By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Most tri-band Wi-Fi AP hardware designs aim at producing 75 dB or greater isolation in the narrow 5.835 to 5.945 GHz transition gap and thus far the only realistic way to achieve this has been to incorporate costly BAW (Bulk Acoustic Wave) filters. Now QuantalRF is introducing a new class of low cost, patented CPL antennas, which deliver better isolation than traditional approaches and hence promise lower overall AP costs. QuantalRF’s ‘DockOn®‘ antennas are also more power efficient and more omni-directional, QuantalRF says.
Wi-Fi AP vendors are of course intent on using the full 6 GHz band to deliver the best Wi-Fi connectivity experience but the close proximity of 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands continue to present significant RF design challenges including potentially higher component cost. A new antenna solution from QuantalRF promises better isolation, which relaxes reliance on costly high-performance co-existence filters, QuantalRF says.
QuantalRF’s CPL – or Compound Planar Loop – antennas typically deliver 30 dB isolation in the UNII 3 to UNII 5 transition gap, which means 5-10 dB better isolation than competitive antenna products. This reduces the BAW filter isolation requirement by the same amount leading to lower cost antenna and filter architectures, the company says.
“CPL antenna technology is a simple and low-cost way of having antenna designs contribute more to the total isolation requirements for tri-band Wi-Fi APs. High isolation is essential for making sure tri-band APs don’t self-interfere and instead deliver the best possible Wi-Fi 7 performance across all features and bands,” says Dave Aichele, EVP Sales & Business Development at QuantalRF.
The CPL system uses small radiating elements to combine transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes. The result is higher radiation intensities and bandwidths with smaller form factors. QuantalRF says the antennas can be manufactured using standard PCB processes and integrated directly into many types of devices including Wi-Fi APs. Printing the antennas directly on PCBs is optimal because it minimises power losses that would otherwise result from cabling and connectors. Alternatively, they can also be integrated in system via a traditional cable approach, says Dave Aichele.
CPL antennas also offer plenty of other benefits when it comes to Wi-Fi APs. They typically deliver better than 85% power efficiency resulting in higher RF gains and reduced power consumption. This in turn brings about substantially improved Wi-Fi speed and range, QuantalRF says. They also produce highly uniform omnidirectional radiation patterns on both azimuth and elevation planes. QuantalRF’s CPL antennas are currently used for example in popular consumer-grade Wi-Fi routers.
“All of these exceptional characteristics combine to make CPL antennas a highly competitive solution for any type and configuration of Wi-Fi AP, including both dual and tri-band devices for the home or the enterprise. Strict omnidirectional patterns make sure that Wi-Fi signals are uniformly distributed within the home or office. Higher RF gains translate into a better overall connectivity experience. Add to this that a discrete, dual-band, and tri-band printed CPL antennas are typically a quarter to an eight of a wavelength in size,” Dave Aichele says.
Much of QuantalRF’s technology – including CMOS FEMs – is based on the inventions of a former NASA research scientist Dr. Forrest J. Brown. Today, QuantalRF owns more than 200 patents. The company is headquartered in Switzerland with operations in the USA and Sweden.
Don’t miss QuantalRF CEO/CTO Dr Ali Fard speaking at Wi-Fi World Congress USA in Mountain View, California, on April 29. For all the details including tickets to the event click here.
/Claus.
