Overcoming the LTE handset antenna design problem

Many industry leaders think that LTE is the 4G solution that will naturally follow today's 3G UMTS technology. LTE promises significantly higher data rates for both upload and download, thereby enabling a wide variety of Internet protocol (IP) services such as VoIP and online gaming. The ability to deliver high data rates to a variety of consumer devices including Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and smart phones will largely drive the success of LTE.

The industry is painfully aware of the issues that surround implementing LTE in small mobile devices with already limited space. To make matters worse, LTE will likely be yet another service that the device must support. Thus, LTE will compete with existing functions and services for PCB real estate and battery power, potentially increasing the cost of the handset.

For mobile handset antenna development, significant challenges arise when some of the complex implementation schemes of LTE are compounded by the longer wavelengths of the 700MHz frequency band. This article explores these challenges and offers a solution.

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