0.824 GHz 0.96 GHz 1.71 GHz 2.17 GHz RF & Wireless Fractus Antennas Innovates Miniature Antenna Components Figure 1: Fractus Antennas antenna boosters fit seamlessly within any application, mobile/IoT band, and/or device NI AWR www.ni.com NI AWR software provides engineers with the RF simulation, automation, and access to knowledge (through online training videos and tutorials) to tackle these challenges from a methodical and low-risk approach. Fractus Antennas designs matching networks for a new class of off-the-shelf, surface-mount technology (SMT) chip antenna components called “antenna boosters” based on the company’s proprietary Virtual Antenna “antennaless” technology. The challenge faced by Fractus Antennas designers is that the antenna booster component, which fits within any application, mobile/IoT, and/or device, needs a matching network that is more sophisticated than the typical T or Pi network needed for a conventional antenna. Figure 1 is a picture of the new antenna booster. The design team chose Microwave Office circuit design software as the ideal complement for Virtual Antenna, describing it as “a smart software with great optimization and tolerance analysis features that helps to complete the design from concept to production in a fast and effective way.” Microwave Office software provides a number of optimization and tolerance analysis tools that helped the team design the sophisticated matching networks needed for Virtual Antenna, as shown in Figure 2. The matching response became “live” with the smart tuning elements, providing key insights on the role of each component in the network and providing the exact values for the optimal design. In addition, tolerance analysis enabled the team to assess and tune the final and production-ready designs, making the whole design process productive, reliable, and effective. The key benefits of using NI AWR software together with Virtual Antenna technology are twofold: the reduction of design time and the accuracy of the solution. The powerful tools such as the smart tuning and optimization function significantly reduced the time for simulating the most appropriate matching network for each particular design. Once the proper matching network topology is selected, NI AWR Design Environment software enabled the team to reduce the simulation time by a factor of 10 over a manual design, while at the same time providing highly accurate solutions. The combination of “live tuners” for the network components, the ability to integrate real, commercial, off-the-shelf components from NI AWR software libraries, and the tolerance analysis and optimization tools were the most beneficial features of the software. ◄ 1 INDQ ID=L1 L=0 nH Q=85.7 FQ=0.836 GHz ALPH=0 CAPQ ID=C1 C=50 pF Q=146.3 FQ=2.683 GHz ALPH=0 PORT P=1 Z=50 Ohm User solution VS User practice 0 -2 -4 -6 DB(|S(1,1)|) User solution DB(|S(1,1)|) User practice 0 -2 -4 -6 Tolerance Analysis DB(|S(1,1)|) Tolerance Analysis SUBCKT ID=S2 NET="224_depth11_strip5_Without_pads" INDQ ID=L2 L=50 nH Q=62.8 FQ=0.833 GHz ALPH=0 CAPQ ID=C2 C=0 pF Q=170.6 FQ=2.683 GHz ALPH=0 -8 -10 -12 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 Frequency (GHz) -8 -10 -12 0.8 1.3 1.8 2.3 2.8 3 Frequency (GHz) Figure 2: Microwave Office software provides optimization and tolerance analysis tools that were useful for designing the matching networks for Virtual Antenna 50 hf-praxis 12/2019
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