Additively Manufactured Mobile Device Lens Case for 5G Antenna Gain

This paper presents the design of a 3-D printed integrated lens antenna for 5G wireless communications in the 28GHz frequency band. 5G promises higher data rates and low latency communication. However, increased path loss at millimeter-wave frequencies relative to 4G-LTE frequency bands motivates highly directional antennas to mitigate the loss in transmission. In order to meet this challenge, this paper presents a low-cost, small-profile 3-D printed lens integrated into a phone case to improve the performance of millimeter-wave antennas for future mobile device applications. Currently, most proposed lenses for millimeter-wave applications have been for base station type antennas and are not compatible in size and form with a mobile device's structure. This lens presents a solution for compact, multi-functional electronic antenna packaging for mobile devices. The fabrication steps for realizing a planar gradient index lens and its integration with a millimeter-wave patch antenna array are detailed. The fabricated antenna and lens are characterized in an anechoic chamber, and the results are compared to corresponding finite element model simulations.