CommScope

CommScope Designer Develops Inverted-F Antenna 

Company 

CommScope is a multi-national network infrastructure provider based in Hickory, NC. It is a 1997 spin-off of General Instruments and has over 20,000 employees worldwide, with customers in over 130 countries. CommScope experts are rethinking the purpose, role, and usage of networks to help customers increase bandwidth, expand capacity, enhance efficiency, speed deployment, and simplify migration. From remote cell sites to massive sports arenas, from busy airports to state-of-the-art data centers — CommScope provides the essential expertise and vital infrastructure businesses need to succeed. The world’s most advanced networks rely on CommScope connectivity.

Challenge

Johannes Steigert, an RF engineer at CommScope, was challenged to develop an inverted-F antenna (Figure 1) for a mobile communications sub-1 GHz band. The specifications for the mechanical dimensions of the printed-circuit board (PCB) severely limited the available space for the antenna. Consequently, difficult tradeoffs from the state-of-the-art theoretical design had to be made regarding antenna gain, efficiency, and broadband performance.

Solution

The CommScope design team chose the NI AWR Design Environment platform for the development of their inverted-F antenna. The sophisticated capabilities of Microwave Office circuit design software combined with the speed of the AXIEM electromagnetic (EM) simulator helped the team cut the number of various prototype design spins and delivered a first-time-right solution for the given problems. The software detected the influence of the mechanical tradeoffs and helped the team compensate for those problems during the simulation phase.

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