A Camouflage Antenna Array Integrated with a Street Lamp for 5G Picocell Base Stations

This paper proposes a new design of a camouflage dual-polarized antenna for 5G picocell base stations. The antenna covers the frequency band from 3.25 GHz to 3.85 GHz with a good isolation between its ports (≥ 22 dB) and a low profile. The proposed antenna consists of two layers separated by an air gap (a radiating layer and a feeding layer). The radiating layer uses a transparent conducting film (Indium Tin Oxide) to form two patches (a radiating patch and a parasitic patch) printed on the opposite sides of a glass laminate. The radiating patch is meshed to improve the transparency of the antenna. The visual transparency of the radiating layer makes it possible to be integrated with the glass cover of the head of a street lamp while the feeding layer is embedded inside the head for camouflage. A 2 × 2 antenna array is formed to achieve a realized gain of 13.2 dBi and cover a solid angle of 33° × 33° making the proposed design a good candidate for the 5G picocell base stations.