STTR Phase I: Adaptive Miniaturized Ultrawideband Antenna

This proposed Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase-I project aims at an adaptive ultrawideband miniaturized antenna with the capability of real-time adaptation to changes in mobile operating environments. The research addresses an apparently insurmountable technical problem epitomized by the recent call dropping problem of smart phones resulting from its contact with the user's hand, which disrupted the antenna function. Other examples are body-worn wireless devices with disrupted RF links due to environmental changes that detune their antennas. To maximize spectral efficiency, it is desirable that the antenna has switchable impedance and pattern that smartly adapt, in real time, to the changing multipath environment in the mobile RF link with enhanced diversity gain. This is a complex and difficult multi-disciplinary problem. Although research in this general area has been fairly active, these efforts have not yet led to a practical solution. The proposed approach builds on unique high-performance, miniaturized, ultrawideband, conformal antennas and body-wearable smart (adaptive) antennas, toward a solution that can be integrated into a small platform such as a smartphone. The research team starts with an innovative design having impedance and radiation characteristics more amenable to algorithms, switching circuits, miniaturized reconfigurable filters, and matching networks, etc. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is enormous. Wireless communication has been one of the most successful technology innovations in modern history, and antennas play a key and central role. Wireless has broad and deep global social and economic impacts, from rich countries to the poorest nations. It has become a critical component of societies, ranging from consumer applications to public safety and national defense. Thus, efficient use of the limited radio spectrum in the air has become a national priority, as evidenced by the recent National Broadband Plan and the President's Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative. Global annual sales of wireless systems and subsystems for on-platform and standalone applications are estimated to be over 10 billion units, including those for 66 million automobiles and over 1 billion cellphones. For most applications, the proposed antenna will have enabling advantages in performance, cost, etc., to greatly enhance spectral efficiency. Therefore, success of the proposed research will have deep, pivotal, and far-reaching impact in wireless technologies. Societal impact will be increasingly significant with the growth of wireless, having antennas as its centerpiece?since wireless is already an indispensable part of life for five billion people, with millions added each year.