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Leveraging frequency agility of an MIMO antenna cluster with a transmitter IC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2022

Ali Raza Saleem Open the ORCID record for Ali Raza Saleem [Opens in a new window] ,
Rasmus Luomaniemi ,
Anu Lehtovuori ,
Kari Stadius ,
Marko Kosunen ,
Ville Viikari  and
Jussi Ryynänen
Ali Raza Saleem*
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Rasmus Luomaniemi
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Anu Lehtovuori
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Kari Stadius
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Marko Kosunen
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Ville Viikari
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Jussi Ryynänen
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
*
Author for correspondence: Ali Raza Saleem, E-mail: ali.saleem@aalto.fi
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Abstract

This paper presents the prototype demonstration where an integrated transmitter circuit drives a mobile handset terminal antenna in order to provide frequency tunability and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) operation across the 0.5–4.5 GHz frequency range. The transmitter implementation incorporates on-chip weighted signal generation, i.e. amplitude and phase scaling to provide sufficient MIMO performance in the low band (700–960 MHz) and in the high band (1.5–4.5 GHz). In the transmitter, two antenna elements are used for MIMO operation in the low band and another two in the high band. The transmitter integrated circuit (IC) is fabricated in a 28 nm bulk CMOS technology with an active on-chip area of 0.2 mm$^2$. A custom antenna measurement procedure is proposed here in order to support and verify active antenna measurements with transmitter IC. A measurement procedure for the transmitter system comprising the transmitter IC and four antenna clusters is developed and discussed in comparison with traditional passive antenna measurements. The measurement results demonstrate that the transmitter IC driving the antenna clusters provides total antenna efficiency of $-6.5$ dB to $-1.5$ dB, and envelope correlation coefficient below 0.4 across the designated frequency bands. The results indicate that the implemented transmitter IC successfully tunes frequency response of the antenna clusters, and enhances the MIMO operation of such mobile antennas.

Keywords

Multiport antennareconfigurable antennatransmitterMIMOCMOSsub-6 GHz system
Type
EuCAP 2021 Special Issue
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 15 , Special Issue 1: EuCAP 2021 Special Issue , February 2023 , pp. 41 - 50
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with the European Microwave Association

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