An antenna is a metallic structure that captures and/or transmits radio electromagnetic waves.
Of course, antennas come in all shapes and sizes from little ones that can be found on your roof to watch TV to really big ones that capture signals from satellites millions of miles away.
NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) antennas, for example, use a special bowl shaped antenna that focuses signals at a single point called a parabolic antenna. The bowl shape is what allows the antennas to both capture and transmit electromagnetic waves. These antennas move horizontally and vertically in order to capture and transmit the signal.
SCaN has over 65 antennas that help capture and transmit data to and from satellites in space.
Like all of technology, antennas are also evolving to meet the needs of new modalities. Take 5G. The emergence of 5G technology in mobile communications systems posed demanding challenges in antenna design that had to take into account the particularities of both the different propagation channels and the physical space available in the terminal for the antennas.
The antennas used in this technology can be classified into outdoor antennas such as fixed-base stations, indoor antennas with omnidirectional coverage, and small low-profile antennas for mobile devices.
The increase in mobile data traffic given in the 5G generation has led to the improvement of techniques already known or the implementation of new ones such as the use of multibeam antennas, which means an increase in coverage.
Additionally, miniaturization techniques, group optimization, MIMO systems, bandwidth improvements, among others, have acquired greater importance.
And with 6G next up, antennas are expected to advance further to accommodate the wider frequency band, higher transmission rate, improved spectrum efficiency and greater connection capacity of 6G.
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Learn about a wide variety of antenna concepts and propagation topics. Participants will learn about the basic RF and antenna theory, propagation, antenna design technical considerations, antenna types and RF safety fundamentals.
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For more information, questions, comments, contact us.