5G puts forward higher requirements for antennas, requiring larger capacity and more module coverage. 5G uses beamforming technology and must use a multi-antenna array system (Massive MIMO). MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology means that based on multiple antennas, the base station and the mobile phone can communicate through many channels, each pair of antennas independently transmits one channel of information, and the transmission is realized through aggregation The rate has doubled.
The MIMO system usually involves the number of base station transmitting antennas and the number of user equipment receiving antennas. With the popularization of MIMO technology, the number of smart phone antennas has increased, from 2×2 in the early 4G to 4×4 solutions adopted by flagship phones, to 8×8 or even more antennas for smart phones in the 5G era; traditional MIMO usually has 2 Antennas, 4 antennas, 8 antennas, the number of Massive MIMO antennas can exceed 100. The 64T64R antenna, one of the current 5G mainstream options, consists of 192 antenna elements. The antenna industry is about to usher in a stage of rapid growth.
The difficulty of antenna design has increased, and the requirements for electromagnetic design tools have further increased Although the antenna market continues to expand, on the other hand, the difficulty of antenna design is also increasing.
For example, the emergence of full-screen mobile phones has brought challenges to antenna design. The screen-to-body ratio of mobile phones is getting larger and larger, and the space left for antennas is getting smaller and smaller. From 16:9 screens to 18:9 or even larger screens, the space left for the antenna is about 3-5 mm or even narrower. The antenna's location is limited, and the antenna's headroom is reduced, which will make the antenna's omnidirectional communication performance worse; thereby increasing the difficulty of antenna design and further increasing the requirements for electromagnetic design software.