Book explores the increasingly vital world of small antenna theory, design

8/8/2010 11:08 PM EDT

Back in the days before almost everything shrank and went handheld, antennas were a very different beast compared to today's situation, in two ways. First, the system's antenna design and physical connection was "modular"—that is, independent of unit to which it was connected. That "box" had an antenna connector to which you could connect almost anything. Second, there was the size: these external antennas ranged from a basic whip to a long wire or even a large array.

Sorry, folks, those days are gone for many applications, and now the antenna is both physically small and an integral part of the design and packaging. As such there are new challenges for incorporating the antenna (sometimes multiband) into an already tightly packed design which also must be compatible with human factors (no need to repeat the brouhaha about the Apple iPhone antenna). In fact, the antenna may no longer be a separate component, it may be fabricated as part of the unit's printed circuit board (PCB). [Full disclosure: I have cognitive dissonance when it comes to antennas; see "Antennas give me a headache".]

But there hasn’t been a lot of detailed information about the design and implementation of these small antennas. Into this void comes Small Antennas: Miniaturization Techniques & Applications by John L. Volakis, Chi-Cheh Chen, and Kyohei Fujimoto, (448 pages, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 978-0-07-162553-1). This book looks at EM theory and physical realization as it relates to various small antenna configurations, narrowband and wideband designs, materials and dielectrics, and spiral antennas. There is also a detailed chapter on the latest developments in antennas, using negative refractive index metamaterials as well as magnetic photonic and degenerate-band edge crystals.  The book devotes a chapter to the less glamorous but vital topic of impedance matching using passive and active circuits, and also one to unique niche of RFID antennas.

If you're looking for a no-brainer "cookbook" which will give you a set of possible antenna designs, along with a set of simple tools to size it based n your top design parameters (bandwidth, gain, directivity, efficiency, and so on), this book is not what you are looking for. Then again, the near-infinite variations in antenna configurations, coupled with the designs in which they must be integrated, don't lend themselves to this sort of approach. For an effective antenna plus product design, you'll need to better understand the total situation, and this book will help you do that. ♦