineers.
7. Conclusion
The design concept of antenna systems for small mobile
terminals has been discussed. It has been shown that the design
concept has made progress, taking three steps until now, along
with the progress of mobile systems. The steps were perceived as
depending on whether or not the equipment case was treated as a
part of the radiator in the antenna system. The equipment case,
simply considered as a ground plane in the early days of mobile
communications, was treated as a part of the radiator in the second
stage of the design concept. It has then progressed to the third
stage, in which the antenna system has been designed based on
extensive analysis.
In order to improve the antenna’s performance in the latest
handsets, an advanced design concept has been introduced. This
fourth-stage concept adopts a balanced structure to the antenna
system. It has been shown to be effective for relieving the degra-
dation of the antenna performance caused by the human-body
effect, and for reducing the SAR problem. As such, the fourth-
stage concept, in a general sense, has meant the optimization of
antenna design to the environmental conditions, in order to realize
the highest achievable performance
Although the concept has made changes, the design parame-
ters for small mobile terminals first described should basically be
taken into consideration in designing antennas. Recent trends in
modern mobile systems are described as personalization, global-
ization, the increase of multimedia services, the movement toward
multi-dimensional networks, and software implementation.
Requirements for antennas based on these trends are considered to
be down-sizing, function, and intelligence. Down-sizing is and will
be required for many cases in mobile systems. Small-antenna tech-
nology is essential for realizing down-sizing. Integrated antenna
systems will be the most pertinent candidate for making an antenna
small, functional, and intelligent. Implementation of software into
antenna systems is also made feasible by means of the integration
technology. This indicates a new step to proceed to the fifth stage
of the design concept. In this new stage, there will be considerable
promise in the development of new antenna systems. In turn,
antenna engineers will encounter many problems to be solved in
the development of antennas for small mobile terminals. A step-
by-step effort will be necessary to overcome the difficulty.
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Introducing the Feature Article Authors
Hisashi Morishita was born in Hokkaido, Japan, on August
16, 1957. He received the BS degree in Electrical Engineering
from the National Defense Academy of Japan in 1980, and the MS
and DrEng degrees from Tsukuba University in 1987 and 1990,
respectively. From 1990 to 1992, he worked as a research and
development officer at the Air Research and Development Com-
mand of JSADF. Since 1992, he has been with the National
Defense Academy, and is currently an Associate Professor in the
Department of Electrical Engineering. From 1996 to 1997, he was
a Visiting Researcher at the Communications Research Labora-
tory, McMaster University, Canada. His research is concerned
with mobile communication and small antennas. He is a member
of the IEEE.
Yongho Kim received the BA degree from the Military
Academy of Korea in 1995, and the MS degree from the National
/E€€Antenna’s and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 2002
Defense Academy, Japan, in 2001. He is currently working on
entering a DrEng course.
Kyohei Fujimoto received the BS and DrEng degrees from
Tokyo Institute of Technology, in 1953 and 1966, respectively. He
retired from the Matsushita Communication Ind. Co., Japan, in
1979, where he was concerned with research and development on
communications, transportation systems, and antennas. He was
then a Professor at the Institute of Applied Physics, University of
Tsukuba, Japan, between 1979 and 1993, and also in the Depart-
ment of Information Engineering, Niigata University, Japan, from
1993 to 1995. He is presently a Professor Emeritus, University of
Tsukuba; a Consultant Professor, Northwestern Polytechnic Uni-
versity, Xi’an, China; and Research Scientist, Foundation for
Advancement of International Science, Tsukuba, Japan. His
research interests are antennas, particularly small antennas and
integrated antennas, and mobile communications. His research
includes problems in the fields of EMC, ITS, BME, educational
engineering. He acted as a Director of the Educational Media
Center, University of Tsukuba, between 1985 and 1993. He was a
Visiting Research Associate at the Antenna Laboratories, the Ohio
State University, USA, from 1961 to 1964; a Lecturer and a Guest
Professor at Technische Hochschule Achen, Germany, in 1972,
1977, and 1981, at the Higher Institute of Mechanical and Electri-
cal Engineering, Bulgaria, in 1985, and at the Northwestern Poly-
technic University, China, several times since 1987. Dr. Fujimoto
is a Fellow of the IEICE, Japan, and a Life Fellow of the IEEE. He
served as Vice Chair and Chair of the IEEE AP-S Tokyo Chapter
in 1983 and 1984, respectively. He was General Chairman of the
International Symposium on the Multidimensional Mobile Com-
munications (MDMC) in 1994, and Chairman of the International
Advisory Committee of the MDMC since 1996. He is a co-editor
of the Mobile Antenna Systems Handbook, a co-author of Small
Antennas, an editor and author of Antenna Systems for Mobile
Communications (in Japanese), an author of Applications of Radio
Wave (in Japanese), and several other books.
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43