Tuning Range Optimization of a Planar Inverted F Antenna for the LTE Low Frequency Bands

This paper presents a Planar Inverted F Antenna (PIFA) tuned with a fixed capacitor to the low frequency bands supported by the Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. The tuning range is investigated and optimized with respect to the bandwidth and the efficiency of the resulting antenna. Simulations and mock-ups are presented.

I. Introduction

Due to customers needs and rapid progress in wireless communications, Electrically Small Antennas (ESA) need to be designed to work in CDMA, GSM, WCDMA, GPS, Bluetooth, among other bands. The next generation of cellular technologies, 4^th Generation (4G), promises data rates in the order of 100Mb/s in downlink, using primarily the 790–862 MHz band in Europe.