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Antennas and antenna systems are the eyes and ears of wireless communication systems,
which have experienced an unprecedented rapid expansion. Part of this advancement has
been attributed to contributions of antenna technology. These wireless systems, no matter
how simple or complex, cannot operate efficiently unless they utilize transmitting and
receiving elements/antennas to efficiently radiate and receive the waves that carry the
information. This is analogous to humans whose daily schedule and contributions are
largely controlled by the efficiency of their eyes and ears.
The future of the communication systems is even more challenging, and their efficacy
will depend on what we, as antenna engineers and scientists, can invent and contribute.
In fact, some of the future services and performances of wireless communication may
be dependant on and limited by antenna designs which will require our imagination and
vision to push the outer limits of the laws of physics. For example, handheld mobile units,
which in 2008 numbered nearly 1 billion subscribers, are ubiquitous from the smallest
rural village to the largest urban city and provide numerous services, such as voice, video,
email, news, weather, stock quotes, GPS, TV, satellite, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, WiFi,
WiMax, Radio Frequency ID (RFID), and so on. In the very near future, the number
of services will expand and the number of units will increase at an almost exponential
rate as everyone, from the youngest to the oldest around the world, will possess one. To
integrate all these services into a single unit, and to provide them reliably and efficiently,
we must develop broadband antenna designs to accommodate these demands, while at the
same time provide esthetic visualization of the devices. Using single antenna elements
for each of these services will not “cut the mustard.” Therefore we are faced with unique
challenges, and we must respond.
To meet the demands of this rapidly evolving technology, the Modern Antenna Handbook
provides leadership towards these challenges, as seen by some of our visionary
contributors. The handbook covers a wide range of topics, from the fundamental parameters
of antennas to antennas for mobile wireless communications and medical applications.
The information is practical in nature and is intended to be useful to practicing
engineers and scientists, researchers, educators, consultants and students. There are a
plethora of antenna elements and all could not be covered with some depth in a book
with space constraints. Also, many antenna elements and designs are seen to be static
and have been covered in other publications. We opted to include some of the classic
antenna topics, to make the handbook self contained, and to focus more on contemporary
topics and modern technologies, including wireless communication, materials and
structures, techniques and computational methods relating to antennas. The 33 included
chapters are all new, contemporary, provide breadth and depth, and are detailed. The
chapters have been authored by 68 leading international experts who have contributed to
the unprecedented advancement of antenna technology, and include coverage of current
and future antenna-related vision. |
