A 60-GHz Band Compact-Range Gigabit Wireless Access System Using Large Array Antennas

A novel compact-range wireless access system is proposed for multi-Gb/s data transfer in the 60-GHz band. Large-array antennas in the access point generate a quasi-plane wave and form a stable communication zone proportional to the antenna size. The link budget based upon the Friis transmission equation is not applicable as ever in this compact-range communication system. The signal coverage up to 10 m still falls within the Fresnel region of the large-array antenna. Mobile users everywhere within the coverage receive almost constant field strength free of multipath interference. To demonstrate the viability, circularly polarized waveguide slot arrays of various sizes are designed and fabricated. After the evaluation of conventional antenna radio frequency (RF) performance, bit-error rate (BER) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements are conducted to evaluate the prototype of a compact-range Gigabit wireless access system.