Antenna Booster Technology

Abstract

Small and multiband antennas are always playing a predominant role in wireless communications to provide range, connectivity, and ensure battery life. In this regard, antenna booster technology features small size (∼λ/30), multiband, and multi‐radio behavior and at the same time easy to be embedded into a wireless device due to its chip‐like nature. The design of antenna systems radically differs from those based on conventional antenna design relying on shaping the geometry of the antenna to determine the frequencies of operation. On the contrary, with the antenna booster technology approach, the frequencies of operation are determined by the designer thanks to the combination of an antenna booster and a matching network. By doing so, all the complexity in the antenna part is removed and most of the intelligence is translated into the matching network. This enables making an antenna booster 10 times smaller than other antennas while flexibly adapting to any wireless protocol and device. Besides, reconfigurability can be combined with the matching network increasing the flexibility to adapt to any frequency band. Antenna booster technology is finding its applications in the design of wireless devices needing operation in the frequency range from 0.4 to 10 GHz.