Yu. V. Koltzov1
1 Nizhegorodskiy Research Instrument Engineering Institute (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)

Over the past two decades, advances in the telecommunications industry have been driven in large part by the rapidly increasing performance requirements of online applications. Not only actual services are becoming more and more resource intensive (video streaming or over-the-air car software updates), but our digital and multi-screen lifestyle is also fueling this throughput explosion.

Successive generations of mobile communication technologies have been developed and deployed to meet the need for more performance. At the same time, mobile networks are focused on the use of higher frequencies, which provides greater throughput. Case in point: 3G networks operate primarily on the 900 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands, while 4G networks are limited to frequencies up to 2.5 GHz.

Antenna arrays have mastered frequencies of 28 and 39 GHz, 60 and 77 GHz, 94 and 140 GHz and operate at frequencies of hundreds of gigahertz. Ultimately, this leads to an expansion of the operating frequency range towards higher and higher frequencies, a reduction in size and weight, an increase in functionality, and ease of manufacture for the production of large series.

In recent years, many new interesting antenna array technologies have appeared in antenna techniques, such as scalable, metamaterial, fractal, holographic and gap-waveguide using the latest technologies.

This solves many of the problems that traditional antenna technologies have not been able to overcome and have prevented the creation of new antenna shapes and applications that are not even possible with traditional antenna array technology. Unique new approaches will solve a wide range of challenges faced today in 5G applications, as well as satellite communications and radar.

The paper considers the principles of construction of various antenna arrays, their areas of application and technology features. Analysis of the features of the construction of antenna arrays, ranging from miniature to large aperture, has been given, which indicates a wide range of applications for antenna arrays: for ground, air, space and marine applications, as well as for industrial and medical applications. The presented results form the basis for a wide industrial production of the most modern antenna arrays.

Koltzov Yu.V. Antenna arrays in the 5G era. Part 1. Designs that have become classics. Antennas. 2022. № 5. P. 5–29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18127/j03209601-202205-01 (in Russian)

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