The Effect of Antenna Spacing on Active S-Parameters in Planar Array Antennas

Abstract

In wireless communication systems, an RF signal generated by a transmitter is sent into free space and eventually picked up by a receiver. An antenna radiation pattern can be defined as the directional function that characterizes the relative power distribution radiated by an antenna. it is more advantageous to restrict the direction in which signals are sent or received. This requires a steerable antenna. This is referred to as antenna directivity. Directivity refers to the ability of an antenna to transmit or receive signals over a narrow range of horizontal directions. In other words, the physical orientation of the antenna gives it a highly directional response or directivity curve. A directional antenna eliminates interference from other signals received in all directions other than the direction of the desired signal. Directional antennas provide great efficiency of power transmission because the transmitter power can be focused into a narrow beam directed toward the station of interest. The combination of two or more antennas used together is known as an antenna array. Although an array need not contain identical radiating elements, most arrays prefer identical elements such as dipoles, horn antennas or parabolic dish antennas. Antenna arrays provide high directivity, narrow beams, low side apertures, steerable beams and shaped antenna patterns starting from very simple antenna elements. In this study, a series of simulations are performed by varying the inter-antenna distances and the effects of the inter-antenna distance on the S-parameters of planar antenna arrays are investigated at 3GHz center frequency, which will be mostly available for 5G NR applications in the future.

Keywords

• Planar antenna array
• Antenna gain
• Antenna directivity
• S-parameters
• Millimeter-wave antenna

References

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