Benefits
Metamaterials technology brings three powerful enabling capabilities: (1) the ability to strongly manipulate the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the confines of small structures, (2) simultaneous support of multiple RF functions, and (3) the freedom to precisely determine a broad set of parameters which include operating frequency and bandwidth; positive, negative and zero phase offsets; constant phase propagation; and matching conditions and number and positioning of ports.
This translates into several benefits over conventional antennas. MTM structures are ultra-compact in size and as thin as paper. MTM antennas are typically at least five times smaller than conventional antennas, while offering equal or better performance. Unlike conventional 3D antennas, which must be designed, tooled and fabricated as a complex metal-and-plastic assembly, an MTM antenna is a simple 2D design in which copper artwork is printed directly on a handset’s printed circuit board (PCB) using standard PCB manufacturing techniques. This offers manufacturers faster time to market and reduced BOM count.
MTM antennas can be made very broadband to support today’s multiband wireless application requirements. A single MTM antenna can support all cellular frequency bands (from 700MHz to 2.7GHz), using single or multiple feed designs, which eliminates the need for antenna switches. Multi-band MTM functionality provides global cellular connectivity that covers both low-band frequencies including GSM/WCDMA/ HSPA/LTE (700/800/900 MHz) and high-band frequencies including DCS/PCS/ CDMA/HSPA/LTE (1700/1800/1900/ 2100 MHz).
Integration of GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, and WiMax is also possible within the same MTM antenna array without injecting any undesirable coupling, eliminating the need for multiple large external and internal antennas and associated decoupling and matching circuitry.
RAYSPAN® metamaterial solution benefits are even more critical when multiple systems are combined inside one device. In the case of a cell phone antenna application, high isolation becomes a critical parameter when adding auxiliary antennas such as Bluetooth, Wife and GPS. RAYSPAN® MTM's low correlation between closely spaced antennas guarantees highly-integrated, high MIMO gain access points, 802.11n routers, client cards, 3G routers and femtocells.