MIPT: Compact antenna arrays for 5G applications

Main article: 5G (fifth generation mobile)

2023: Announcement of compact antenna arrays for 5G applications

MIPT scientists have created a compact directional antenna array with optimal gain and a wide range of applications in the field of 5G technologies. The antenna showed amplification of more than 11.3 dB in the frequency range from 2.5 to 4.5 GHz. First of all, miniature antenna arrays can be used in wireless communication, where the task is to control a beam with a high gain and at the same time the allocated space for the emitter is extremely limited. The results of the work are published in the journal Physica Status Solidi. This was announced on July 19, 2023 by representatives of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

MIPT has developed compact antenna arrays for 5G applications

As reported, any antenna allows transmission information (signal) over a distance, and for its successful operation it is necessary to know where the signal is directed, its power, as well as the efficiency of the antenna itself. Several antennas located nearby are called an antenna array, and the change in the parameters of the array is controlled by its beam. The more antennas, the narrower the beam and the more energy.

The key to the efficiency of the antenna array developed in MIPT lies in the three-dimensional geometry of each emitter. As a rule, antenna arrays for many reasons try to make flat, thereby complicating the search for ideal geometry.

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= spoke about the project Vladimir Burtsev, employee radio photonics laboratory MIPT'S task was to create a small (relatively wavelength) antenna array that could emit energy in a given direction with high efficiency. We were able to achieve these characteristics using special optimization algorithms in the course of solving the electrodynamic problem.}}

Scientists set initial parameters and requirements, and optimization algorithms built the geometry most appropriate to your tasks. For the high-quality operation of the antenna array all its dimensions had to be observed up to hundredths of a millimeter. To implement such accuracy, the laboratory uses its optimal and budget method of manufacture is photopolymer 3D printing of the frame with a polymer resin followed by electrochemical coating of the mold metal.

We analyzed the operation of the resulting antenna array and came to the conclusion that its energy indicators are due to the constructive interference of many elementary vibrations within the structure. Each antenna element contains a certain energy, and such contributions can be added either destructively, which most often happens, or structurally, as in this case, which ensures the energy efficiency of our antenna array. Its non-trivial form gives optimal efficiency. Knowledge of electrodynamics will allow you to rearrange the operating frequencies, slightly changing the geometry itself and preserving the principle of adding vibrations. By adjusting the grill to different ranges, we can work in the Wi-Fi or radio frequency tag (RFID) zone, monitoring or reading the markings in the store, or go to higher 5G frequencies and track the operation of "smart" devices. told Dmitry Filonov, head of the radiophotonics laboratory of the Center for Photonics and 2D Materials, leading researcher at the Research Center for Telecommunications MIPT

The study is supported by Priority 2030.