CA1200311A

CA1200311A - Antenna arrangement for personal radio transceivers

Info

Publication number: CA1200311A
Application number: CA000407018A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Mihaly Nemet
Original assignee: Budapesti Radiotechnikai Gyar
Current assignee: Budapesti Radiotechnikai Gyar
Priority date: 1981-07-10
Filing date: 1982-07-09
Publication date: 1986-02-04
Also published as: FI75949B; EP0070150A2; HU182355B; PL139515B1; EP0070150B1; DK311082A; US4543581A; JPS5875305A; FI822461L; IN159896B; EP0070150A3; FI822461A0; DE3280155D1; PL237383A1; DD210078A5; ATE52149T1; FI75949C

Abstract

ABSTRACT
An antenna arrangement for personal radio transceivers in which a main antenna is extending out from the housing of the transceiver excited by the high frequency connector thereof and an auxiliary antenna is coupled to the cold terminal of the connector to form a counterweight to the main antenna, and both the main and auxiliary antennas are resonant and shorter than the quarterweve-length, whereby the housing gets to a potential minimum and the effects of the close presence of the human body on the radiational properties will be reduced,

Description

ANTENNA ARRANCEMENT FOR PERSONAL RADIO TRANSCEIVERS

The invention relates to an antenna arran~ement for personal radio transceivers, in which the transceiver is connected to a resonant antenna shorter than the ~uarterwavelength.
The term'personal radio transceiver" designates a portable radiotransmitter and receiver set which has a battery supply, its operational frequency falls in the VHF or UHF band and the maximum high frequency output power is bel~w 5 W. In operation the set is held in hand closely to the human body and the antenna of the set is connected directly to the housing of the transceiver, The design of personal transceivers is always a compromise between several mutually conflicting requirements. In view of the handling it is preferable i~ the set has small dimensions and weight, however, with small weight and size the output power and the maximum operating time is decreased. The operating time is determined by the output power and the duration of the batteryO The size and design of the antenna can significantly determine the performance of such transceivers, Ir. personal radio transceivers the effective radiation of the available high frequency power is rather problematic due to the vicinity of the human body, therefore the design of the ant~nna is a decisive ~actor regarding the operational properties.
If the properties of personal radio transceivers are compared to the radiational properties of a quarter~ave vertical whip antenna arranged on a sufficiently large metal surface9 it will be experienc-ed that with identical output power the established electromagnetic field of such trar,sceivers will be about 10 ~B smaller.
In the paper of N,H. Sheperd and W.G. Chaney entitled "Personal Radio Antennas" /IRE Trans. Vehicular Comm. Vol. VC-10 pp.
23-31, April 1961/ the results of measurements carried out by various types,of "small" antennas are summarized. Here the consequence has been drawn that the quarterwave whip anterna is the most favourable and it has an attenuation of about 10 dB compared to the ideal antenna with O dB gain~ The various other types of shortened antennas were by 3 to 10 dB worse than this querterwave whip.
In addition to the problem of attenuation there is a further problem with such '~lort" antennas i.e9 the fluctuation of the field strength during operation caused by the varying relative position of the set and of the human body. The extent Or such fluctuation A2434-759/LA ~s _o can be about 5 dB, The small effectivity of radiation which is below 1~/~ can be explained by the fact that the housing of the transceiver has a size which is negligably small compared to the wavelength~ thus it can not act as a counte~weight for the radiating antenna, From this it follows that a portion of the antenna current will flow through the hand which supports the set into the hu~kan body which has a small conductivity, and the corresponding power is dissipatedO The presence of the human body increases the base point impedance and decreases the current of the antenna~
When the human body is close to the voltage maximum of the radiating antenna, then the established electrical coupling might de~tune the antenna, can also change its impedance and in addition to the radiation losses caused by the presence of the body 9 mismatching losses will occur, This latter eYfect is particularly significant in the so called miniature antennas built of a helical radiator of normal mode of radiation, because such antennas get very close to the human body during operation and the detuning effect of the body can therefore be excessive, This is a rather serious problem because the reactance steepness of the base point impedance o~ such shortened antennas are rather high and when detuning takes place, the mismatchir~ losses will be substantial~ `
In addition to the above skel;ched problems a further problem lies in the shielding effect of the human body which can only be decreased by raising the height of the antenncl. This latter is conflict-ing, however, with the demand o~ miniaturizati.on and of comfortable handling, The object o~ the invention is to provide an antenna arrange~
ment for personal radio transceivers which can substantially reduce the disadvantegous ef'fects of the vicinity of the human body and there~
by increase the perfor~ance, The lnvention is based on the recognition that the above s~marized problems rooted in that the housing of the transceiver was used as a counterweight to the antenna, and the problems can well be eliminated if an auxiliary antenna is used which i~ capable of chang ing the current distribution of the whole radiating system in such a manner that a potential minimum occur at the region o~ the housing, According to the invention ~ high frequency connector on or in the housing of the transceiver is couplecl with its "warm" terminal to the main antenna and the other "cold" terminal is electrically ~ 3 --connected with a resonant auxiliary antenra ~hich is shorter than the quarterwavelength and acts as a colmterweight to the main anter~a.
The term ~shorter than the quarter~Javelength" is used in the sense that the linear size of the antenna can be al; most as long as the querterwavelength of the operational frequency measured in the free space.
It is preferable if the axis of the auxiliary antenna closes an angle with the main antenna which is between about 90~ and 180, and if the two antennas are arrarged in respective opposing end regions of the housing.
It is advantageous for the handling of the transceiver if the auxiliary antenna and in given cases also the main antenna is coupled through a pivoted joint to the housing that allows the adjust~
ment of its angular direction.
The housing of the transceiver can be made of an electrical~
ly conductive or non-conductive material9 but in the latter case a separate electrical conductor should connect the auxiliary antenna with the high ~equency cornectorO
According to the invention an improved resonant anter,na has also be provided for personal radio transceivers which comprises a linear eleotrical conductor extending out from the antenna base and a helical section with nor~l mode of radiation coupled to the outer end of the conductor, in which the length of the linear conductor is at least half of the full antenna length but preferably it is equal to the two third thereof or even greater The so~constructed antenna can be used both as auxiliary and main antenna, and its advantage lies in that it can provide an in~
creased electrical moment and the helical section, which is responsible for the establishment of the electrical fielcl, is placed far from the antenna base and from the human body, whereby the losses due to detuning, shielding and mismatching will be reduced.
The invention will now be l~escribed in connection with preferable embodiments thereof in which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings. In the drawing:
Figs. 1 to 4 show various known antenna-transceiver arrar~e-ments;
Fig. 5 illustrates the way of flowing current into the human body in known arrangements;
Figs~ 6a to 6f show various embodiments of the antenna arrangement according to the invention;

~2~3~
" ~
,~, Fig. 7 is an illustratlon similar to Fig. 5 in case of using the antenna arran~!ment according to the invention;
Fig~ 8 shows the current and voltage distribution Qf the antenna arrangement according to the invention;
Fig, 9 shows the antenna according to the invention used in the anterna arrangement suggested according to the invention, and Fig. 10 shows the enlarged view of the antenna sketched in Fig. 9 with removed cover, Figs 1 to 5 illustrate the main types of conventional antennas used for personal radio transceivers. Fig, 1 shows a guarterwave resonant whip antenra. Such an antenna is used mainly together with transceivers operated above 10~ MHz, because in case of lower frequencies the rod will be inconveniently long~ Fig. 2 shows a rod antenna tuned to re~onance by a coil inserted in the antenna base and the length of this structure is shorter than the quarterwavelength, Fig. 3 shows a helical antenna with normal mo~e of radiation which is substantially shorter than the q~rterwavelength~
Fig, 4 shows an inductively loaded antenna which is also shorter than the quarterwave, In Figs. 1 to 4 the dash line beside the antenna indicates the current distribution.
Fig. 5 shows the common drawback of the four above described known anter~as, which lies in that owing to the effect of the hand and the body of the operator, the current distribution will be changed in the close vicinity of the transceiver ~nd of the, antenna~ which results in that only a small fragment of the displacement current can flow back to the house of the transceiver /i,e~ the housing can no~ act as a balc~nce for the antennaJ, and the remaining dominant part of the current ~lows to the human body to get disspated there and this part can not contribute to the establish~ent of the radiated electro-magnetic field, This explains that in the above described transceivers only about 1~/~ of the full transmit~ed power will be radiated in ~he form of electromagnetic waves, The disturbir~ effect o~ the human body will be more in~ensive if the voltage maximum gets closer to the body, and from that reason the antenna shown in Fig. 3 is particularly disadvantageous. This drawback gets more serious if it is cvnsidered that such antennas get detuned by the vicinity of the body, and their efficiency is further decreased by the resulting rni~matshir~ losses.
Figs, 6a, 6b, ...~ 6f show variols embodiments ol` the antenna structures 5 ~
according to the present invention, The difference compared to the conventional antennas show in Figs, 1 to 4 lies in the application of an auxiliary antenna 4 which is coupled to housing 3 /Figs, 6a?
6b and 6ct or ~o a termin~l ~f generator 2 designating the tr~n~ceiver /Figs. 6d, 6e and 6f/. Similarly to the main antenna 1 the auxiliary antenna 4 is a resonant quarterwave beam which can have any suitable form~ The optional design of the auxiliary antenna 4 means that the antenra 4 can be made by either of the types shown in Figs, 1 to 4 or by any other short asymmetrical aerial which has similar radiation properties, Fig, 6 illuskrates different kinds of mutual arra~ge ments of the transceiver and of its main and auxiliary antennas although other structures might equally be useful. In Figs. 6a and 6d the main antenna la and the auxiliary antenna 4a are both made o~ respective quarter~ave rods, In Figs. 6b and 6e the main antenna lb is again a quarterwave rod, but the a~xiliary antenna 4b i5 a resonant helical radiator with normal mode of radiation with a length substantially shorter than the quarterwaveO In Figs, 6c and 6f both the main antenna lc and the auxiliary antenna 4c are made by respective resonant helixes with normal mode of radiation, The dashed lîne in Fig, 6 shows the current distribution along the length of the antenna, It can be observed that the maximum current is at the antenna base i,e, directly at the output terminal of the generator 20 It can also be observed in Fig. 6 that the auxiliary antenna 4 extends laterally out of the housing 3 at the lower end portion thereof which is opposite to the other end from which the main anter~a 1 extends out vertically, The lateral positioning of the auxiliary antenna 4 is preferable in view o~ the handling of the transceiver and this lateral arrangement exerts substantially no influence on the radiation properties9 or the effect thereof results in a more uniform distribution of the field strength, since the sensibility will chan6e moderately when the plane o~ polarization changes. The angular position o~ the auxiliary antenna 4 relative to the main antenna 1 can take any value between 90 and 180, The operation and the e~fects of the arrangement according to the invention will be described with reference to Figs~ 7 and 8~
Fig, 7 shows the arrar~ement of Figo 6a wherl the transceiver is held in hand in operational position~ The main ant;enna 1 is resonant and the current I has a nearly sine distribution alo~g the antenna length with a maximum at the antenna baseO The auxiliary antenna 4 is also resonant and represents a much lower impedance than the hand that supports the device9 the~e~ore the dominant part of the antenna current will not flow any more from the housing 3 to th0 human body but rather to the auxiliary anter~a 4, along which a sine distribution will be established.
Fig. 8 shows both the current and voltage distribution if the axes of both the main and auxiliary antennas 1 and 4 fall in a common linea It can be observed in Figo 8 that along the housing 3 of the transceiver /if it is made of a metal/ or along the electrically conducting wire leading to the auxiliary antenna 4 if the housing is made of a non-conducting material, a uniform maximum current will flow, therefore the hoysing 3 will also be utilized for the establish-ment of the radiateq electromagnetic field~ There is a voltage minimum along the housir~ 3, therefore the hand-holding of the set can not cause a significant distorsion of the generated field ~due to the fact that the conductivity of the hand is much smaller than that of the housing/ The coupling between the human body and the transceiver will therefore be reduced, which reduces the dar~er of the antenna being detuned when the set is held in hand. This means that the match-in~ of the antenna can be made more accurately which will not beinfluenced any more by the way how the hand supports the housing, therefore the mismatchi~g losses due to the presence of the supportin~
hand will be eliminated The auxiliary antenna will also be radiating and its electromagne-tic field will strengthen that of ~he main antenna 12 If the auxiliaryantenna 4 is arranged laterally, it will have a horizontal plane of polarization, and in those sit~s /e,g. in reception mcde/ in which a vertical antenna can hardly receîve signals due to polariza-tion turning propertie~ of the terrain, the reception is made possible by the horizontal auxiliary antenna 4 Owing to the presence of the auxiliary antenna 4, the base impedance of the main antenna 1 will be ~maller and the antenna current will be higher. The decrease of the base impedanee results in an increa~e in the effectivity of the antenna. 0~ course9 the high-frequency circuits of the transceiver i.e~ the power output stage Or the transmitter part and the input stage of the reGeiver part should be matched to this decreased base impedance, which can be realized by the application of known matching members According to experimental measurements carried out with transceivers with the proposed ante~na arrangement the increase in effectivity is about four times compared to the conventional arrange~
ments shown in Figs~ 1 to 4~ This means that with identical circumstance~ the tr-ansceiver equipped with an auxiliary arGtenna provides a field which is about 6 dB higher in transmission mode and has a 6 dB better sensitivîty in reception mode compared to transceivers having no auxiliary ~ntennaO The actual improvement durir~ usage is still hi~her,because the losses caused by the vary-ir~ detuning effects in various relative positions of the body and the transceiver will not prevail a~y more and the level of the random fluctuations of the field strer~th /or sensitivity/ due to different shielding effects of the body will also be reduced~
Such an impro~ement in the perfor~ance of the transceiver results in that with a given output power the device can be consider-ed to belong to a higher power-cathegory, or with a giYen performance the device can be operated with a smaller power in a smaller housing and it will have a longer operatiorlal time with a battery.
It is preferable if the auxiliary antenna 4 is releasably coupled to the housir~ 3. With removed auxiliary antenna 4 the established field strength i reduced and the receptional sensîtivi-ty will also worsen This decreased performance might be preferable when the radio traffic should be limited to short distance connections This can be explained by the well~known fact that in order to decrease the interferences in the available frequency bands the cor~ections should be e~tablished always on or about the minimum sufficient power level~ If a higher power is required, the demand can easily be met by the operational application of the auxiliary .mtenna.
According to the above de~;cribed properties, the applica-tion of the auxiliary anter~a can substantially reduce the size of the transceiver required to a given effective output power? or with ~iven sizes it can provide a substc~tially lor~er operational time from the battery, It can be understOod that the beneficial effects of the auxiliary antenna 4 occur in full extent only if the generator 2 is matched to the decreased base impedance of the antenna. Practical tests showed, however, that the application of the auxiliary antenna, when connected simply to conventional transceivers of the types shown in Figs. 1 to 4 without any special impedance matching, resulted in an improvement between about 3-4 dB.
Reference is made finally to Figs 9 and lO in which an 3.~ ~
~ 8 -antenna construction is illustrated which can be used both as main and auxiliary antenna. This design comprises a linear section with a length 11 and a helical portion with nor~al radiation mode connected to the upper end of the first section with a length 12' and the combined len~th of the two sections is substantially shorter then the quarterwave /about one tenth thereof/ It can be seen from the current dis~ritutio~ shown in Fig. 9 that along the comparatively long linear sec~ion a substantially uniform and high current flow~, and the electrical moment of such an antenna is high, and it is even higher than the moment of the antenna shown in Fig 4. An additional advan~age lies in that the voltage is low along the linear ~ection If the transceiver shown in Fig. 9 is moved durin6 transmission to a position close to the head of the operator /e.g. to speak directly into the microphone/, then the helical section of the antenna which is most critical for the establishment o~ the radiation will be raised above the head~ thus the detunin~ and covering effects of ~he human body will be reducedO
There are therefore a rumber of grounds which explain the high efficiency of this antenna.
Figo 9 shows that the auxiliary anter~a 4 is coupled through a pivot 5 to the housir~ 3, and it can be turned in and out around the pivot 5 as it is indicated by arrow A This pivotal design is preferable, since when the transceiver is switched off or if it is set to short distance co~nections, then the auxiliary antenna can 25 be turned in closely by the housin~ 3 and its presence cannot even be noticed. If the rim of the housing 3 comprises a suitable shoulder or it defines a recess, then in upwardly turned position the auxiliary an~enna does no~ extend out of ~he outline of the housing 3.
Fig 10 shows the structural design o~ the antenra of Figo 9 in detail and with removed outer protectional covering layer, The antenna 10 has a central body formed by a plastic tube 11~ in which a linear conductor 12 is arrangedO The lower end portion of the tube 11 is fixed in the upper bore of a connector body 130 The conrector body 11 has a threaded lower e~d 14 to enable the fix-ing of the body 11 in a threaded socket mounted in the housing 3.
The end 14 has a tubular design and the conductor 12 is passed therethrough and it is fixed to the bottom of the end 14 by a solder-ed connection.
The spiral 15, which forms the helical radiator, is mounted 3.~
g tightly on the mantle surface of the tube 11 and its lower end is connected to the eonductor 12.
The antenna 10 is coYered and protected by the application of a covering tube made o~ a thermoshrinking plastic material~ After a suitable heating of the tube ~not shown in Figo 10/9 it will shrink and the arrangement of Fig. 10 will form a si.ngle covered unit from which only the threaded end 14 can be seen separately as it extends out of the lower end of the tube.

. . .

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. An antenna arrangement for a personal radio transceiver with a high-frequency connector having a warm terminal coupled to a resonant main antenna shorter than the quarterwavelength, char-acterized in that the other cold terminal of said connector is connected to a resonant auxiliary antenna shorter than the quarter-wavelength and forming a counterweight to said main antenna.

2. The antenna arrangement as claimed in claim 1, character-ized in that the axis of the auxiliary antenna closes an angle with the main antenna between 90° and 180°.

3. The antenna arrangement as claimed in claims 1 or 2, char-acterized in that said main antenna is arranged at an end portion of the housing of the transceiver and said auxiliary antenna at the other end portion thereof.

4. The antenna arrangement as claimed in claims 1 or 2, char-acterized in that said housing is made of an electrically conduc-tive material and the auxiliary antenna is releasably connected thereto.

5. The antenna arrangement as claimed in claims 1 or 2, char-acterized in that said auxiliary antenna is coupled through a pivot to said housing.

6. A personal radio transceiver and antenna combination com-prising a housing made at least partially of a conductive material, a high-frequency transmitter and receiver in the housing, which has a pair of high frequency terminals, one of the terminals being connected to the conductive material of the housing and the other terminal being isolated from the housing, a resonant main antenna which is shorter than the quarterwavelength of signals to be transmitted and received by said high-frequency transmitter and receiver, the main antenna being connected to the terminal isolated from the housing and extending out from one end of the housing, characterized in that a resonant auxiliary antenna which is shorter than the quarterwavelength is connected to the housing in a loca-tion remote from said one end, and the auxiliary antenna is at an angle from 90° to 180° with respect to the main antenna.

7. The combination as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the auxiliary antenna is pivotally mounted to a side wall of the housing.

8. The combination of claim 6, wherein said main antenna extends upwardly from the top of said housing and said auxiliary antenna extends from a side wall of said housing near the bottom thereof.

9. The combination of claim 7, wherein the auxiliary antenna is substantially normal to the main antenna during operation.

10. The combination of claim 6, wherein at least one of said main and auxiliary antennas includes a coiled portion.

11. The combination of claim 10, wherein said at least one of said main and auxiliary antennas includes a linear section con-nected to said coil portion.

12. The combination of claim 6, wherein both of said main and auxiliary antennas are linear antennas, said auxiliary antenna being pivotally mounted to said housing and positioned for opera-tion with respect to said main antenna at an angle of from 90° to 180°.