Radiation Performance Analysis of 28 GHz Antennas Integrated in 5G Mobile Terminal Housing

Radiation from printed millimeter-wave antennas integrated in mobile terminals is affected by surface currents on chassis, guided waves trapped in dielectric layers, superstrates, and the user's hand, making mobile antenna design for 5G communication challenging. In this paper, four canonical types of printed 28-GHz antenna elements are integrated in a 5G mobile terminal mock-up. Different kinds of terminal housing effects are examined separately, and the terminal housing effects are also diagnosed through equivalent currents by using the inverse source technique. To account for the terminal housing effects on a beam-scanning antenna subarray, we propose the effective beam-scanning efficiency to evaluate its coverage performance. This paper presents the detailed analysis, results, and new concepts regarding the terminal housing effects, and thereby provides valuable insight into the practical 5G mobile antenna design and radiation performance characterization.