MM-Wave Phased Array Quasi-Yagi Antenna for the Upcoming 5G Cellular Communications

Abstract

The focus of this manuscript was to propose a new phased array antenna design for the fifth generation (5G) mobile platforms. Eight elements of compact Quasi-Yagi antennas were placed on the top portion of smartphone printed circuits board (PCB) to form a beam-steerable phased array design. The −10 dB impedance-bandwidth of proposed 5G smartphone antenna spans from 25 GHz to 27 GHz providing 2 GHz bandwidth with less than −16 dB mutual coupling function. A coax-to-microstripline with a truncated crown of vias around the coaxial cable was used as a feeding mechanism for each radiation element. An Arlon Ad 350 substance with properties of ε = 3.5, δ = 0.003, and h = 0.8 mm was chosen as the antenna substrate. The proposed phased array antenna provides wide-angle scanning of 0°~75° with more than 10 dB realized gain levels. For the scanning angle of 0°~60°, the antenna array provides more than 90% (−0.5 dB) radiation and total efficiencies. In addition, the specific absorption rate (SAR) function and radiation performance of the design in the presence of the user-hand/user-hand have been studied. The results validate the feasibility of the proposed design for use in the 5G handheld devices. Furthermore, using the presented Quasi-Yagi elements, the radiation properties of 2 × 2, 4 × 4, and 8 × 8 planar arrays were studied and more than 8.3, 13.5, and 19.3 dBi directivities have been achieved for the designed planar arrays. The results show that the designed arrays (linear & planar) satisfy the general requirements for use in 5G platforms.