Q5.

State whether directional antenna is useful for mobile phones or not? Why? How can the gain of an antenna be improved in mobile phones? Current mobile phones are omni directional and radiate power to all directions for uplink transmission. Omni directionality not only introduces interference between peers, but also leads to power waste. Emerging smartphone applications, such as participatory sensing, media sharing, mobile health monitoring, and video chat, are increasingly employing the uplink. Therefore, the mentioned interference has become a key bottleneck in the capacity of infrastructure networks with a large number of mobile clients. Similarly, the power waste also makes wireless transmission one of the most powerhungry activities on mobile devices, contributing a critical barrier to the usability and wider adoption of mobile Internet. Furthermore, devices that are far away from access points or base stations, also suffer from low uplink data rates since most of their limited transmission power is radiated to undesirable directions. Directional transmission can alleviate these problems by focusing the radiation toward the intended receiver. Beamforming employs multiple RF chains to achieve directionality. However, its cost and power overhead has prevented it from being immediately used on smartphone-like mobile devices. We are motivated by the commercial availability of miniature passive directional antennas that can be employed on mobile devices. Microstrip antennas are good examples. The microstrip antennas used in our prototype have a patch area of 3.23.2 cm2 [4]. This allows the placement of these antennas on front and back sides of smartphones. Also theoretically, the width of the patch can be even smaller while maintaining 5dBi or 8dBi peak gain. This will enable thin directional microstrip antennas to be placed on other sides of smartphones. Moreover, recent advances in multiple reconfigurable antennas have produced small form factor antennas with a few directional beams in different directions [5, 6]. Also, sectorized antennas [7] are another option for having multiple beams on a mobile device. But, due to their larger size, they can be used for bigger mobile devices, such as iPad, Kindle, or netbooks. Unlike digital beamforming, the passive directional antennas discussed above produce a directional radiation pattern without extra circuitry or power. With a directional radiation pattern pointed at the right direction, a mobile client can use reduced transmit power to deliver a required receiver signal strength (RSS), or it can increase the RSS with the same transmit power. In both cases, the clients interference to its peers is reduced. The key challenge to the use of directional antennas on mobile devices is that a mobile device can change its orientation through mobility and rotation. Since one directional antenna can only provide adequate gain for a limited range of orientations, multiple antennas should be placed around the device so that they collectively provide a much larger range of orientations in which at least one of them provides adequate gain. Because directional antennas have never been studied for smartphone- like mobile devices before, the key questions regarding their feasibility naturally arises: Is it possible to track the right antenna when a mobile device can not only move but can also rotate?

Ans.

Steps to increase the gain of antenna in Mobile devices :

Try to keep your battery charged to 2 bars or higher. Your cell phone uses a lot more power when connecting a call than when it is on standby. Often, your battery can be strong enough to attempt a call, but not strong enough to find a signal. If you find you are having signal problems,

Try moving outside or to a window to place your call rather than making calls from deep inside buildings.Buildings and other large structures are very unfriendly to cell phone signal. If you are having reception problems on the street try walking to the nearest intersection as they typically have better coverage. Cellular band radio waves do not effectively penetrate earth: if you are underground you will likely receive no signal. Utilize a personal cell phone network extender. These devices are a new technology that creates a hybrid amplifier/repeater for personal use through smart technology to extend your cell phone's reception. They are plug and play, can be used with almost any carrier, require no installation and actually work. Install a cellular repeater. If you are having cell problems in one location, such as your home or office, then try installing a cellular repeater. Cell phone repeaters pick up low cell signal with an antenna, boost the signal and broadcast it over the coverage area. They typically need at least 2 bars of signal where the antenna is placed (usually outside or on the roof) but can substantially improve cell reception, as well as battery life and data download speeds. Some repeaters might need technical knowledge such as the frequency of your carrier, and only work for one service provider. Upgrade your antenna. A few cell phone manufacturers make a "Hi-gain" antenna for their handsets, which may be changed in-store or by the user at home. Although these wont improve signal as much (or at all) as a repeater these antennas are relatively inexpensive and you are not confined to one location. Change networks. Most networks operate independently of one another, using their own frequencies and constructing their own cell phone towers. Chances are if the signal is bad with one network you can improve by switching. Most cellular networks these days allow you to transfer your phone number when you change provider. Hold your phone correctly. Mobile phone antennas are designed to project a signal outward, perpendicular to the long axis of the antenna. As such, mobile phones seek signals in a donutesque shape around the antenna. Normally, when a mobile is held upright, this is not a problem. However, if you are holding your phone in a strange way, such as on its side or upside down, you will hinder the operation of the antenna. Hold your phone upright to guarantee that your phone can "see" your carrier signal. Host a cell site. This may take time, but where cell phone reception is inadequate property owners can host small cell sites on their properties for major wireless carriers. 3rd parties with Wireless Revenue Programs allow you to register your property to be eligible. Then when there is carrier interest in the area you'll be on the short list of places they choose from and will have optimal coverage. They may even pay your phone bill. Use Wi-Fi as your cell phone signal. Make calls and connect to internet from your phone as normally you would. If your mobile phone supports UMA, you can use the wi-fi as your cellphone signal where you don't get GSM signal coverage or areas with poor coverage. Not all

devices and carriers support UMA calls. There are some blackberry and androids and few other phones that support.