Antenna Design and Link Performance Verification of Antennas for 5G mmWave Handheld Devices

Abstract: The purpose of the thesis is to design a new antenna system and to verify its link performance in 5G FR2 mmWave frequency for handheld devices to enable cellular communication. The main objective is to design an antenna primarily at 28GHz and 39GHz to enhance spectrum efficiency, along with improved transmission data rates, enabling new cases like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and many more such applications. Here, Ka (27-40GHz) frequency band is used according to IEEE standard. This objective has been solved by using a rectangular slot to obtain the higher resonant frequency in the patch antenna suitable for use in the real environment. The antenna design modelling and the simulations were done using Altair FEKO Version v2017.20 tool. The required total far field gain is obtained for all the field points specified for the receiving antenna at 28GHz and 39GHz frequency. These results are then fetched in MATLAB based software ‘Device antenna radiation visualizer’. The gain and radiation patterns are determined by using the distributed antenna element approach in digital beamforming. The major comparison between the sub-array based analog beamforming and distributed antenna placement in digital beamforming are shown for both 28GHz and 39GHz. Finally, Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) for Effective Isotropic Radiated Power Transmit power (EIRP) is plotted by assuming random direction of transmission, for each design and for different hand blocking scenarios.