Smart Antennas - Overview and Tutorial

In this talk we will discuss current and future smart antenna technology for wireless systems and the improvement that smart and adaptive antenna arrays can provide. We will first describe the wireless system impairments and how smart antennas can be used to overcome these impairments. We will then describe standard cellular antennas, smart antennas using fixed beams, and adaptive antennas for base stations, as well as antenna technologies for terminals. We will show the potential improvement that these antennas can provide, including range extension, multipath diversity, interference suppression, and capacity increase. The issues involved in incorporating these antennas into wireless systems, including 2nd generation (CDMA, GSM, and IS-136) and 3rd generation (WCDMA and EDGE) cellular systems, in different environments, such as rural, suburban, and urban areas, as well as indoors, will be described in detail. Theoretical, computer simulation, experimental, and field trial results will be presented.