Optically Transparent Wideband Dipole and Patch External Antennas Using Metal Mesh for UHD TV Applications

The design of an external antenna for digital television (TV) has become more challenging because its relatively large size is not conformal to and esthetically preferred for commercial use. This article presents a feasibility study on external transparent antennas for ultrahigh definition (UHD) TV applications in Korea (470-771 MHz). The proposed antennas are patch and dipole types, representing directional and omnidirectional radiation, respectively. Both antennas use a metal mesh film with an optical transparency above 70% and a low sheet resistance of 0.04 Ω/sq. The transparent patch using a capacitive feed has an average efficiency of 83.8% and a peak gain of 6.2 dBi, and the transparent dipole with widen arms has an average efficiency of 72.1% and a peak gain of 2.4 dBi. To emphasize the potential application to UHD TV, the average Rx peak gain of the patch and dipole antennas, which are 4.8 and 2.0 dBi, respectively, in practical conditions are investigated. The measured results of the proposed antennas offer the feasibility of implementing transparent antennas with performances identical to the nontransparent ones and a soft visual impact as an advantage, thus making them become good candidates as external antennas for UHD TV applications.