A Multi-Band Antenna Configuration for MIMO WiMax in Multi-Standard Multifunction Handsets

A novel multi-band internal antenna configuration has been developed for WiMax-capable cellular phones. The new antenna configuration covers all the WiMax bands with other applications in multi-standard multifunction handsets. It consists of three new wideband antennas, which together can cover the whole band from 470 MHz to 6 GHz. The three antennas may have to be used together or only one or two of them may be required depending on the allocated frequencies of WiMax and the other applications in the handset. Each of the three new antennas has a bandwidth of more than 65%. They are low-cost multi-polarized unbalanced resonant antennas that do not need matching circuits or baluns. Their overall sizes are very small and they have high efficiencies and high peak gains. The performance of the new internal antenna is superior in Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) techniques. Two or more similar internal antennas having the same frequency band can be embedded inside the handset for MIMO. The locations and orientations of MOMO antennas are optimized for both space and polarization diversity with minimum coupling between them.