1: Prediction of Future Antenna Technology Development
From the perspective of wireless network development trends and various challenges faced by operators, the future development of antenna technology will inevitably follow the following directions.
⑴ Miniaturization of antenna volume
The miniaturization of antennas is to ensure
Reduce the size of the antenna while keeping its performance essentially unchanged. Miniaturization is a fundamental technology and an eternal development direction for antennas.
⑵ Multiple standard network common antenna feeder applications
In the future, multiple standards will share a single ultra wideband antenna, which not only covers the operating frequency band of multiple standards, but also allows for independent adjustment of each standard according to different system requirements. The application of multi standard antennas will save station construction costs and sky resources, and flexibly meet the network coverage requirements of each standard.
The antenna function mode is developing towards intelligent functionality
Future antennas will achieve intelligent beamforming, beam pointing control, beam splitting, and remote control, flexibly meeting the application needs of various scenarios. Through the intelligence of antennas, interoperability between systems and optimized utilization of resources can be achieved, ultimately leading to an intelligent operation and maintenance approach.
⑷ The connection between the antenna and the RF module is evolving from separate to centralized
In the future, centralized devices will replace separated devices, fiber optics will replace cables, and antennas and main devices will be miniaturized and integrated, fully integrating and saving space resources and flexible deployment methods, adapting to the trend of flat network development.
Analysis of Key Technologies for Two New Antennas
2.1 Miniaturization antenna technology
There are two ways to achieve antenna miniaturization. The first approach is to optimize the antenna design scheme to achieve rapid voltage drop outside the service area, reduce sidelobes and back lobes, lower cross polarization levels, and improve antenna radiation efficiency through low loss, no surface wave parasitic radiation, and low VSWR feeding networks, thereby achieving a reduction in antenna volume under the same gain. The performance indicators of this antenna remain unchanged, but due to technical difficulties, the degree of volume reduction is limited, and the implementation difficulty is relatively high and the cost is high. The second implementation method is to reduce the volume by lowering the gain of the antenna. The volume reduction of this method is significant, and for every 3 dB decrease in gain, the volume will shrink by half, which is relatively easy to achieve. However, the decrease in gain index after miniaturization will limit the application range of the antenna. To ensure that the performance of antenna miniaturization meets the application requirements of different scenarios, future antenna miniaturization technology should be developed in the first implementation method.
At present, mobile communication antennas have achieved a certain degree of miniaturization through the first method, and there are also application cases of miniaturized antennas in the industry. However, due to various factors, the installation of miniaturized antennas still requires certain surface resources, and performance indicators need to be improved. The operating frequency band is relatively narrow. If used in online applications, multiple miniaturized antennas need to work simultaneously to achieve full frequency coverage, which loses the advantages and significance of miniaturization.
Future operators should guide the industry's advantageous forces, promote the full integration of antenna backend equipment, achieve beautification and stealth requirements by utilizing the environment, and realize the true conservation and flexible deployment of sky resources. While promoting the miniaturization of antennas, achieving broadband antenna operating frequency bands is beneficial for reducing the number of antennas and future system upgrades, fully reflecting the advantages of miniaturized antennas.
2.2 Multi standard antenna technology
Multi standard antenna refers to allowing different communication systems to share a single antenna in order to effectively save installation space. The implementation of multi standard antennas mainly relies on the reasonable placement of radiating elements inside the antenna to achieve broadband operation of the antenna frequency band, as well as the adjustment and control of signals in different frequency bands through signal combining and splitting