Book helps cellular antenna stand out in its (EM) field

Sometimes an underappreciated factor in system design, antennas are now getting more attention as products become smaller, the option of throwing more metal into the air is not viable, and microstrip and micromachine technologies improve. Switched Parasitic Antennas for Cellular Communications by David Thiel and Stephanie Smith addresses the many issues associated with an increasingly common class of antenna designs. Parasitic antennas use unconnected, or parasitic, director and reflector elements to shape the electromagnetic field of the driven element. (You see this technique in common rooftop Yagi antennas.) By adding or removing lengths of these elements, you can change the direction of radiation and achieve dynamic beam steering. These switches can be conventional RF types or even microelectrical-mechanical systems.

The $99 book (ISBN 1-58053-154-7) blends theory, equations, clear drawings, and some examples and has a smooth, readable style that is often missing in technical books. It begins with wire-antenna theory; a chapter on increasingly popular patch antennas follows. It then looks at the many ways of building more complex antennas from these basic blocks and at optimizing antenna performance. The authors devote a chapter to antenna modeling and simulation, showing how analysis techniques and algorithms perform. As a refreshing real-world reminder, the final chapter looks at unavoidable limitations, such as various types of losses, and their performance impact.

Artech House Inc, www.artechhouse.com.