Maswell’s Plate Antenna can Help Break Through Frequency Barriers

The emergence of 5G and Metaverse technologies significantly drive the wireless communication market. The 5G protocols introduce a new spectrum to the existing 4G technologies and the cutting edge Metaverse concept that requires state-of-the-art remote sensing, communication, and computation technologies to affect real-life via virtual reality applications. Future research and development in wireless communication industries to cope with these communication scenarios is inevitable.

Additionally, to manage large amounts of data transmission in Metaverse applications, all the equipment should have the following; a wide operation bandwidth, superb CPU/GPU computing power, communication protocol awareness, and reconfiguration capabilities. The future Metaverse device should have the ability to evaluate and reconfigure the wireless communication resources available locally due to signal coverage limitations. Hence, the qualified future wireless device for Metaverse should have the communication capabilities for all the wireless communication protocols, and AI will decide which protocol to choose under local signal coverage levels.

To achieve these goals, Maswell has employed its excellent technical development process to combine future Metaverse and 5G communication technology. In Maswell’s recent ‘Metaverse One’ project, it launched an ultra-wideband plate antenna that supports all the wireless communication protocols to fit the future Metaverse applications.

AN.UWB.INT4.433.10000.SMA Plate Antenna demonstration (Image source: Suzhou Maswell Communication Technology)

The AN.UWB.INT4.10000.SMA SMA was engineered with a high gain operating capacity at the spectrum range of 433 MHz-10.6 GHz, which is supplemented by compatibilities with FM, DAB, and CB Radio bands to fit all wireless protocols no matter which wireless mode the Metaverse device requires including the following:

• Cellular Communications bands: 5G, 4G, 3G, and GSM bands around the globe-All Supported
• WiFi/Bluetooth/Zigbee applications: WiFi Harlow, WiFi 2.4 GHz, WiFi 5 GHz, WiFi 6, WiFi 6E-All Supported
• UWB Communications 3.1-10.6 GHz-All Supported
• CB Radios at 477 MHz band-All Supported
• M2M communication, IoT, Helium communication-All Supported
• LORA Communication-All Supported

Specifications of AN.UWB.INT4.433.10000.SMA (Image source: Suzhou Maswell Communication Technology)

High-Frequency Test: The performances of AN.UWB.INT4.10000.SMA was first evaluated in an anechoic chamber environment for a 433 MHz-10.6 GHz high gain operation spectrum. It can be seen in the images below that the VSWR of the antenna is below 2.0 across the discussed band of 433 MHz to 10.6 GHz. Also, the S11 response is below -10 dB for the same spectrum. The boresight radiation characteristics of AN.UWB.INT4.10000.SMA are demonstrated in images below in lower (470-900 MHz), middle (1700-2700 MHz), and higher (3500-7100 MHz) frequency bands, confirming its boresight radiation performances with high gain. The detailed maximum gain versus frequency table is also available on the datasheet of this antenna model.

Measured S11 and VSWR performance of the AN.UWB.INT4.433.10000.SMA (Image source: Suzhou Maswell Communication Technology)

Measured Radiation Pattern in Low-Frequency Band (Image source: Suzhou Maswell Communication Technology)

Measured Radiation Pattern in Medium-Frequency Band (Image source: Suzhou Maswell Communication Technology)

Measured Radiation Pattern in High-Frequency Band (Image source: Suzhou Maswell Communication Technology)

To fully verify the low-frequency operation capacity of AN.UWB.INT4.10000.SMA, on-site test work was also carried out for CB Radio, FM, and DAB bands.

CB Radio Test: In the CB Radio frequency band 470 MHz on-site test, the antenna can achieve very smooth CB radio intercom communication signals. The effective distance between the car radio and the handheld intercom can still reach 1.5 kilometers after passing through more than 20 houses and a forest. Hence, the intercom range is significantly improved.

CB Radio Field Test arrangement (Image source: Suzhou Maswell Communication Technology)

FM Test: The FM reception test was carried out on a walkie-talkie after installing the antenna in the indoor environment. The FM 102 MHz radio channel from the device has changed from noisy to clear hence the quality improvement was significant.

DAB Test: The antenna was also plugged into the Software-Defined-Radio (SDR) dongle, which was connected to a laptop for performance verification. The software can receive all the DAB radio channels at 202 MHz with a very clear voice reception. This fully demonstrates the capacity of AN.UWB.INT4.10000.SMA at DAB bands.

Overall, the above test results demonstrate that AN.UWB.INT4.433.10000.SMA not only has excellent high gain operation capacity over the 433 MHz-10.6 GHz spectrum but can also be deployed into the low-frequency operation environment like DAB FM CB applications, with critical signal reception requirements. Hence the application range of AN.UWB.INT4.433.10000.SMA covers all the wireless communication protocols available on the market. This feature greatly helps the creation of the Metaverse hardware equipment, which requires various communication capacities in real-world operations. Also, the operating bandwidth of more than 10 GHz helps build up the R&D brand image in the antenna industry.

Potential Applications

• IoT
• Radar
• CPE Devices
• Microwave Measurement and survey
• CB Radio
• Helium Wireless Communication
• Lora Communication