ADAPTIVE ANTENNAS ON MOBILE HANDSETS

MALIKA GREENE
PUBLIC WIRELESS SYSTEM
JUNE 2002

LIST OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

3G
BER
CDMA
CIR
DSP
EDGE
EGC
FDMA
GPRS
GSBB
GSM
ISI
QHA
LCFCM
MAAT
MPRG
NLOS
OFDM
PCB
RF
SCFCM
SDMA
SNR
TDMA
UMTS
WCDMA
WLAN

3rd Generation
Bit Error Rate
Code Division Multiple Access
Carrier to Interference
Digital Signal Processing
Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution
Equal gain combining
Frequency Division Multiple Access
General Packet Radio Service
Geometrically based single bounce
Global System for Mobile Communications
Intersymbol Interference
Quadrifilar Helix Antenna
Loosely Correlated fading channel model
Antenna Array Testbed
Mobile Portable Radio Group
Non line of Sight
Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation
Printed Circuit Board
Radio Frequency
Spatially correlated fading channel model
Space Division Multiple Access
Signal to Noise
Time Division Multiple Access
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
Wireless Local Area Network

CONTENTS

1. Acknowledgement
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Technical analysis
4.1 What is a smart antenna?
4.2 Types of smart antenna
4.3 Adaptive antenna, what are they?
4.4 Techniques used for adaptive antennas
4.5 Type of adaptive antenna
4.6 Benefits of Smart adaptive array antennas over other antenna
4.7 Schematic view of the front for a smart antenna handset
4.8 Access technique used for adaptive antennas
4.9 Dead zones
5. Research issues
6. Conclusion
7. Recommendations
8. References
9. Appendices
9.1 Universities researching adaptive antennas on handsets
9.2 Health studies surrounding the use of adaptive antennas on
handsets.

1.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author would like to thank members of PWN for their support and advice during
the production of this report, and also to the various Cellular network operators,
educational establishments and manufacturers who provided invaluable comments
and technical information.

2. ABSTRACT
In this report, adaptive antennas on the handsets have been discussed in terms of the
benefits to the operator, regulator and user, the types of antennas and the advantages
of having such antennas instead of the conventional antennas.
The project was carried out to enable the RA to identify and scope the areas of this
technology that warrant further research.
An Outline Proposal was sent to the Technical Forum body within the RA with a
project title: Research into adaptive antennas on the handsets (improved network
infrastructure efficiency).

3. INTRODUCTION
Papers, investigations and research have been emerging concerning adaptive antennas
on handsets dating from since 1997.
One may wonder why is it necessary to invest time and money into such an idea, what
was wrong with the current use of the cellular antennas?
Adaptive antennas have only been thought of and seen in wireless communications
for the basestations, not on the handsets. With operators and manufacturers preparing
and deploying Third Generation systems the increasing growth of mobile phone users
has created a need for higher capacity in the cellular network.
One way of overcoming the capacity problem is by using multiple adaptive antennas
on the handset. In addition to the higher capacity benefit, it may offer improved
efficiency in the following areas :

Reduction of multi- path fading;

Suppression of interference signals;
Improvements of call reliability;
Lowering the specific absorption rate (SAR);
Mitigation against dead zones;
Increased data rates;
Spectral efficiency.

Conventional cellular antennas transmit energy over the entire cell, whereas adaptive
antennas combine the transmitting energy to a narrow beam. The conventional
antennas cause coupling of the hand and the head but there is no coupling of the hand
and the head with adaptive antennas.
New technologies under development ie small, solid state antenna as manufactured by
Antenova [25] and the Quadrifilar helix antenna (QHA) produced by Surrey
University and various other types have made the adaptive antenna on handsets a
practical possibility.
To an operator, this would mean reduction in infrastructure cost as the number of base
stations would be reduced, increase in the number of users and increase in the data
rates per square kilometre.
Some researchers have proposed the diversity technique at the handsets using two
adaptive antennas on the handsets and some have done research with four antennas on
the handsets.

To discover more on the topics and the areas of research that currently are being
carried out, refer to appendix 9.1.
Various options and views given by those in the industry concerning adaptive
antennas on handsets in the industry can be viewed in section 5.2.
There is confusion at times as to whether the smart and adaptive antennas mean the
same thing, this can be found out in sections 4.1 and 4.3.
Commercial trials of adaptive antennas on handsets are due to begin by various
companies later this year.

4. TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
4.1 What is a Smart Antenna?
Smart Antenna is short for Smart Antenna System. The system consists of antennas
and the associated digital control system, which provide the beam forming
intelligence hence the term smart antenna.
Smart Antennas have two main types:
1. Switched Beam Systems
2. Adaptive Array Antennas

4.2 Types of Smart Antennas

Switched beam systems
It is made of a simple switch function between separate directive antennas or
predefined beams of an array. The setting that gives the best performance, usually in
terms of received power, is chosen. Because of the higher directivity compared to a
conventional antenna, some gain is achieved[4].
This type of antenna is easier to implement in existing cell structures than the more
sophisticated adaptive arrays, which also means low cost.
The signal strength can degrade quickly during the beam switching. Also, if the
interferer is at the center, the interfering signal can be enhanced far more than the
desired signal[4].

Dynamically phased arrays

By including a direction of arrive algorithm for the signal received from the user,
continuous tracking can be achieved and it can be viewed as a generation of the
switched beam concept[4].
The receiver power is maximized and it does not null the interference[4].

Adaptive arrays
They are not like conventional antennas that broadcast energy over the entire cell but
they are antenna arrays that confine the broadcast energy to a narrow beam.
It optimizes the way that signals are distributed through space on a real time basis by
focusing the signal to the desired user and steering it away from other users
occupying the same channel in the same cell and adjacent or distant cell[ 1].
The advantage is that it has the best performance out of the three types of antennas
mentioned above. By directing the broadcast energy into a narrow beam are increased
gain, greater range of signal path, reduced multipath reflection, improved spectral
efficiency and increased network capacity[2 ].
The disadvantage is the receiver complexity, resource management and the physical
size.
Smart antenna not only combats multipath fading, but also suppresses interference
signals. Smart antenna techniques have been considered mostly for the base stations
so far because of high system complexity and high power consumption. Recently,
smart antenna techniques have been applied to mobile stations or handsets. Also one
of the third generation wireless personal communication systems, 3GPP(third
generation partnership project), requires antenna diversity at base stations and
optionally at mobile stations.
Due to the compact size and stringent cost of handsets and the limited battery
capacity, smart antennas at handsets should have low circuit complexity and low
power dissipation. To justify employment of smart antenna techniques at handsets, the
performance gain should be large enough to offset the additional cost and power
consumption. Since the number of adjacent base stations is small, a dual antenna
system is a good candidate for the handsets.
Smart antennas employ two different combining schemes:
1. Diversity combining
2. Adaptive combining
The diversity combining scheme exploits the spatial diversity among multiple antenna
signals. So the diversity combining achieves higher performance when multiple
antenna signals are less correlated. If each antenna signal undergoes independent
fading, the diversity combining scheme would perform well.

The adaptive combining scheme adjusts the antenna weights dynamically to enhance
the desired signal while suppressing interference signals. Since the adaptive
combining scheme aims to add multiple antenna signals, the scheme performs better
for correlated antenna signals. Thus, if multiple antenna signals are exactly the same
except the phase difference, the adaptive combining achieves the highest
performance[29].

4.3 Adaptive Antennas, what are they?

Adaptive Antennas may be defined as an array of antennas which is able to change
its antenna pattern dynamically to adjust to noise, interference and multipath.
Adaptive Antennas are used to enhance received signals and may also be used to form
beams for transmission[15].Unlike conventional cellular antennas, which broadcast
energy over the entire cell, adaptive antennas are antenna arrays that confine the
broadcast energy to a narrow beam[14].
Benefits of Adaptive Antennas in IMT-2000 networks
The advantages of directing the broadcast energy into a narrow beam are increased
signal gain, greater range of the signal path, reduced multipath reflection, improved
spectral efficiency, and increased network capacity[14].
Adaptive antenna technology uses multiple antennas, digital processing techniques
and complex algorithms to modify the transmit and receive signals at the base station
and at the user terminal. All of the existing IMT-2000 radio interfaces might obtain
significant performance improvements from the application of Adaptive Antenna
systems[15].
Further Improvements by including Adaptive Antennas into the design concept
Many aspects of an air interface design affect the spectral efficiency gains that can be
realised from the Adaptive Antenna technology including the following:

duplexing methods
carrier bandwidth
modulation methods
signalling control: broadcast and paging methods
burst structures
frame structures

It can be shown that integrating Adaptive Antennas into the initial design concept can
yield spectral efficiency increases of >4000% over existing 2G systems and > 400%
increases over the new IMT-2000 radio interfaces[15].

Adaptive Antenna Design Basics

Adaptive Antenna technology consists of the use of multiple antennas, digital signal
processing techniques and complex algorithms that modify the transmit and receive
signals at a base station and user terminal. The Adaptive Antenna system optimizes
the way signals are distributed through space on a real time basis by focusing the
signal to the desired user and steering it away from other users occupying the same
cell and adjacent and distant cells if the adaptive antennas are on the base station or if
the adaptive antennas are on the handsets, the signal would be steered from the
handset onto the desired base stations.
The names Smart Antennas and Adaptive Antennas are actually misleading, and could
lead to the assumption that specialised antennas and RF hardware are being used, in
fact the intelligence or smarts are really signal processing that is performed in the
base band of a radio. The algorithms constantly analyse the RF environment and then
perform functions to optimize the transmitted and received signals to maximize
performance.
Radio Interface design considerations
Mobile Handset
Elements of the mobile handset design and functionality can also be selected to
enhance the benefits of the Adaptive Antenna processing. For certain applications it
may be economically feasible to incorporate Adaptive Antenna processing at the
mobile handset thereby increasing uplink gain and reducing system wide uplink
interference. Implementation of uplink control will improve the overall performance
of the network since less interference equates to more capacity. Tightly coupling
subscriber power control into an overall performance enhancing strategy will
dramatically enhance network performance.
With this new technology, radio network design is also possible where the operator
has greater freedom to improve service quality, reduce network cost, improve
coverage, increase capacity and conserve spectrum[15].
Adaptive antennas canincrease network capacity by using carrier signal-tointerference (C/I) gain to implement tighter frequency reuse.
The solution is to use C/I gain to obtain tighter frequency reuse. For GSM networks,
using the C/I gain can reduce the average reuse from nine to four and improves the
capacity by 100 to 120% for a C/I gain of 5 to 6dB.
The combination of adaptive antennas and frequency hopping in GSM networks
offers the greatest potential for increasing capacity. Simulations are shown that
adaptive antenna arrays and frequency hopping are spectrum efficient, cope with tight
frequency reuse[14].

10

4.4 Techniques used for adaptive antennas

Switched Beam Systems

It is where a number of beams are formed by adding complex weights to the signal
received by each element in the array.
The system then selects the beam port with the highest power. The beam forming
method used is often termed beam co-phased excitation. The signals from all the
elements are arranged to add together in phase for a single beam direction. Complex
weights are applied to the received signals in order to produce different number of
beams directed towards the desired directions.
Diversity
There are three types of diversity:
a) Spatial
b) Polarisation
c) Angle(pattern)
Spatial
Spatial diversity is with spatial separation of the antennas, it is difficult on a small
handset. Only a quarter wavelength separation is required for low correlation of the
multipath fading between antennas on the handset.
Polarisation
It is where both vertical and horizontal polarisation are used to obtain dual diversity
without spatial separation.
Polarisation diversity provides only dual diversity, though polarisation diversity can
be used in combination with other forms of diversity.
Angle
It is the signal from two or more beams (generally the beams from the highest signal
powers) are used to obtain diversity, but performance depends on the angular spread.
If the angular spread is small, then the receiving signal is mainly arriving on one beam
and angle diversity will not provide a significant gain.
In angular diversity, a second array is established, rotated 30 from the first array, to
offset their patterns.
Diversity is good in maintaining system performance, especially for mobile users.

11

Diversity Combining
It is a combining technique that combines the signals from multiple antennas in a way
that mitigates multipath fading[29].

Adaptive Beamforming
It is accomplished using software and advanced signal processing. The technology
combines the inputs of multiple antennas (from an antenna array) to form very narrow
beams toward individual users in a cell. The concentrated energy of the focused
beams creates significant gain and allows signals to extend farther. The narrow
beams get rid of interference, allowing many users to be connected within the same
cell at the same time using the same frequencies.
Adaptive beamforming requires sophisticated signal processing, which until today
was considered too expensive for commercial application. The cost of processing has
immensely reduced, making beamforming relevant to the commercial market as a cost
effective solution for wide-scale deployment of broadband wireless networks.
Beamforming gives significant improvement in link budget. It can be used in
conjunction with other techniques, such as adaptive modulation, frequency diversity
or forward error correction to enhance overall system gain.
With adaptive beamforming, spectral efficiency of the cell could be multiplied at least
ten times[6].
4.5 Type of Adaptive Antenna
The Quadrifilar helix antenna

Quadrifilar helix antenna (QHA), it is a particular form of adaptive antenna

It was developed with funding from the Mobile VCE
The QHA is four, twisted wires around the other in a helix
It permits reception inside the buildings where signals are too weak to be
picked up by standard antennas.
Designed to improve performance and minimise radiation into the human head
The signal is produced through the use of a torch beam to mean smaller
amounts of radiation is reduced by the handset. Instead of radiation going in
all directions, it will use a narrow beam travelling toward the nearest mast or
satellite.
Reduces the required transmit power by a factor of 10.
The antenna works out where a users head is by detecting reflections of its
own signal

12

 The antennas reduces radiation and deliver 10 times less radiation to the users
head, without any shielding device.
It makes batteries last longer
It will allow dual mode terminals with one antenna

THE QUADRIFILAR HELIX ANTENNA

[1]-The Intelligent quadrifilar helix antenna (I-QHA) configuration

13

[2] Basic structure of the QHA

The solid state antenna [25]

Surface mounted to mother board

Approx one tenth size of conventional copper antenna
It aids in spectral efficiency that will hence aid in the success of 3G applications.
Have improved signal by the antenna on the handset selecting the reception only
from the direction of the base station.
The network capacity increased by using spatial multiplexing, this means more
users on the same frequency.
Interference is suppressed, from another operators base station or another
terminal.
The antenna is steerable, not multi-beam or switchbeam.
Life of the battery is increased as the handset only points in the direction of the
base station so more efficient transmission, less time and use of battery power for
transmission.
Minimises RF health issue by directing the RF emissions away from the head or
body.
Antenna avoids detuning by the proximity of the user[11].

14

4.6 Benefits of Smart Adaptive Array Antennas over other antennas

Some problems faced in wireless communications:

Poor BER due to the range which causes path loss

Poor BER due to uniformity of coverage which causes fading
Poor BER due to Frequency reuse which causes co-channel interference
Need more capacity (reuse would affect the BER), which causes co-channel
interference
[25]

Advantages of using the adaptive antenna to solve such problems:

Increased coverage
Improved link quality
Increased capacity
Reduced costs and increased return on investment
Lower handset power consumption
Assistance in user location by means of direction finding[26]
Can provide multipath dispersion, interference suppression
Increased data rate [29]
Unlike conventional cellular antennas, which broadcast energy over the entire cell,
adaptive antenna confine the broadcast energy to a narrow beam[14].
Conventional antennas cause coupling of the hand and head but adaptive antennas
do not cause coupling of the hand and the head
There is lower specific absorption rate (SAR)
Mitigation against dead zones around Base stations of adjacent channel FDD
network operators
Improved spectral efficiency[30]
It combines the signal it receives directly from the base station with the reflections
of the same signal whereas a conventional handset normally tunes into the
strongest signal it can find[31].
It is possible to combine the signals from the antennas in a particular way that
both the SNR(signal to noise ratio) and CIR (carrier to interference ratio) levels
are improved.
Limitations overcome in wireless communications systems by making use of
multiple antennas in conjunction with computer algorithms. The signals are
combined from multiple antennas to reduce interference. The desired signal is
strengthened using algorithms that determine how to adjust the phase and
amplitude of the signals from each antenna before the signals are combined.

15

 Research done on outdoor mobile communication systems indicates that addition

of adaptive circuitry can overcome most of the impairments by the effects of
multipath fading.
Antenna Diversity at the handset in indoor environment results in improved
radiolink.
Capacity problem overcome by the use of antenna diversity at the handset.
Co-channel interference reduced by applying antenna diversity at the handset.
In using adaptive antennas, the need to have more than one of these array of
antennas at the receiver is because supposing there is a user at the end of a
cell, two base station talking to the user or signalling at the same time. When
the user is attempting to listen at the same time to one of them, the other one is
interfering. Having two antennas allows the receiver to distinguish between
the two base station signals because they are arriving from different directions.
In using more than one adaptive antenna, increase the number of users able to
operate simultaneously in each frequency band.
In having these adaptive antennas, in which having , more than one antenna
increases the accuracy with which wireless systems receive codes because in
CDMA systems, 64 users should be accommodated in each band but because
of interference effects only 20 users accommodated in each band so this
problem alleviated with adaptive antennas.
Increases network capacity by: a) Using carrier signal-to-interference(C/I)
gain to implement tighter frequency reuse b) Using fractional loading.
GSM networks that combine adaptive antenna arrays and frequency hopping
are spectrum efficient.
For the operator, it increases network capacity, coverage. Less internetwork
interference, filling dead spots.
For the user, higher QOS, more reliable, secure communication, new services,
longer battery life.

4.7 Schematic View of the Front End for a Smart Antenna System in a
GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS Handset

16

[34]
By using an antenna system, one with more than one antenna port in the handset, it is
possible to combine the signals from the antennas in such a way that both the SNR
(Signal to Noise) level and the CIR(Carrier to Interference)level is improved.
There are several methods for combining the signals, but for future phones it is
expected that an advanced combining is possible as in the figure above.
The figure consists of 2 antenna elements, where the amplitude and phase of the
received signals from one of the antennas is altered prior to a combining by use of a
variable gain block and a phase shifter right after the antenna element. The
complexity of the antenna system is expected to be suitable for high-end mobile
handset. The system only requires an extra antenna element, a phase shifter, an extra
variable gain block and a combiner compared to a standard mobile handset without
any antenna system.
Studies have shown that this antenna system gives good improvement of both the
SNR and CIR. When designing the front end of this antenna system, the size, power
consumption and low loss are taken into consideration[24].
4.8 Access technique used for Adaptive Antennas

The primary objective of developments in wireless communication systems is to

increase the density of subscribers. Another major objective is to provide services
where high rates of data transmission are needed. This can be achieved by extending
the multiple access scheme and by improving channel modulation and coding. There
are two major approaches to the multiple access scheme problem, the spatial division
multiple access (SDMA) and code division multiple access (CDMA)[26].

Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)

In SDMA the access is based on the direction of arrival of the signal

17

[38]
It is a technique that is useful for increasing capacity, reducing interference and
improving overall wireless communication link quality.
SDMA ranges from switched-beam techniques to adaptive antennas.
SDMA and intelligent antennas are the way to increase capacity and quality of service
( higher transmission data rate and lower system delay) in wireless communications.
In SDMA, several users share a radio link with the same frequency, at the same time
and with or without the same coding sequence.
SDMA can be combined with CDMA, FDMA and TDMA because the spatial
dimension is independent of time and frequency. Each user has a spatial identity that
is unique.
In spatial equalization, the unwanted users (co-channel interference) and the multipath
propagation are filtered out of the system and only a cleared desired signal
remains[3].

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

The development of CDMA could be traced back to World War II when the military
from several countries started searching for robust techniques to combat jamming of
their radio links. The technique consists in the spreading of the energy of the signal
carrying information over a large portion of the spectrum of frequencies. For example
in FDMA the signal bearing information is concentrated in a single tone so that the
power of the carrier frequency is high(therefore very much visible and prone to suffer
jamming by enemy forces). In CDMA however, the energy is spread evenly in the
spectrum so that no distinct frequency exists.

In CDMA, several users can transmit at the same time within the same spectrum of
frequency . The channels (therefore users) are distinguished by assigning different
codes to different users. Communication theory states that multiple users may share a
common medium (frequency spectrum) as long as their signals are produced with
distinct codes that are orthogonal. Orthogonal signals are cancelled when convoluted

18

together. Convolution is a mathematical operation that could be programmed inside a

CDMA radio receiver. [28]
For example in the figure below, the receiver has a copy of the code of the wanted
user, user A. When the signal, code A, from the transmitting source is convoluted
with a copy of that code in the receiver, a resulting energy is produced at the output of
the convoluting device. On the other hand code B is orthogonal to code-A, and in
this case the signal B convoluted with signal A will produce an output that is zero[28].

CDMA distinguishes users by convoluting different orthogonal codes [28]

4.9 Dead Zones

Adjacent channel Interference
There are many studies that suggest that 3G network performance may be
compromised
because of the interference between adjacent band 3G systems.
Suggestions have been made that there is potential for interference because a user
equipment may be close to an adjacent band operator NodeB and distant from the
parent Node-B. In this situation the Node-B may be unable to send sufficient power to
overcome the interference from the 2nd operators Node-B, conversely a user
equipment transmitting at high power may make less sensitive the 2nd operators

19

Node-B receiver. For a scenario on the motorway a mobile attempting to

communicate to a distant station could experience periodic loss of coverage.
Down link adjacent channel interference is largely controlled by Adjacent Channel
Selectivity. Up link interference is controlled by the user equipment out of bands
emissions.
It is difficult to quantify the impact on the customer experience. Only measurements
of the signal powers from the operator networks will quantify the extent of dead
zones. A more fully developed network may be more resilient because of distances to
the serving Node-B will be less[16].

Steered
null
Dead
zones

TDD
terminal

5. DISCUSSIONS
5.1 Research Issues facing Researchers
1. Cost of power
At the company Philips, researchers noted that 50% of the power in the handset is
in the RF electronics. It was stated that multiple antennas in the handset increase
the dollar cost of the handset, they also increase the power and reduce the battery
20

life. Philips proposed that research is needed to be undertaken to reduce the

power that each of the antennas require.
The solution for the cost of power was to use low cost phased array.

2. Size
Further research is needed in such issues as gain and efficiency and also the effect
of hand placement on the terminal.
3. Diversity
It is needed for multipath mitigation . For diversity, multiple antennas are needed
on the terminals.
Out of the three types of diversity, in Polarization Diversity , researchers at Philips
and other companies are using dual polarization diversity on handsets.
Polarization diversity provides only dual diversity, though polarisation diversity
can be used in combination with other form of diversity to obtain higher orders of
diversity.
Some companies are studying pattern diversity , where antennas have different
antenna patterns. Researchers at Nokia are studying the use of multiple antennas
in the handset, where some of the antennas may be covered by the hand, and
moving the hand around changes the antenna pattern.
Researchers believe that by adaptively combining the signals from such antennas,
perhaps using antennas not blocked by the hand or adjusting the antenna
impedance to compensate for the hand placement, it may be possible to obtain
much better performance (including diversity) with multiple internal antennas as
compared to an external antenna[7].

4. Signal Tracking
It is determining the angle of arrival of the desired signal with phased arrays to
determine which beam to use and adjusting the weights with adaptive arrays to
maximise the desired signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio in the output
signal.
Researchers feel that signal processing power was a significant issue for
tracking in future systems. Instead, they felt that increases in signal processing
power would permit new tracking algorithms to be implemented without
consideration of the processing requirements.
For adaptive arrays, better subspace tracking methods are needed since higher
21

data rates will require longer temporal equalizers, which require longer training
sequences and greater overhead.
Researchers at Nokia and Philips noted that smart antennas need to be
considered in combination with RF matching, particularly with multiband
antennas. At Nokia, the issue of adapting the antennas to the hand position was
noted[7].

Challenges facing smart antenna technology:

1. Computational complexity and associated design issues.
2. Difficult to evaluate capacity in a limited field test.
3. Aesthetics- Arrays are not often considered pleasing to the eye[10].

6. CONCLUSION
It has been seen that there are many benefits to using an adaptive antenna especially
on the handset like increased coverage, data rates , reduced interference, increase in
spectrum efficiency, which all are beneficial to the Radiocommunications Agency
(RA), in terms of conserving the limited radio spectrum.
For Operators like Orange , Vodaphone and Hutchinson 3G, using these types of
adaptive antennas could lead to a reduction in the number of base station masts
needed for the 3G phone network as locating sites for these networks are difficult. The
result of this is reduction in infrastructure cost which will be beneficial and pleasing
to the Operators.
The general public would benefit as well to this reduction in base stations as there is
already an immense fear among the public about the environmental effects caused by
the base stations and the heath issues concerning them.
In studies carried out by the Mobile Operator, Orange, it was discovered that for 3G,
dead zones could have an immense effect on 3G real time systems. The antenna
technology company, Antenova stated that their adaptive antennas could not eliminate
the dead zone problem completely but could reduce the dead zone radius by 75%.
There are general forms of Smart Antenna solutions, such as Diversity and Adaptive
Beamforming . Out of these solutions, the mostly common used technique seen from
all the research is the use of Diversity with most companies currently using dual
antennas, a few are researching more than two antennas but the main focus so far has
been on two antennas on the handset.
It has been concluded that for 3G systems, the users would not be willing to pay more
for a handset with adaptive antennas for voice services. In terms of data use on the

22

handsets with adaptive antennas, higher data rates per square kilometre would be
accomplished, that there is a business case for these antennas on the handsets in terms
of increased data rates and users would be willing to pay extra because of this.
Companies are pursuing adaptive antennas for 2.5G, 3G and WLAN subscriber units
because of the benefits of increased data rates.
Simon Saunders who worked on the QHA antenna with Surrey University stated that
at present the work on the QHA antenna on the handset is progressing towards
commercialisation with industrial sponsorship. There are other areas of research in the
field that is not being published.
7. RECOMMENDATIONS
From following the research carried out on adaptive antennas on handsets, it has been
recommended to the Technical Forum, a body within the RA, that there should be a
project titled, Research into adaptive antennas on the handsets (improved network
infrastructure efficiency) with the following objectives; 1) To quantify the improved
spectrum efficiency in terms of increased customer per square efficiency in terms of
increased customer per square kilometre and reduction of base stations per square
kilometre and 2) mitigating dead zones
The research strategy proposes improvements in use of Spectrum and Spectrum
Efficiency.
8. REFERENCES
1. Agius A.A., Leach S.M. , Suvannapattana P., Lund T. and Saunders S. R. (1999):
Intelligent Handheld Antennas for Mobile Communications Beyond the 2 nd
Generation version 2.0.2, p.9
2. Agius A.A. Leach S.M. , Suvannapattana P., Lund T. and Saunders S. R. (1999):
Intelligent Handheld Antennas for Mobile Communications Beyond the 2 nd
Generation version 2.0.2, p.12
1. BRANDOA A. (2001):Managing Telecommunications and Networking
Technologies in the 21st Century, A New Business Dimension: SDMA and
Intelligent Antennas, p.75
2. MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY(2001): Types of Smart
Antennas http://www.geocities.com/hamsadhwani8/smartantennas/types.html
(16th May,2002)
3. CHUNG A. (2001): Smart Antennas ,
http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/~kchung/smart.htm (16th May,2001)
4. TRENT K. (2001): Are Smart Antennas the way to Non-Line-of-Sight?
http://www.shorecliffcommunications.com/magazine/volume.asp (16th May,2002)
5. WTEC HYPER-LIBRARIAN (2000): Key Research Issues p.1-3,
http://itri.loyola.edu/wireless/06_06.htm (14th May,2002)
6. HONG KONG TELECOM INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
Wireless Communications (1st May, 2002)
7. PURDUE UNIVERSITY(2000): Wireless Net May Require Smart Antennas,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases\2000\05\00515085755.htm (8th April,2002)
8. ELLINGSON S.(2001): Smart Antenna Technologies, IEEE Workshop
9. ANTENOVA: (2002): Information Sheet given to Public Wireless Networks Unit

23

10. CHRISTODOULOU C. and HERSCOVICI N. (2000): Smart Antennas in

Wireless Communications: Base-Station Diversity and Handset Beamforming,
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine Vol.3 (5), pp.142-151
11. BIEDKA T., DIETRICH C, MOSTAFA R. (2000): Smart Antennas for Handsets
12. ANDERSSON S., CARLQVIST B., HAGERMAN B. and LAGERHOLM R.
(1999): Enhancing cellular network capacity with adaptive antennas , Ericsson
Review No. 3
13. TI L and RAPPAPORT W. (1999): Smart Antennas for Wireless
Communications 4th March,2002
14. MC CONNELL R. (2001): Adjacent channel Interference RA 3G (01) AA
15. ANTENOVA (2002): http://www.antenova.com/
16. WON KIM S., SAM HA D. and HO KIM J.(2000): Performance of Smart
Antennas with Adaptive Combining at handsets for the cdma2000 system
17. WON KIM S., SAM HA D. and HO KIM J.(2000): Performance Gain of Smart
Antennas with diversity combining at handsets for the 3GPP WCDMA system.
18. MOSTAFA R., HANNAN A. and REED J.(2000): Narrowband Transmit
Diversity Measurements at the Handset for an Indoor Environment.
19. WONG K., CHENG R.S.K., LETAIEF K.B. and MURCH R.D.(2001):IEEE
Transactions on Communications , Vol. 49 (1) Adaptive antennas at the Mobile
and Base Stations in an OFDM/TDMA System.
20. BRAUN C., NILSSON M. and MURCH R.D.(1999): INSTITUTE OF
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS, Measurement of the
Interference Rejection Capability of Smart Antennas on Mobile Telephones
21. LEYTEN L. and DOLMANS G. (1999): INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERS, Performance study of an adaptive dual antenna handset for indoor
communications
22. KNUDSEN M.B., JENNER M. and PEDERSEN G.F.(2000): Frontend for Smart
Antenna System for Interference Reduction in a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS
Handset http://tele.auc.dk/semesterinfo/s9rfde2000/projprops/RF_Phased4.htm (1st May,
2002)
23. ELLINGSON S.(2001): IEEE Workshop on New & Emerging Technologies
Rutgers University, Smart Antenna Technologies http://esl.eng.ohio-state.edu/
24. CHRISTODOULOU C.G. and GEORGIOPOULOS M.(2001): Proceedings of
SPIE The International Society for Optical Engineering , Vol. 4395, Smart
Adaptive array antennas for wireless communications.
25. KABACIK P. and KUCHARSKI A.(1999): IEEE Antenna and Propagation
Society International Symposium, Planar handset antennas with electronically
steerable parameters
26. BRANDOA A. (2001):Managing Telecommunications and Networking
Technologies in the 21st Century, A New Business Dimension: SDMA and
Intelligent Antennas, pp.78-79.
27. WINTERS J.H.(1998): IEEE Personal Communications Journal Vol.5 (1), Smart
Antennas for Wireless Systems , p.23-27.
28. STIDWELL A.(2001): Adaptive Antennas in Terminals, Information sheet given
to the RA.
29. GRAHAM-ROWE D.(2000): Louder and clearer, New Scientist,
www.newscientist.com

24

9. APPENDICES
9.1 Universities researching Adaptive Antennas on Handsets
1.

Virginia Technical Antenna Group

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Virginia

It has been seen that due to the popularity of wireless communication, the
systems are often limited by interference. So the investigation performed by the
Smart Antenna Group at Virginia Tech was an intensive investigation of adaptive
beamforming, using compact antenna arrays on a handheld radio platform.
Handheld radios with adaptive antennas can reject interference and can improve
the quality of the communication link and increase the capacity of the system.
The investigation used small, four-element antenna arrays, mounted on a receiver
that could be carried like a mobile phone. Over 250 experiments in rural, suburban
and urban channels with interfering transmitters. In each experiment,
two fixed transmitters continuous wave signals, offset by 1kHz at 2.05GHz. In
some experiments, the receiver was connected to five small four-element array
configurations and moved along a 2.8m track to provide consistent results.
Another experiment, is where the operator carried the receiver and antenna array
next to his head, to represent a realistic operational scenario. A direct conversion
four channel receiver that mixed the received signals down to baseband was
used.
The results of the experiments showed that a SINR of 25-50dB was measured in
urban and rural line of sight and non line of sight scenarios. In the multiple channels ,
these performance levels were seen even when there was very little separation
between the transmitters in azimuth angle, as seen from the receiver.
For the experiments were the receiver was hand carried at walking speeds, the mean
SINR improvement in the outdoor suburban line of sight scenario was approximately
37-41dB, and the mean SINR after the beamforming was 21-27dB in the suburban
mostly non line of sight scenario.
The lower SINR in the microcell scenario partly due to the low SNR, caused by
attenuation of the signal over the longer propagation path. In the multipath channels
measured, a dual or multipolarised antenna array, indicating that in these channels,
polarization flexibility can be helpful but not critical.
The investigation showed that a high degree of interference rejection is possible
which indicated that in a system that uses handheld radios equipped with adaptive
arrays more than one user can share a time slot. Spatial division multiple access
(SDMA) scheme can or a combination of SDMA and code division multiple access
(CDMA) is the access technique used to allow as said above more than one user to
share a frequency channel during the time slot [12].
Companies such as DARPA, Texas Instruments, Metawave, GTE, Verizon and EMS
wireless supported the research experiments.

25

2.

Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia

The research done by the university is focused on determining the feasibility of smart
transmit and receive handset antennas. The goals were to show reduced power
consumption, improved capacity and better link reliability.
There was an investigation into the different aspects of the form of transmit diversity
on the handset. Different algorithms were proposed and techniques devised to
implement transmit diversity at the handset for a flat fading channel.
Simulations were done which indicated that 2-6dB of performance gain for a 2element array and 5-12dB of performance gain for a 4-element array compared to a
single antenna system is seen to be possible for indoor environments. The suitability
of the algorithms with respect to their implementation in WCDMA standard of IMT2000 was also studied. The channel structures and the signal format of WCDMA can
accommodate the algorithms.
Three tools were used such as the Handheld Antenna Array Testbed(HAAT), a Vector
Multipath Propagation Simulator (VMPS) and a Wideband Vector Impulse Response
measurement system(VIPER). The tools were used along side the MPRG Antenna
Array Testbed (MAAT) to gain an understanding of the propagation environment as
perceived by an array of antennas at the handset. The information was used to predict
the performance of smart antennas employed at the handset. Extensive measurements
at the 2.05GHz indicate the gains in the link budget of 7-9dB at the 99% reliability
level could be realised in narrowband systems for outdoor and indoor non line-ofsight environments. These gains can be achieved by using small antenna arrays with
diversity or adaptive combining at the handset, for antenna separation of 0.15
wavelength or greater. Additional measurements indicate that a single interfering
signal can be reduced by 25-40dB using adaptive beamforming algorithms. The
substantial improvements in reliability, system capacity and transmit power savings
are possible[13].

3.

Virginia Tech VLSI for Telecommunications Laboratory

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia

Simulations have been done for the research done on the performance gain of smart
dual antennas with adaptive combining at handsets for the forward link in the
cdma2000 system. The adaptive combining method was based on the normalized
least-mean square algorithm. The channel model employed for the simulation and the
cdma2000 system can be seen to be described in reference[18] and also the adaptive
algorithm to compute the antenna weights is also seen in [18].

26

The simulation results indicated that a dual antenna system with adaptive combining
reduces the FER by in the range of 0.8dB to 2.2dB over a single antenna system
depending on the mobile velocity and the mobile velocity decreases, the dual antennas
system with adaptive combining further reduces the frame errors. All these results
concluded that smart antennas with adaptive combining at handsets are beneficial for
the cdma2000 system and that further study is needed in the area[18].

4. Virginia Tech VLSI for Telecommunications Laboratory

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
Work was done in which it was proposed that a dual smart antenna system
incorporated into handsets for the 3GPP WCDMA system, in which a diversity
combiner combines the two rake receiver outputs using a diversity combining scheme.
Three diversity combining schemes were used such as selection diversity, square law
combing and equal gain combining (EGC) . Two types of the channel model for the
dual antenna signals, loosely correlated fading channel model (LCFCM) and spatially
correlated fading channel model (SCFCM). To obtain the channel profile (such as
delay, average power, and angle of arrival of each multipath signal), a geometrically
based channel model known as GBSB (geometrically based single bounce) elliptical
model was adopted in the simulation. More information about the research and the
models could be seen in reference [19]. The simulation results indicate that a dual
smart antenna system with diversity combining at handsets is beneficial for the 3GPP
WCDMA system[19].

5.

Mobile Portable Radio Group (MPRG)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia

Research into transmit diversity to counter fading and improve signal quality at the
receiver was done by presenting narrowband channel measurements carried out for a
two-element transmitter antenna array and a single antenna receiver in an indoor
environment. Control experiments were carried out by confining the motion of the
array along a track and recording fading envelopes at the receiver for both the
elements. The differences in fading envelopes for both the elements have been
interpreted in terms of pattern distortion. Diversity gains were computed for an ideal
transmit diversity system with different diversity schemes and for different
orientations.
To measure the individual channels from each antenna element to the receiver,
controlled measurements were designed in which only one element of the array was

27

active for transmission. The other element was either open-circuited or physically
removed from array. The array traversed a predefined course in an indoor
environment and channel measurements were carried out for each element of the
array.
The two-element transmitter was comprised of monopoles on a ground plane and a
signal generator. The receiver consisted of one channel from the eight-element MPRG
Antenna Array Testbed (MAAT) developed at Virginia Tech. The transmitter was set
at one side of the MPRG DSP Lab and receiver on the other. The antenna array at the
transmitter was mounted on a platform on a linear track. The track system helped to
realise a controlled experiment where the array traversed a predefined path for all the
tests. The receiver was set up in such a way that a non-line-of sight (NLOS) fading
channel was realized between the transmitter and the receiver. Data was collected by
connecting transmitter output port to one element in the array while keeping the other
open and moving the array across the track. Several measurements were taken with
the same setup to examine the repeatability of the waveforms. Data was also collected
with the same active element while physically removing the passive element. The
transmitter connection was switched to the other element, and the measurements were
repeated. The receiver stored only the magnitude information or the envelope of the
complex channel.
Ideal diversity gains were evaluated from the measurements for three different
diversity schemes. The results show that the antenna array provided substantial
diversity gain compared to a single antenna system. However, the computation of the
diversity gains assumed accurate channel estimation and instantaneous feedback from
the receiver[20].

6.

Adaptive Antennas at the Mobile and Base Stations in an OFDM/TDMA

System
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA

The use of adaptive antennas at the base station and mobile station is considered in
the research, operating jointly, in combination with orthogonal frequency-division
multiplexing, the performance of the system is what is investigated.
This approach makes use of the intersymbol interference (ISI) rejection capability by
OFDM. Hence multiple users could be accessed in space, time and by subcarriers, so
it would be expected that the system performance and the capacity would improve.
To analyze the performance of the smart base and smart mobile antennas with OFDM,
the average bit error rate (BER) performance of the proposed system is found by the
Monte Carlo simulation in frequency-selective fading channels and compared to a
conventional single carrier system with smart antennas.
The results are that the combination of OFDM with smart antennas provides
improvements in performance compared to wireless communication systems based on

28

OFDM or smart antennas alone. Simulation results show that the system used could
reduce the average error probability by more than 1000 times for frequency selective
fading channels, as compared to OFDM without antenna diversity. Also the required
transmit power for each user is minimized while maintaining guaranteed quality
service for each user. For the multiuser smart base and smart mobile antennas with
OFDM system, users are able to be separated by time and /or frequency subcarrier, as
well as space. Hence, enhancing the system capacity and reducing the power
consumption of transmission significantly.
The implementation of the system requires that multiple antennas be incorporated into
the base and mobile as well[21].

7.

Allgon Mobile Communications, Sweden

Department of Signals, Sensors and Systems, Royal Institute of Technology,
Sweden.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

Investigations were carried out into the interference rejection capabilities of a dual
antenna system on a mobile handset prototype for the 1800MHz band. The
performance evaluation is done by using a simulated incoming field on the handset
antennas and by down link measurements in an indoor environment. Complex signal
samples are used in order to investigate the interference rejection gain with different
diversity combining schemes and with one or two interferers present.
For the dual antenna handsets, the two handset prototypes with two branch antenna
systems were used, using one external and one built antenna each. Prototype 1
consisted of a quarterwave monopole and a shorted patch antenna on a Printed Circuit
Board (PCB), prototype 2 consisted of a monopole and a planar meander antenna on a
similar PCB. The distance between the antenna feeding points was about 20mm for
both prototypes. The diversity evaluation was made at 1800MHz, where the return
loss was better than 10dB for each antenna. The coupling between the antenna ports
was below 17dB and below 6dB for prototypes 1 and 2 respectively.
The 3D radiation patterns from the antennas on the prototype were measured in an
anechoic chamber. The measurements were done with a phantom head and hand in
order to simulate a real user scenario. More of these measurements and simulations
are further described in [22].
The results showed that there was significant amount of interference rejection gain on
the handset even with the combining scheme. It was concluded that in order to be
attractive for a mass market, the diversity combining for mobile telephones has to be
low-cost and low complex[22].

29

8. Philips Research Laboratories, Eindhoven

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
The research was focused on the design and evaluation of adaptive diversity for
mobile handsets. A new modelling approach was introduced, which combined indoor
radio channel simulations with circuit design parameters. This enables the inclusion of
key system parameters, such as the speed of the user, the scanning speed of the
antenna beams and the number of phase shifts. The algorithm is found to be efficient
and accurate enough to simulate very large structures. The analysis has resulted in an
optimal design of an adaptive dual antenna handset, which combines received signals
(fixed beam) while scanning the environment at the same time (scan beams). A
measurement was set up with the numerical modelling tools.
It was concluded that implementing diversity in a handset is feasible and the obtained
improvement in system performance is significant. The new diversity handset was
designed using the new modelling approach that included electromagnetic simulation
with circuit design. The approach provided a general framework in which adaptive
antenna systems could be evaluated in both narrowband and wideband signal
environments.
The diversity handset combines the received signals to form a fixed beam and
simultaneously creates a scanning beam. It uses out-of-band noise detection to
ensure that antenna patterns are changed when experiencing different signal-to-noise
and interference conditions. It has a diversity gain of 9dB at a coverage of 99% for
normal walking speeds, therefore around 5km/h[23].

9.2 Health Studies surrounding the use of adaptive antennas on the Handsets
For a mobile phone to work, it must radiate. So it is also unavoidable that part of the
radiated power be absorbed in the human head. The absorption is characterised in
terms of Specific Absorption Rate(SAR) and there are requirements to the maximum
allowed value of the SAR. The values have been determined by considering the
possibility of health hazards. It has therefore been an issue that the SAR value should
be as low as possible, without actually mentioning the fact that a phone must radiate
in order to work satisfactory.
TCO has in their new quality and environmental labelling of mobile phones-the
TCO01 Certification of Mobile Phones- introduced a complement to the SAR value.
This is the maximum power the phone can use for communication, and it is called
Telephone Communication Power (TCP). This is to ensure that the phones radiate
sufficient power to work properly. The TCP could be measured in many ways for
example, it can be measured in a standard anechoic chamber.
The TCP is the power leaving a closed surface, which surrounds the phone and the
head phantom when they are located far from other objects. It is the maximum
available power, which can be provided by the phone if the antenna on the phone
were ideally matched to the output impedance of the phone, minus the power which is

30

reflected due to an actual mismatch at the antenna port, minus the power which is
dissipated in the antenna, minus the power which is absorbed in the head phantom.
The TCP is the figure of merit of a mobile phone, when it is transmitting. The higher
the TCP, the better the phone will work in transmit mode. On the other hand, the
possible radiation hazards are characterized in terms of a Specific Absorption
Rate(SAR) distribution that should be as low as possible or at least below some
standard limits. Both the TCP and the SAR are proportional to the maximum power
that can be radiated by the phone. Therefore a high quality phone must provide a
good compromise between high TCP and low SAR. This is possible by directing the
radiation from the phone away from the head.
The TCP is proportional to the radiation efficiency of the antenna on the phone,
measured with the head phantom present. The radiation efficiency has three
contributions:
1. The reflections due to impedance mismatch between the phone antenna and the
transmission line that connects the phone antenna to the receive and transmit
amplifiers inside the phone.
2. The absorption in the phone antenna itself, including the frame of the phone.
3. The absorption in the phantom.
The less absorption in the head, the lower is the SAR. So the best compromise
between the high TCP and low SAR is to make the antenna radiate way from the
phantom(head). Thereby the absorption in the phantom will decrease so that
the radiation efficiency increases.

Figure 1: Definition of the reference lines and points, on the phone and on the
phantom and initial position

31

Figure 2:Cheek and tilted positions of the mobile phone on the left side
The TCP needs to be measured when the phone is in use and effected by the human
head. For SAR measurements, the human head is replaced by a head phantom, and
there exists well defined positions of the phone relative to the head phantom for which
tests are to be performed. The positions are referred to as cheek and tilted
positions on the left and right sides of the phantom.
The company Bluetest have developed a new measuring system for measuring head
losses from mobile phones and are selling the equipment all over the world. It
measures this also for handset antennas with diversity or steerable antennas, in
addition it can also measure the diversity gain.

32