3998
8, AUGUST 2014
Compact Internal Antenna for Handheld Devices
With Comprehensive DTV Band Coverage
Jiun-Ting Yeh, Student Member, IEEE, Wen-Jiao Liao, Senior Member, IEEE, and Shih-Hsun Chang, Member, IEEE
AbstractA compact internal antenna design applicable to
handheld digital TV receivers is proposed. Its operation band-
width extends from 470 MHz to 860 MHz, which covers most
terrestrial digital TV broadcasting bands. The antenna sizes pro-
truding from the ground plane are
only and can fit in most palm-sized terminals. Major geometric
features include a 3D folding structure that reduces the antenna
footprint, a parasitic element that induces additional modes, and
a folded microstrip line near the feed that improves the matching
condition. The proposed design employs various methods to create
multiple resonances in a confined antenna volume. Yet, a consis-
tent radiation pattern is achieved over the operation band with
decent efficiency performance. This is done by exciting several
resonant modes within and adjacent to the desired band. Though
the resonances take places at different antenna parts, most radia-
tion comes from the current near the feed. The resulting antenna
acts as a short electric dipole at all frequencies. Also, an abrupt
efficiency roll-off is setup at the upper band limit to reduce inter-
ference from the nearby mobile service band. Rigorous studies
were conducted to associate its superior performance features
with implemented techniques.
Index TermsBroadband antennas, digital TV, handset
antennas.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE deployment of digital television broadcasting (DTV)
has begun all over the world since the end of the last cen-
tury. To deliver enhanced image quality, DTV standards allow
content providers to transmit programs in high-definition video
and six channel surround audio (5.1). Broadcast stations can
also opt to improve the channel capacity by implementing the
multiplexing technique. Other features such as free of ghost im-
ages are making adoption of DTV broadcasting a nonstop trend.
The bandwidth allocation of DTV is rather extensive and im-
poses the need for a broadband reception antenna. Due to the
absence of a global terrestrial broadcasting standard, transmis-
sion specifications hence vary from one region to another. Un-
like software specifications such as channel bandwidth, constel-
Manuscript received November 13, 2013; revised March 19, 2014; accepted
May 10, 2014. Date of publication May 16, 2014; date of current version July
31, 2014. This work was supported in part by the National Science Council,
Taiwan (R.O.C.), under Grant NSC102-2622-E-011-005-CC2.
J.-T. Yeh and W.-J. Liao are with the Department of Electrical Engineering,
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan,
R.O.C. (e-mail: wjliao@mail.ntust.edu.tw).
S.-H. Chang was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National
Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan R.O.C.
He is now with ASUSTek Computer Inc., Taipei 112, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2014.2324552
0018-926X 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO.
lation scheme, code rate, and guard band interval, which can be
resolved by reconfiguring the receiver, hardware specifications
are difficult to reconfigure. The DTV reception antenna is re-
quired to address the extensive band allocation in different parts
of the world.
Compact yet broadband reception antennas are particularly
needed for portable DTV receivers. According to [1] and [2],
a 460870 MHz band is necessary to cover reception in most
countries. Since the bandwidth ratio is nearly 2:1, the antenna
volumes of conventional log-periodic designs [3], [4] are too
large for device-integrated antennas. Previous efforts were
made to reduce the antenna volume and maintain a broad
operation bandwidth. One approach is pushing the limit of
traditional resonant type antennas. Broadband designs are
developed based on the monopole [5] or the sleeve monopole
[6], [7] configurations. In [8], an H-shaped two-branch dipole is
proposed for DTV reception on vehicles. Note these antennas
are external designs and may not be appropriate for mobile
terminals. Another approach is exciting multiple resonances
on the radiator to synthesize a broad operation band. This
measure usually employs multiple branches as well as parasitic
elements. In [9], a 1.65:1 bandwidth ratio is achieved with a
symmetric, parasitic element. In [10], seven spirals are packed
closely to diversify resonant paths. However, this design ap-
proach may suffer from either large antenna volume or poor
radiation efficiency.
In order to further reduce antenna sizes and retain good re-
ception characteristics, various methods are applied for DTV
antennas. In [11] and [12], antennas are implemented as a fold-
able structure on USB dongle platforms. Novel antenna types
such as the dielectric resonant antenna (DRA) [13] and mag-
netic material loaded antenna [14] have been devised. Some de-
signs utilize the PCB board or the device enclosure as a part of
the radiator [15][19].
The idea of using a reconfigurable antenna for DTV recep-
tion is also popular. Common practices include using variable
capacitors to adjust the operation band continuously [20][23]
and employing RF diodes to select a specific resonant path on
the radiator [24] or the matching network [25], [26]. This type
of antenna can cover a large bandwidth by switching among dif-
ferent states. Primary advantages are simpler antenna geometry
and reduced antenna volume because the bandwidth required is
narrower for each individual state. Nevertheless, the implemen-
tation can be complicated and costly. It requires support from
the system level. The tuner must provide a control mechanism
to switch among antenna states according to the users channel
selection command.
In this paper, we attempt to develop a compact internal an-
tenna that is suitable for uses on a palm-sized portable device
YEH et al.: COMPACT INTERNAL ANTENNA FOR HANDHELD DEVICES WITH COMPREHENSIVE DTV BAND COVERAGE 3999

and provides a comprehensive DTV reception band. Major tech-

nical difficulties include the tradeoff between antenna volume
and radiation efficiency, and synthesizing a broad, continuous
operation band with a stable gain and a consistent pattern. Note
the upper limit of the DTV band is right next to either GSM
or LTE bands. Studies point out the DTV reception may be in-
terfered by mobile services [27], [28]. As a result, we decide
to create a sharp cut-off edge in the matching spectrum at the
upper bound of the DTV operation band.
In order to pack the antenna within a compact handset, the
proposed antenna is of a 3D structure. The radiator is bent to re-
duce the antenna footprint. The detailed geometric features and
the evolution of the antenna structure are presented in Section II.
In Section III, rigorous parametric studies are conducted to ana-
lyze resonant modes and radiating mechanisms residing on this Fig. 1. Configuration of the proposed 3D DTV reception antenna and the hand-
antenna structure. Antenna tuning guidelines can be deducted held platform.
for adapting the antenna on different platforms. Antenna perfor-
mances are validated in Section IV using measurement results.
A conclusion is drawn in Section V.

II. ANTENNA DESIGN

A. Antenna Geometry
Proposed 3D antenna structure and its platform are shown
in Fig. 1. The antenna is formed by joining 3 PCB slabs and
is placed next to the top edge of a 135 mm 80 mm ground
plane, which is made of an FR4 board. The substrate thickness
Fig. 2. Geometry of the proposed 3D DTV reception antenna for handheld
is 1.6 mm and is assumed 0.02. Fig. 2 shows the unfolded devices.
antenna structure. The radiator is separated into two parts. The
bottom left one is connected to the antenna feed and is referred
as the primary radiator. The top right one is shorted to the ground TABLE I
and is referred as the parasitic element. Both parts have exten- DIMENSIONS OF CRITICAL GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF
THE PROPOSED DTV RECEPTION ANTENNA
sions to the back of the substrate to prolong resonant paths. Note
the back patch lengths of the radiator and the parasitic element
are of different values. A thin slit of 0.3 mm wide is located be-
tween the two patches. A perturbing slot of 1 mm wide is placed
on the radiator. The slot length is . It is located to the left of Unit: mm
the thin slit and the distance between them is . The excitation
is fed though a long, folded microstrip line placed above the top
ground plane edge. The distance between the feed and the left
edge of the folded microstrip line is defined as . As to the
parasitic element, the shorting pin is located to the right of the
feed with an extension strip above the ground plane. The strip
length is . Optimal design parameters are listed in Table I.
With this folding structure, the antenna volume protruding out
of the ground plane is only .

B. Evolution of Antenna Structures

The proposed antenna structure is rather complicated at the
first glance. To explain how this design achieves a broad con-
tinuous band for DTV reception, the evolution of the antenna
configuration is divided into several phases. Design features
are added one after another. Reflection coefficients and input
impedance spectra are compared to identify their effects. Fig. 3
shows the different stages of the antenna evolution. Note all
designs shown are of 3D structures but illustrated as unfolded
schematics to reveal geometric features. The overall antenna
volume is fixed.
Fig. 3. Evolution of antenna geometry.
Ant. 1 contains only the radiator and the parasitic element.
Both components are in rectangular shapes. A thin slit sep-
arates the two parts. The corresponding reflection coefficient
spectrum shown in Fig. 4 exhibits no apparent resonance due
to poor matching. In Ant. 2, the thin slit is bent twice to form a
4000
Fig. 4. Comparison of reflection coefficient spectra of Ant. 1, Ant. 2, and Ant.
3 designs.
Fig. 5. Comparison of reflection coefficient spectra of Ant. 4, Ant. 5, and pro-
posed antenna designs.
step shape. Its reflection coefficient spectrum shows two reso-
nances. One is located around 800 MHz and the other appears at
660 MHz. Ant. 3 adds another step to the slit. Both resonances
are shifted down with improved matching performance.
To further reduce the lowest operation frequency, both the
primary radiator and parasitic element lengths are extended in
Ant. 4 design. However, due to the platform width limit, the ex-
tended sections shown in Fig. 3 are placed on the back of the
substrate. Each extended patch is connected to the front by a
narrow strip on the side, which can be implemented as plated
via holes in mass production. The two patches in the back are
still separated by a thin slit. The corresponding reflection coeffi-
cient curve shown in Fig. 5 indicates the lower bound of the 3:1
VSWR ratio band is reduced to 520 MHz, which is close to the
desired lowest operation frequency. Note the higher resonance
is also brought down to 740 MHz.
In Ant. 5 design, a 1 mm wide slot is cut to the primary radi-
ator. Also an extending strip is added at the bottom right corner
of the parasitic element so that the shorting pin position can be
moved away from the feed. Two apparent nulls appear on the
reflection coefficient spectrum. One occurs at 490 MHz and the
other emerges at 850 MHz. The higher resonance yields a sharp
roll-off edge near the bands upper bound. This feature helps
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO. 8, AUGUST 2014
reject likely interference sources in the cellular band. Though
the 3:1 VSWR bandwidth of Ant. 5 is quite close to the desired
specification, the lower bound is slightly higher and the reflec-
tion coefficients around 530 MHz are greater than 6 dB.
The proposed design (P. Ant.) adds a folded microstrip line
next to the feed. This measure brings down the lower bound to
460 MHz. The higher bound is slightly reduced, but remains
above 860 MHz with a sharp roll-off edge. The VSWR ratios
are kept below 3:1 over the entire DTV band.
C. Antenna Resonant Modes
It is apparent that this complex geometry provides multiple
resonances. Some may radiate and some dont. To better iden-
tify their resonant mechanisms, resistance and reactance spectra
of different design phases are shown in Fig. 6. The solid lines
and dash lines are reactance and resistance, respectively. In fol-
lowing discussions, we proceed by first spotting resonant fre-
quencies, then checking corresponding simulated current distri-
butions to identify associated resonant paths.
Two resonances appear on resistance and reactance spectra
of Ant. 3. The 580 MHz one is a parallel resonance because the
reactance goes from positive to negative and there is a pole in
its resistance. Taking into account that wave propagation speed
is slower on the substrate surface, the path length on the para-
sitic element, which extends from the shorting pin to the slits
end, fits well to the quarter wavelength resonant mode. How-
ever, because this resonance draws not much current from the
feed, it may not be an efficient radiating mode. The other reso-
nance is located around 720 MHz. Its a series resonance since
the reactance goes from capacitive to inductive. The simulated
current distribution shows the maximum is found on the feed.
The current moves along the slit on the primary radiator side. It
diminishes on the last section of the slit. Because the resistance
remains about 30 to 40 Ohms over a broad bandwidth, one may
expect it as an efficient radiating mode.
A new parallel resonance appears at 430 MHz in the resis-
tance and reactance spectra of Ant. 4. Simulation results indicate
most currents concentrate at the extended patch on the back of
the substrate. The current then couples to the slit on the front and
can be traced back to the feed. The impedance and current dis-
tribution of this high Q resonance suggest that it is inefficient in
terms of radiation since most energy is bounded within the sub-
strate. The 580 and 720 MHz modes seen in Ant. 3 are slightly
moved down due to the addition of back patches.
In Ant. 5, an extension stub is added to move the shorting lo-
cation to the right. As a result, the 565 MHz resonance on the
parasitic element is further reduced to 520 MHz. The 430 MHz
mode on the primary radiator is shifted down a little bit due to
a slot added on the primary radiator. A new parallel resonance
appears around 850 MHz, which corresponds to the deep null
seen in Fig. 5. This mode is introduced by the added slot. Ac-
cording to its current concentration, the resonant path is formed
on the slot and the nearby slit.
In the P. Ant. design, the lowest resonant mode is further re-
duced to 310 MHz due to the folded microstrip line near the
feed. Fig. 7 shows its current distribution on the radiator as well
as the top ground plane region. The current can be traced all
the way to the back patch. Note most currents are found as dif-
ferential currents on the two sides of the thin slit. The strong
current on the feed section is also accompanied by an opposite
YEH et al.: COMPACT INTERNAL ANTENNA FOR HANDHELD DEVICES WITH COMPREHENSIVE DTV BAND COVERAGE
Fig. 6. Resistance and reactance spectra of Ant. 3, Ant. 4, Ant. 5, and proposed antenna designs.
Fig. 7. Current distributions on P. Ant. at 310 MHz.
current on the parasitic element. The 580 MHz mode seen in
Ant. 3 is also brought down to 470 MHz by the addition of the
folded microstrip line. There is another parallel resonance ap-
pears at 580 MHz. This mode is formed on the added folded
microstrip line. The resonant structure itself contributes little in
terms of radiation. Instead, it serves as a current driver that at-
tracts a strong current on the feed, which is subject to radiation.
The series resonant mode seen in Ant. 3 is moved down to 680
MHz. The simulated current distribution shown in Fig. 8 indi-
cates that at the feed region, the radiator and parasitic element
currents are of the same direction and radiate effectively. Next
is the slot resonant mode found in Ant. 5, which is still located at
850 MHz. Note there is a resonance taking place at 930 MHz.
By checking its current distribution, we found this is a mode
controlled by the slits end, which is located at the antennas left
edge. It is a quarter wavelengths resonance bounded within the
slit. In fact, this mode can be found on Ant. 1 design at 1.5 GHz.
As we increase the slit length and add the slot and patches as the
4001
Fig. 8. Current distributions on P. Ant. at 680 MHz.
design evolves, the resonant frequency is moved down to 930
MHz in the proposed design. Because of the elevated resistance
and reactance, this resonance creates a notch around 900 MHz
in the reflection coefficient spectrum shown in Fig. 5. The 850
and 930 MHz modes work in conjunction and form the sharp
roll-off edge at the upper bound of the operation band.
III. PARAMETRIC STUDIES
Aforementioned discussions show a relatively broad
470860 MHz operation band and rejection of signals around
900 MHz can be achieved at the same time. Several geo-
metric features are added to create multiple resonant modes.
Since antenna characteristics, especially for a portable device
antenna, are subject to changes in the antenna platform, para-
metric studies are presented to investigate associated radiating
and band-broadening mechanisms. Design rules and tuning
methods can be deducted from these studies.
4002 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO. 8, AUGUST 2014
Fig. 9. Comparison of reflection coefficient spectra of various extending stub
length of the parasitic element.
Fig. 10. Comparison of antenna input resistance and reactance spectra of var-
ious folded microstrip line length at the feed.
A. Extension Stub Length of the Parasitic Element
The extension stub, as seen in the bottom right corner of
Fig. 2, is used to move the shorting pin location away from the
feed. As shown in Fig. 5, the introduction of the extension stub
creates a longer path on the parasitic element and hence reduces
the resonant frequency of the associated mode along the slit. The
reflection coefficient spectra shown in Fig. 9 indicate that the
matching condition around 470 MHz is related to the length.
The longer is, the lower the lowest operation frequency be-
comes. A moderate length is chosen to avoid elevated mis-
matches around 550 MHz.
B. Folded Microstrip Line Length at the Feed
The folded microstrip line is placed right next to the feed
and is laid above the top edge of the ground plane. It extends
resonant paths of modes starting from the feed. The resistance
and reactance curves shown in Fig. 10 reveal that the lowest
mode frequency is inversely proportional to length. Since
this mode provides substantial capacitance beyond its resonant
frequency, the matching condition immediately above this mode
can be tuned by adjusting length. In the proposed design, a
stable matching is achieved over the 460 to 580 MHz band, as
illustrated in Fig. 5.
Fig. 11. Comparison of antenna input resistance and reactance spectra of var-
ious extended patch length of the primary radiator.
Fig. 12. Comparison of antenna input resistance and reactance spectra of var-
ious perturbing slot position on the primary radiator.
C. Extension Patch Length of the Primary Radiator
Effects of the primary radiators extension patch length are
examined in Fig. 11. Resistance and reactance spectra of var-
ious lengths are shown. As the curves indicate, the 470 MHz
mode current, which mainly propagates along the slit, is appar-
ently affected. It resonant frequency is inversely proportional to
length. The length is hence chosen as 55 mm to maintain
a proper matching in the lower band.
D. Perturbing Slot Position and Slot Length on the
Primary Radiator
The addition of the slot on the primary radiator perturbs the
current path on it and along the slit as well. Here we attempt
to change the slot position with respect to the slit. The param-
eter is defined as the distance between the slot and the slit.
Fig. 12 shows resistance and reactance spectra of different slot
positions. Its interesting to find that although the general be-
haviors are unaffected; reducing the distance can bring down
resonant frequencies, especially for modes above 500 MHz.
Effects of the slot length are also looked into. Most modes
are invariant to this length change except the 930 MHz mode.
As a result, one can modify the slot position and slot length to
tune the roll-off edge frequency at the upper bound.
YEH et al.: COMPACT INTERNAL ANTENNA FOR HANDHELD DEVICES WITH COMPREHENSIVE DTV BAND COVERAGE 4003

Fig. 13. Comparison of reflection coefficient spectra of various platform

lengths.

Fig. 15. Fabricated prototype DTV reception antenna on the handheld plat-
form.

Fig. 14. Comparison of antenna input resistance and reactance spectra of var-
ious platform lengths.

E. Platform Length
Because consumer oriented handheld products are likely
to appear in platforms of different sizes, effects of the board
length is examined as well. In Fig. 13, the board length is varied
from 130 to 170 mm. Their reflection coefficient spectra show
a similar trend. However, the matching condition is different.
Resistance and reactance variations are shown in Fig. 14. Most
resonant frequencies are invariant to length changes except the
580 MHz mode, which is excited by the folded microstrip line
above the top ground plane edge. Fig. 14 shows that the smaller
the board length is, the greater the reactance variation becomes
at the resonant frequency. The resistance is also increased.
These results suggest the coupling toward the ground plane is
raised as the board length reduces. The Q factor of this parallel
resonance is hence elevated. From the application perspective,
cautions should be taken when transporting the antenna design
to a terminal smaller than the proposed platform. Further
matching tuning measures may be necessary. One applicable
measure is reducing the perturbing slot position . As indi-
cated in Fig. 12, the elevated reactance due a small platform
length can be compensated.
Fig. 16. Comparison of simulated and measured reflection coefficient spectra
of the proposed antenna.
TABLE II
SIMULATED AND MEASURED BANDWIDTH PERFORMANCE BENCH MARKS OF
THE PROPOSED DTV RECEPTION ANTENNA
IV. PERFORMANCE VALIDATION
The prototype antenna was devised by combining three slabs
of 1.6 mm thick FR4 substrate. The front and back patterns
were first etched on the board, then jointed perpendicularly with
thin layers of soldering. The connection between front and back
patches were made with soldered copper strips. The process is
labor intensive and painstaking. Note the flexible printed cir-
cuit (FPC) technology can be used instead for mass production.
Fig. 15 shows the etched PCB boards before assembly and the
fabricated prototype. Note the feed is implemented with a piece
4004
Fig. 17. Comparison of simulated and measured radiation patterns of the proposed antenna on principle cuts at 470 MHz.
Fig. 18. Comparison of simulated and measured radiation patterns of the proposed antenna on principle cuts at 680 MHz.
of coaxial cable. To suppress radiations from the cable, copper
tapes were applied to press the cable against the ground plane.
The reflection coefficient of the prototype antenna was mea-
sured and compared with the simulated result. Nulls and poles
of the two spectra shown in Fig. 16 appear at same frequen-
cies. However, measured nulls are deeper than simulated ones.
This indicates the amount of reactance supplied from the folded
microstrip line is different from our expectation. Since the line
spacing between folded microstrip lines is 0.2 mm only, errors in
fabrication precision may lead to this discrepancy. Benchmarks
of the bandwidth performance are summarized in Table II. The
measured bandwidth is slightly wider than the simulated one.
The fabricated prototype antenna was measured in a spher-
ical near field chamber. Radiation patterns were derived via a
Fourier transform process [29]. Corresponding axial directions
are the same with the drawing shown in Fig. 1. The platform is
aligned in parallel with the -plane and its front is facing to-
ward the direction. Since the return current due to the unbal-
anced transition may reside on the coaxial cable, a ferrite current
choke is clamped on the cable during pattern measurements.
Radiation patterns on principle planes at 470 MHz are dis-
played in Fig. 17. The solid lines are measured results while
dash lines are simulated ones. In each plot, and compo-
nents are drawn separately. Red lines are patterns while blue
lines are patterns. According to the plots, is the domi-
nant term and can be regarded as the cross-pol term. The
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO. 8, AUGUST 2014
most important pattern is on the -plane, which is nearly
omni-directional. The measured gain is about 7 dBi, which is
not an attractive number for an omni-directional antenna. This
result suggests the 470 MHz resonance is not efficient in terms
of radiation.
Measured gains of cross-pol patterns shown in Fig. 17 are
slightly larger than simulated ones. One cause is fabrication er-
rors in the prototype antenna. Another cause may be the return
current on the feed cable. Nevertheless, they are smaller than
15 dBi and do not alter principle radiation characteristics of
the proposed antenna.
In both - and -plane cuts, there are nulls appearing near
the -axis direction. These results indicate the antenna can be
regarded as a short electric dipole placed along the -axis at this
frequency. According to the simulated current distribution, most
currents are found on the folded microstrip line and in the neigh-
borhood of the slit. Currents are accompanied by adjacent op-
posite currents of comparable magnitudes and hence contribute
little to the radiation. The only current that fits to the observed
radiation pattern is the one located on the feed, which runs in
parallel with the -axis direction. Its magnitude is somewhat
weaker comparing to other currents. This result complies with
subdued gains observed in Fig. 17.
The 680 MHz radiation patterns are shown in Fig. 18. Sim-
ilar to the 470 MHz results, most radiations concentrate on the
-plane. Measured gains vary between 0 to 2 dBi and the
YEH et al.: COMPACT INTERNAL ANTENNA FOR HANDHELD DEVICES WITH COMPREHENSIVE DTV BAND COVERAGE
Fig. 19. Comparison of simulated and measured radiation patterns of the proposed antenna on principle cuts at 850 MHz.
Fig. 20. Comparison of simulated and measured total efficiencies of the pro-
posed DTV reception antenna.
pattern is nearly omni-directional. On - and -planes, mea-
sured and simulated patterns are quite similar. Pattern nulls are
found along the -axis. These results suggest the antenna can be
modeled as a short electric dipole placed along the -axis. The
corresponding simulated current distribution shown in Fig. 8
confirms this assumption. The vertical section near the feed ex-
hibits a strong current and hence is the primary source for ra-
diation. Similar radiation behaviors are found on 850 MHz pat-
terns shown in Fig. 19. The co-pol patterns can be modeled with
a short electric dipole, too.
Because the measurements were conducted in a spherical
near field chamber, the radiation efficiency is available once
the scanning process is completed. Fig. 20 exhibits measured
and simulated total efficiency spectra. The total efficiency
accounts not only the antenna radiation efficiency, but also the
impedance matching performance. Measured total efficiencies
are roughly 5% to 10% less than simulated ones. Nevertheless,
they exhibit a similar trend. They are in general greater than
50% in the operation band. At the lower and upper bounds,
the efficiencies are reduced to approximately 20%. The peak
gain curves shown in Fig. 21 present alike spectral variations.
Mid-band gains are above 1 dBi and are consistent over a
large bandwidth. This complies with the fact that the radiation
pattern is omni-directional over the entire operation band. At
4005
Fig. 21. Comparison of simulated and measured peak antenna gains of the pro-
posed DTV reception antenna.
the bands edges, peak gains are dropped to 5 and 4 dBi
due to decreased efficiencies. Yet these levels are still bigger
than recommended antenna gains for handheld DTV receivers,
which are reported in [30]. To restore the lower band edge
performance, one can consider further reducing the 310 MHz
out-of-band resonance. This can be facilitated by extending the
folded microstrip line length or enlarging the radiator structure.
Both methods impose an increase in the antenna volume. At
the higher band edge, the 930 MHz resonance can be lifted to
restore the efficiency. This measure will also remove the notch
band and the antenna may be subjected to interference from
mobile services.
V. CONCLUSIONS
The proposed broadband antenna suits well to the DTV re-
ception need. It provides a consistent omni-directional pattern
across all DTV bands. This is because most of the radiation
comes from the vertical section near the feed for in-band res-
onances, which are located at 580 and 680 MHz. The band edge
modes at 470 and 850 MHz as well as the out-of-band reso-
nances at 310 and 930 MHz are formed by differential current
paths on the antenna or on the ground edge, which contribute
little in terms of radiation and exhibit no interference to the
pattern. The function of these modes is to synthesize a large
4006 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO. 8, AUGUST 2014
matching bandwidth. By properly setting up out-of-band reso-
nances, the reactance in the operation band can be controlled to
maintain a broad, acceptable matching condition.
Several performance and structure features make the pro-
posed antenna an attractive candidate for applications on
portable devices. On top of the broad operation band, it can
be configured to have a band notch to reject interference from
mobile services. The antenna volume is minimized with a 3D
structure and can be implemented with the FPC fabrication
technology. Several tuning mechanisms are available for trans-
porting the design to other platforms.
Through rigorous studies of the proposed antenna, a design
approach is deducted for devising miniaturized broadband an-
tenna with consistent radiation characteristics. Decent radia-
tion efficiencies and a fair matching performance are achieved.
This antenna scheme can be implemented for applications that
are in need of a broad operation band and a compact antenna
volume.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to
Prof. Z. N. Chen at National University of Singapore for com-
ments on radiation mechanisms of resonant modes.
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Jiun-Ting Yeh (S13) was born in Taipei, Taiwan,
R.O.C., in January 1990. He received the B.S.
degree from the Department of Electrical En-
gineering at Feng Chia University, Taiwan, in
2012. He is currently pursuing the M.S. degree
at National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taipei.
His research interests include broadband an-
tennas and compact antenna matching network
designs. He is currently focusing on researches
about miniaturized antennas on portable devices,
especially for designs with antenna diversities and circularly polarization
characteristics.
YEH et al.: COMPACT INTERNAL ANTENNA FOR HANDHELD DEVICES WITH COMPREHENSIVE DTV BAND COVERAGE
Wen-Jiao Liao (S98M04SM14) received the
B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Na-
tional Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., in
1995 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical en-
gineering from the Ohio State University, Columbus,
OH, USA, in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
He was with Yuan-Ze University as Assistant
Professor in the Department of Communications
Engineering. In 2007, he joined the faculty of the De-
partment of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan
University of Science and Technology, where he is
now an Associate Professor. His main interests include miniaturized antennas,
diversity antennas, electronically reconfigurable antennas, phased arrays,
antenna measurement, and wave propagation.
4007
Shih-Hsun Chang (S10M14) was born in
Changhua, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1986. He received
B.S. degree from the Department of Aeronautical
Engineering, National Formosa University, Yunlin,
Taiwan, in 2008 and Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering from National Taiwan University of
Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, in 2013.
He has been with the ASUSTek Computer Inc.,
Taipai, as a Research Scientist since 2013. His main
research interests are miniaturized antennas for wire-
less communications, especially for multi-input and
multi-output (MIMO) antenna systems on mobile devices.