Smart Antennas

Brief Introduction And history:

Smart Antennas (SAs) were born in the early 1990s when well developed adaptive antenna arrays, originating from radar, were introduced into mobile communications. The early smart antenna systems were designed for use in military applications to suppress interfering or jamming signals from the enemy. Smart Antennas are also referred as MISO (Multiple Input Single Output) or SIMO (Single Input Multiple Output) systems. A smart antenna is a multi-element antenna where the signals received at each antenna element are intelligently combined to improve the performance of the wireless system. The reverse is performed on transmitter. These antennas can increase signal range, suppress interfering signals, combat signal fading, and increase the capacity of wireless systems. There are two basic types of smart antennas: switched multibeam antenna adaptive array

Working Of Smart Antennas: Switched Multibeam Antenna:

In this approach, an antenna array generates overlapping beams that cover the surrounding area. When an incoming signal is detected, the base station determines the beam that is best aligned in the signal-of-interest direction and then switches to that beam to communicate with the user.

Figure 1. Switched Multibeam Antenna

Adaptive Array Antenna:

The Adaptive array system is the smarter of the two approaches. This system tracks the mobile user continuously by steering the main beam towards the user and at the same time forming nulls in the directions of the interfering signal.

Figure 2. Adaptive Array

Basic Functionality Of Smart Antennas:

The following points will clear the basic working mechanism of smart Antennas either Switched or Adaptive Array type: First the direction of arrival of all the incoming signals including the interfering signals and the multipath signals are estimated using the Direction of Arrival algorithms. The desired user signal is identified and separated from the rest of the unwanted incoming signals A beam is steered in the direction of the desired signal and the user is tracked as he moves while placing nulls at interfering signal directions by constantly updating the complex weights. In a beamforming network typically the signals incident at the individual elements are combined intelligently to form a single desired beamformed output. Before the incoming signals are weighted they are brought down to baseband or intermediate frequencies (IFs). The receivers provided at the output of each element perform the necessary frequency down conversion. Adaptive antenna array systems use digital signal processors (DSPs) to weight the incoming signal. Therefore it is required that the down-converted signal be converted into digital format before they are processed by the DSP. Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are provided for this purpose.

Figure 3. Basic Working

Internal Circuitry Idea:

Gain And Directivity Of Smart Antennas: Directivity Of Smart Antennas:

Smart Antennas are very accurate in their directional characteristics. This is due to the reason that beams are formed in all direction for communication purpose and so directivity of these antennas in particular direction is very accurate. As shown in above picture that to establish a link with user, a beam is directed in particular direction thus making these antennas very sensitive in directional aspect.

Gain Of Smart Antennas:

Due excellent directivity property of smart antennas, their gain is very high and strong for given direction (Link with user e.t.c). Anyhow due to problem of interference, these antennas have issues in gain when signals are present in populated areas or in bad weather conditions.

Advantages Of Smart Antennas:

Range improvement: The increase in gain leads to increase in range and the coverage of the system. Therefore fewer base stations are required to cover a given area. Increase in capacity: Smart antennas enable reduction in co-channel interference, which leads to increase in the frequency reuse factor. Reduction in transmitted power: Comparatively smart antennas radiate energy only in the desired direction. Therefore less power is required for radiation at the base station. Reduction in transmitted power also implies reduction in interference towards other users. Compatibility: Smart antenna technology can be applied to various multiple access techniques such as TDMA, FDMA, and CDMA. It is compatible with almost any modulation method and bandwidth or frequency band.

References: Papers from www.ieee.org Wikipedia Ansoft Antenna Desiging Sofware