Characterization of an Antenna Cluster and Transmitter IC with a Modulated Signal

The paper presents an integrated transmitter front-end and antenna cluster characterization with a modulated signal. A recently published T-MTT paper described an antenna tuning method and the related transmitter IC, and this paper now extends that one by providing a proof that the concept is valid also for actual modulated signal transmission. The concept is based on the idea that solely by manipulating the amplitude and phase characteristics of the antenna feeds the overall antenna efficiency is maximized at a desired frequency. The concept provides a method for wideband antenna tuning without anyon-chip or off-chip matching networks. In this paper, the transmitter IC operation is demonstrated with a 20-MHz phase modulated signal transmission along with antenna cluster tuning. In order to validate this concept, anechoic chamber measurements are performed with the IC and the antenna cluster. Results confirm that the antenna cluster tuning and the modulated signal transmission are simultaneously achieved over 1.5 to 4.0 GHz.