Smart antennas key to 4G mobile broadband adoption

Smart and adaptive antenna technologies are entering a stage of full market acceptance, according to a report from West Technology Research Solutions (WTRS), a Silicon Valley-based research, publishing and consultancy company focused on emerging wireless technologies.

The use of smart antenna technology enables service providers to extend range, increase quality of service and make more use of channel and bandwidth capacity for nearly every wireless communications technology. The technology will be one of the key underlying developments to enable software defined radio (SDR) deployment.

MIMO antenna adoption in the Wi-Fi marketplace reduces radio system complexity, cost and the restrictions on channel bandwidth.

“WiFi proliferation has lowered the cost of MIMO ‘smart antenna’ technology, enabling OEMs to choose to implement MIMO in new wireless protocols,” said principal analyst Kirsten West.

“MIMO is becoming a critical component in the delivery of new products ranging from wireless HDMI for video content delivery, to 802.16e WiMAX, to GSM and CDMA technologies designed for 4G mobile broadband.”

OEM participation will likely bifurcate into a handful of technology licensing companies that are medium-sized ventures coexisting with the typical pyramid of top three hardware OEMs who supply smart antenna chipsets.