Chief Innovation Officer & CoFounder CHASM Advanced Materials, Massachusetts, United States
The roll out of 5G wireless offers performance benefits for consumers but creates technical challenges for carriers. The same millimeter wave technology enabling higher frequencies also encounters interference problems with obstacles such as buildings, trees, and even rain. More antennas closer to points of use are needed to ensure line of site connections to users, which has generated conversations of how to avoid “visual blight”. Chasm has demonstrated the feasibility of producing transparent antennas for 5G on thin PET substrate using its innovative AgeNT product structure. Performance has been better than anticipated and in fact, equal to or better than “standard” metallic antennas (over a range of 0.6-6 GHz). However, the “non-bulk” electronic properties of AgeNT have made the simulation of designs prior to prototype fabrication to be a challenging endeavor. This presentation will describe the successful development and demonstration of a design process to significantly enhance simulation results which map closely with measured antenna performance. The topics will include material property measurement techniques and results, incorporation of the results into simulations, and the measurements demonstrating the match to predicted performance. The validation of the design process can be utilized to accelerate implementation of transparent antennas to address the upcoming visual impact of the 5G roll-out noted above.
