Two new reports the National Association of Broadcasters' technical advocacy group, NAB FASTROAD or Flexible Advanced Services for Television & Radio On All Devices, highlight that a number of improvements have been made in embedded antennas for broadcast reception of radio and mobile DTV signals in handheld devices.
The reports cover two separate FASTROAD-funded projects-one conducted by Ethertronics based in San Diego California and the other by The Technology Partnership in the U.K.--to develop better antennas.
Each company developed new antenna solutions to operate over low- and high-VHF and UHF TV band frequencies as well as the VHF frequencies which comprise the FM radio band.
The requirement that the antennas work for a broad frequency range, combined with the small size and power constraints of cell phones, presented some significant design challenges. Even so, both companies managed to come up new embedded antenna designs that represent a much more attractive antenna solution to handheld device manufacturers than the headset cords or fragile, telescoping "monopoles" currently in use, the studies found.
Details on the results and design approaches can be found at www.nabfastroad.org
