User Shadowing Suppression for 5G mm-wave Mobile Terminal Antennas

In 5G mm-wave mobile terminal applications, the user's body will likely create blockage or shadow in the radiation patterns of handset antenna arrays. In this paper, we find that the corner positions of a handset chassis yield the best performance for the 5G mm-wave array system in terms of spatial coverage when user effects are considered. To prove that claim, a prototype of a 5G mm-wave antenna system was constructed using the substrate integrated waveguide lens and MMPX connectors and was compared to the more general case. The lens is simulated and measured with the user in talk, data, and dual-hand modes. It has been shown that the method proposed in this paper can be used as a general guideline for the 5G phased array construction. Finally, two configurations of subarrays diagonally placed on the opposite corners of the mobile device were investigated to compare them to each other and to the setup with subarrays in all the corners.