volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Optically transparent antennas have attracted increasing interest in recent years. However, the inherent ohmic loss of transparent conductor used in antennas will always introduce degradation of radiation efficiency. It is of most importance to find the optimization between the material loss and radiation efficiency. In this paper, we design and experimentally demonstrate a high-performance optically transparent dual-polarized cross dipole antenna over 3.4-3.8 GHz for 5G wireless communication based on the characteristic analysis of surface current distribution. By making current distribution uniform on the radiators and reducing the current on the ground, the mutual coupling between the elements is alleviated, and the radiation efficiency can be optimized. The proposed antenna is fabricated with 0.118-Ohm/sq meshed metal, and the optical transparency of antenna is 81%. The proposed antenna achieves a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of less than 1.3, radiation efficiency of 72% (84% of pure copper) and a peak gain of 4.5 dBi (5.1 dBi of pure copper). Compared to current state-of-arts, the proposed antenna exhibits better performance of the figure of merit (FOM) in terms of the bandwidth, optical transparency and radiation efficiency. Our work paves the way to diverse application of beyond-5G wireless communication.

1. Lindmark, B. and M. Nilsson, "On the available diversity gain from different dual-polarized antennas," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 19, No. 2, 287-294, 2001.
doi:10.1109/49.914506

2. Lee, S. and K. Huang, "Coverage and economy of cellular networks with many base stations," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 16, No. 7, 1038-1040, 2012.

3. Lu, X., Y. Chen, S. Guo, and S. Yang, "An electromagnetic-transparent cascade comb dipole antenna for multi-band shared-aperture base station antenna array," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 70, No. 4, 2750-2759, 2022.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2021.3137511

4. Sayem, A. S. M., R. B. V. B. Simorangkir, K. P. Esselle, R. M. Hashmi, and H. Liu, "A method to develop FLexible robust optically transparent unidirectional antennas utilizing pure water, PDMS, and transparent conductive Mesh," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 68, No. 10, 6943-6952, 2020.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2020.2996816

5. Duy Tung, P. and C. W. Jung, "Highly transparent planar dipole using liquid ionized salt water under surface tension condition for UHD tv applications," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 69, No. 1, 35-42, 2021.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2020.3008637

6. Malek, M. A., S. Hakimi, S. K. Abdul Rahim, and A. K. Evizal, "Dual-band CPW-fed transparent antenna for active RFID tags," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 14, 919-922, 2015.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2014.2387157

7. Peter, T., R. Nilavalan, H. F. Abu Tarboush, and S. W. Cheung, "A novel technique and soldering method to improve performance of transparent polymer antennas," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 9, 918-921, 2010.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2010.2077271

8. Song, H. J., T. Y. Hsu, D. F. Sievenpiper, H. P. Hsu, J. Schaffner, and E. Yasan, "A method for improving the efficiency of transparent film antenna," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 7, 753-756, 2008.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2008.2008107

9. Potti, D. and Y. Tusharika, "A novel optically transparent UWB antenna for automotive MIMO communications," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 69, No. 7, 3821-3828, 2021.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2020.3044383

10. Kocia, C. and S. V. Hum, "Design of an optically transparent re ectarray for solar applications using indium tin oxide," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 64, No. 7, 2884-2893, 2016.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2016.2555338

11. Haraty, M. R., M. Naser-Moghadasi, A. A. Lotfi-Neyestanak, and A. Nikfarjam, "Improving the efficiency of transparent antenna using gold nanolayer deposition," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 15, 4-7, 2016.

12. Ding, C., L. Liu, and K.-M. Luk, "An optically transparent dual-polarized stacked patch antenna with metal-mesh films," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 18, No. 10, 1981-1985, 2019.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2019.2935694

13. Kang, S. H. and C. W. Jung, "Transparent patch antenna using metal mesh," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 66, No. 4, 2095-2100, 2018.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2018.2804622

14. Hong, S., Y. Kim, and C. Won Jung, "Transparent microstrip patch antennas with multilayer and metal-mesh films," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 16, 772-775, 2017.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2016.2602389

15. Duy Tung, P. and C. W. Jung, "Optically transparent wideband dipole and patch external antennas using metal mesh for UHD tv applications," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 68, No. 3, 1907-1917, 2020.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2019.2950077

16. Wu, B., X.-Y. Sun, H.-R. Zu, H.-H. Zhang, and T. Su, "Transparent ultra-wideband halved coplanar Vivaldi antenna with metal mesh film," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 21, No. 12, 2532-2536, 2022.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2022.3200455

17. Hong, W., S. Lim, S. Ko, and Y. G. Kim, "Optically invisible antenna integrated within an OLED touch display panel for IoT applications," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 69, No. 5, 2853-2863, 2021.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2020.3027898

18. Hautcoeur, J., F. Colombel, M. Himdi, X. Castel, and E. M. Cruz, "Large and optically transparent multilayer for broadband H-shaped slot antenna," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., Vol. 12, 933-936, 2013.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2013.2274033

19. Jackson, R. W., "Considerations in the use of coplanar waveguide for millimeter-wave integrated circuits," IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., Vol. 34, No. 12, 1450-1456, 1986.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.1986.1133562

20. Morabito, A. F., R. Palmeri, V. A. Morabito, A. R. Lagana', and T. Isernia, "Single-surface phaseless characterization of antennas via hierarchically ordered optimizations," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 67, No. 1, 461-474, Jan. 2019.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2018.2877270

Dr. Haowei Xi

Dr. Xiao-Liang Ge

Dr. Kuiwen Xu

Dr. Jianhua Shen

Dr. Xianglong Liu

Dr. Xu Su