Characteristics of Built-in Folded Monopole Antenna for Handsets

A folded loop antenna for handsets has already been introduced and shown as one of balance-fed antennas for handsets, which is very effective to mitigate the antenna performance degradation due to the body effect. In order to meet the requirements for the latest handsets such as low profile and small size, a folded loop antenna is modified. The antenna, which is possibly built in the handsets, is newly proposed. Low profile and small size is achieved by consisting of the half of low profile folded loop antenna, which has a structure folded loop elements sideways so that the antenna can be placed on the ground plane (GP). In the analysis, the electro-magnetic simulator based on the FDTD (Finite Difference Time Domain) method is used and the design parameters useful in practical operation are found. The electromagnetic simulator based on the Method of Moment (MoM) is used to calculate the current distribution on the antenna element and the GP. An example of low profile and small size antenna which has wideband characteristics are designed based on these parameters, and the antenna characteristics such as VSWR, the current distributions and the radiation patterns are compared with Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA), which is one of conventional built-in antennas for handset. As a result, it has been confirmed that the physical volume of the antenna, which has been introduced here, becomes smaller than that of PIFA. In addition, the radiation efficiency of these antennas is measured and the results are compared with each other.