Development of a PC card using planar antennas for wireless LAN on 2.4/5 GHz bands

We have developed a wireless LAN PC card for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual-band operation using printed planar antennas, and evaluated its throughput performance. The planar antennas, which combine an inverted-F antenna with an inverted-L antenna, can realize a dual-band at low cost in a limited integrated area on the PC card. The radio propagation performance was evaluated in a shielded room which is modeled after an office. In the 2.4 GHz band, operation is stable and independent of the deployed position and the direction of a laptop PC with the PC card. On the other hand, in the 5 GHz band, although the performance is affected by surrounding objects and antenna directivity, the PC card with the printed antennas can realize as high a throughput as one with external omnidirectional antennas.