LTE system-level evaluation of directive compact antennas for small-cell networks

This paper presents the system-level evaluation of a new directive compact antenna devoted to small-cells. The parasitic antenna array gets a maximum directivity of 7.9 dBi with a compact size (inter element distance of 0.1λ), which makes it a very interesting candidate for integration in small-cell equipment. Such super-directivity is reached at the cost of a degraded antenna efficiency/gain. After the antenna properties being confirmed by laboratory test measurements, the evaluation is completed by simulating the expected performance in large small-cell outdoor deployments. Two studies are reported in this paper, based on slightly different scenarios and modeling. The proposed antenna is compared to basic omni-directional antennas, but also to a standardized beamforming scheme. Both studies show a significant improvement of downlink and uplink user throughputs, along with a valuable reduction of the electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure.