Effects of Phone Case and User Effects on Switched-Beam High Gain Antenna System for 5G Mobile Terminals

In this paper, a switched-beam antenna array is proposed for 5G mobile terminals. The array can scan the beam in the endfire direction by switching between six directional antennas, which can be placed for example around a camera module. No phase shifters are required in order to achieve beamsteering. Each array element is based on a monopole with a corner reflector. The antenna operates at around 39 GHz with the bandwidth of 7 GHz. The performance is analysed in both situations of the array inside and outside a phone metal case with a screen. Furthermore, investigations with the whole-body phantom are also carried out. The 2D radiation patterns of the proposed antenna system inside and outside the case are measured to verify the simulations. The measured results show that the minimum gain of 11 dBi at the boresight directions is achieved with the antenna outside the case, and the minimum gain at the boresight directions is reduced to 7.5 dBi with the antenna inside the case. In practices, the antenna system can be integrated together with a camera module, and steer the beams with high gain and low loss.