Abstract
Among the present technologies for WLAN devices, USB dongles still play a noticeable role. One major design challenge regards the antenna, which unavoidably has to comply with a very small volume available and sometimes should also allow multiband operation. In this scope, the present work discusses a dual-band WiFi compact planar IFA-based antenna design for a low-cost USB dongle application. Like most of the related published solutions, the methodology for deriving the present proposition was assisted by the use of an antenna analysis software. A prototype was assembled and tested in order to qualify the radiator design. Practical operation conditions were considered in the tests, such as the influence of the dongle case and the effect of the notebook itself. The results complied with the design constraints, presenting an impedance match quite stable regardless of the stick position alongside a laptop base.
Highlights
USB sticks or dongles represent a low-cost and simple way to provide network access to older desktops and notebooks or to computers with broken WiFi card
As a general basis for this kind of device, practical radiator designs only consider the availability of a small percentage of the dongle volume, since most of it must be reserved for the electronic circuitry
The constraints vary among the different solutions proposed, sometimes allowing the use of the available space more effectively. 3D meandered shaped radiators or multilayered printed circuit board (PCB) fit well in such cases; see, for instance, [1, 2]
Summary
USB sticks or dongles represent a low-cost and simple way to provide network access to older desktops and notebooks or to computers with broken WiFi card. In the scope of wireless LAN device technology development, they still draw some attention, especially regarding the radiator design. The typical aesthetic constraints force the device to be small. As a general basis for this kind of device, practical radiator designs only consider the availability of a small percentage of the dongle volume, since most of it must be reserved for the electronic circuitry. The constraints vary among the different solutions proposed, sometimes allowing the use of the available space more effectively. Low-cost designs call for the use of single-layered PCB, restraining the antenna to be at most “2.5D” shaped, with vias or other short connections between the front and the back planes [3]. Not even a back metal plane is present, leaving no choice for the antenna but to be planar
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