Modulated scattering array antennas for mobile handsets

A concept of modulated scattering array antenna is proposed based on the modulated scattering technique. The array antenna consists of one antenna element and several modulated scattering elements (MSE). The configuration of the array antenna is very simple because only one branch of the front-end circuit is required. It is shown by experimental investigations that a 3-element modulated scattering array antenna composed of one λ/4 monopole and two λ/4 modulated scattering monopoles with λ/4 array spacing can provide diversity gain up to 8 dB diversity gain at 0.1% of the cumulative distribution function in Rayleigh fading environment. The array antenna is suitable to the mobile handset applications where the space and the cost are strictly limited because of its simple configuration.