Beamforming with a 2.4 GHz Tripolar IoT Antenna

Conference Year

January 2020

Abstract

The increased use of internet of things (IoT) devices results in them being deployed in a wide variety of environments. This warrants antenna systems that can be configured to improve link performance. Prior work has shown that the diversity gains provided by a compact tripolar design can mitigate multipath effects by switching between the antenna's three elements. This work considers the benefits for benign environments in which we combine the elements for the purposes of beamforming using simple phase shifts. We show through modeling, our twelve-sector beamsteering yields a minimum directivity of 4.4 dB when steering the beam in azimuth, a 3.11 dB improvement over a single, omnidirectional monopole. In elevation, beamsteering yielded a ~ 3 dB improvement in directivity up to 45 degrees from horizontal. These increases in directivity can be leveraged for longer wireless communication links, greater link reliability, and/or lower transmission power and lower energy use.

Primary Faculty Mentor Name

Jeff Frolik

Faculty/Staff Collaborators

Jeff Frolik (Advisor)

Status

Graduate

Student College

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Program/Major

Electrical Engineering

Primary Research Category

Engineering & Physical Sciences

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Beamforming with a 2.4 GHz Tripolar IoT Antenna

The increased use of internet of things (IoT) devices results in them being deployed in a wide variety of environments. This warrants antenna systems that can be configured to improve link performance. Prior work has shown that the diversity gains provided by a compact tripolar design can mitigate multipath effects by switching between the antenna's three elements. This work considers the benefits for benign environments in which we combine the elements for the purposes of beamforming using simple phase shifts. We show through modeling, our twelve-sector beamsteering yields a minimum directivity of 4.4 dB when steering the beam in azimuth, a 3.11 dB improvement over a single, omnidirectional monopole. In elevation, beamsteering yielded a ~ 3 dB improvement in directivity up to 45 degrees from horizontal. These increases in directivity can be leveraged for longer wireless communication links, greater link reliability, and/or lower transmission power and lower energy use.