How MIMO tech is advancing high-speed LTE data services

Furthermore, antenna co-location becomes harder to accomplish as more antennas are packed into one device. While many antenna designers can physically fit four MIMO antenna structures into a smartphone, the structures would likely be located so close to one another that the multiple transmission paths would be highly correlated, diminishing MIMO performance.

Further complicating matters, today's smartphones also contain multiple other antennas to support Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and NFC, which not only take up physical device space, but can also exacerbate signal interference. Integrating four antenna structures into a smartphone-sized device is considered one of the biggest challenges for widespread higher-order MIMO adoption.

TRP: But SkyCross has successfully implemented higher-order MIMO for LTE. How does SkyCross' dual iMAT technology enable this breakthrough?

JM: SkyCross iMAT technology enables multiband 4G LTE MIMO to be designed onto a single (or multiple) antenna structure. Although the multiple antennas are closely co-located and operate on the same frequency at the same time, SkyCross' patented Isolated Mode Antenna Technology (iMAT™) eliminates the performance issues associated with mutual coupling and high pattern correlation coefficient from multiple nearby antennas.

iMAT applies pattern diversity that enables designers to locate multiple antennas in close proximity while still achieving the high isolation/low correlation needed for MIMO architectures. As such, iMAT antennas require less spatial separation than typical antennas, allowing more antennas to be integrated closer to one another and providing device makers more design flexibility.

This novel approach to antenna design may also include tuning, enabling the iMAT antenna to support multiple frequency bands while simultaneously achieving high radiated efficiency. iMAT technology enables antennas to deliver greater MIMO efficiency while minimizing the footprint needed compared to conventional designs.

TRP: What are the benefits of SkyCross' dual iMAT antennas?

JM: Higher-order MIMO for LTE networks will soon deliver numerous benefits for mobile operators, handset manufacturers and consumers.

Mobile operators will be able to introduce new services based on data rates of over 500 Mbps, and will also benefit from improved network capacity and fewer dropped calls. This will allow for improved revenues while concurrently minimizing capital and operating expenses of their network infrastructure. With improved indoor coverage, a greater number of users will be able to rely on their smartphones, which will also serve to increase revenues for the service provider.

Since device manufacturers will be able to fit advanced antennas into their existing smartphone form factors, device manufacturers will be able to create higher performing products without sacrificing the smartphone aesthetics and form factors preferred by consumers today.

Consumers will enjoy five times faster data rates, increased performance, and the ability to, for example, stream HD video while operating other applications that require very high data rates. Dual iMAT also enables dramatically improved performance in cellular edge points, helping consumers avoid "dead zones."

TRP: What does higher-order MIMO technology mean for the future of the mobile / telecommunications industry, and for consumers?

JM: Successfully integrating four antenna structures into a smartphone has long been seen as the barrier to industry-wide adoption and commercialization of higher-order MIMO. SkyCross' Dual iMAT 4x4 antennas have now solved this problem. This opens the door to component, mobile device and infrastructure equipment makers to accelerate support for higher-order MIMO.

The implications of such advancement suggest that 4x4 smartphone and tablet adoption of higher-order MIMO could be significant in the coming years, with near term introductory deployments as early as 2015. The benefits of higher-order MIMO could result in as many as 300M additional higher-order MIMO enabled mobile devices with complimentary infrastructure by 2018, according to preliminary analysis by Mobile Experts, a leading provider of mobile infrastructure and mobile device industry analysis.

TRP: What are SkyCross' plans for the future?

JC: Thanks to SkyCross' unique technology, Dual iMAT higher-order MIMO plus carrier aggregation very well may be the future of LTE. As Joe Madden, principal analyst for Mobile Experts states, "This new approach by SkyCross takes antenna modeling and design to a new level. It's not just bent metal anymore. With extremely advanced modeling, SkyCross appears to have a way to solve the multi-dimensional challenge of small size, multi-band MIMO antennas."