2526 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 57, NO.
9, SEPTEMBER 2009
Multiband Handset Antenna Combining a PIFA,
Slots, and Ground Plane Modes
Arnau Cabedo, Jaume Anguera, Senior Member, IEEE, Cristina Picher, Miquel Rib, Member, IEEE, and
Carles Puente, Member, IEEE
AbstractA multiband handset antenna combining a PIFA and
multiple slots on a ground plane is presented. It is shown by means
of simulations that the slots on the ground plane have a double
function: to tune the ground plane resonance at low frequencies
(f 900 MHz) and to act as parasitic radiators at high frequen-
cies (f 1800 MHz). A prototype is designed and built featuring
a behavior suitable for low frequencies (GSM850 and GSM900)
and for high frequencies spanning from DCS1800 to Bluetooth, and
including, for instance, PCS1900, UMTS2000, and other possible
systems. Reflection coefficient, efficiency, and radiation patterns
are measured and compared with a design without slots to prove
the advantages of the slotted ground plane. The component effect is
investigated to determine critical areas where the placement is not
recommended. Besides, the effect of the slot of the ground plane
on SAR is investigated, by discussing the effect of the ground plane
and slot modes for two phone positions. The total antenna volume
of the proposed design is 40 15 6 mm3 .
Index TermsComponent interaction, multiband handset an-
tennas, PCB resonance, PIFA, SAR.
I. INTRODUCTION
HE future generations of mobile phones will need to op-
T erate over as much frequency bands as possible, such as
GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900, UMTS, WIMAX and
Bluetooth, among others. In general, the PIFA determine the
number of frequencies bands, while, in the absence of slots,
the ground plane (also referred as PCB: Printed Circuit Board)
dimensions determine bandwidth, particularly at the lower fre-
quencies [1], [2]. Most of the work has been done on antenna
design [3], but the ground plane (both its dimensions and its
modification [4][12]) offers another design variable.
The antenna design is mainly determined by the PCB dimen-
sions, which are fixed by the size of the handset or wireless
device. An important limitation is the antenna height, which
should be small for the new generation of ultra-slim phones
that are now appearing into the market. Moreover, the new
mobile phones incorporate all kinds of extra services, such as
photo-video cameras, big displays to watch television and sev-
eral speakers for high-fidelity audio which reduce the available
Manuscript received November 30, 2007; revised November 11, 2008. First
published July 07, 2009; current version published September 02, 2009.
A. Cabedo and M. Rib are with the Electronics and Telecommunica-
tions Department, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona 8022, Spain (e-mail:
acabedo@salle.url.edu).
J. Anguera is with the Electronics and Telecommunications Department,
Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona 8022, Spain and also with the Technology
and Intellectual Property Rights Department, Fractus, 08174 Barcelona, Spain
(e-mail: jaume.anguera@fractus.com).
C. Picher and C. Puente are with the Technology and Intellectual Property
Rights Department, Fractus, 08174 Barcelona, Spain.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2009.2027039
0018-926X/$26.00 2009 IEEE
space to fit the antenna. Therefore new techniques are needed
in order to achieve a maximum bandwidth with an antenna that
occupies the smallest space possible.
To enhance the bandwidth of a handset antenna, [5] and [6]
propose the insertion of a slot on the ground plane of a mono-
band PIFA. Such a slot tunes the PCB to resonate at a frequency
similar to that of the PIFA, in order to finally obtain a broad-
band behavior, covering the GSM850900 band. In addition,
[5] proposes an electrical model that gives a very good physical
insight into the behavior of this phenomenon. In [8], the same
technique is used to design a modified ground plane to achieve
a dual-band PIFA with a low profile. A possible drawback of
the design is the fact that the PCB is full of slots, which may
interfere with the placement of electronic components such as
the battery, the display, RF chips, etc. Another example of an
antenna design that uses a slotted ground plane is found in [10],
where it is used to improve a conventional design for a dual-band
operation antenna (GSM900-DCS1800) to a quad-band design
(GSM850-GSM900-DCS1800-DCS1900). In this case, the slot
on the ground plane has a double function. On one hand it tunes
the PCB to resonate at low frequencies1 (around 900 MHz), im-
proving the bandwidth; on the other hand, since the slot is com-
parable to at high frequencies, with enough coupling to the
PIFA, the bandwidth at high frequencies is improved. The slot
is placed underneath the PIFA to create enough coupling with
it at high frequencies and to facilitate component integration
[13][15].
Slots on the ground plane have been used as antennas with
sufficient bandwidth to cover a specific frequency band [16].
Characteristic modes [21][23] have been used to gain un-
derstanding of how the ground plane can be used to enhance the
behavior of a handset antenna. In [11], [24] they are used to an-
alyze a handset antenna in order to finally tune a PCB at low
frequencies (900 MHz) using a slot.
In [9], a handset antenna with a ground plane is modified to
incorporate a parasitic patch. This patch increases the bandwidth
at high frequencies.
The work presented in this paper continues the research done
in [10] in the sense that a slotted PCB is used to accomplish
two main functions: to modify the fundamental resonant mode
in order to obtain a bandwidth enhancement at low frequen-
cies (GSM850900) and, at the same time, to act as a para-
sitic element of the antenna. Thus, a bandwidth enhancement is
achieved at high frequencies (DCS18001900). In this paper, a
new slot is added to the ground plane to enhance even more the
1Hereafter, low frequencies refer to GSM850 (824890 MHz) and GSM900
(880960 MHz) and high frequencies include DCS1800 (17101880 MHz),
PCS (18501990 MHz), UMTS (19202170 MHz) up to Bluetooth (2.42.48
GHz)
CABEDO et al.: MULTIBAND HANDSET ANTENNA COMBINING A PIFA, SLOTS, AND GROUND PLANE MODES
Fig. 1. Antenna design: (a) Front PCB view, (b) front antenna view, and (c) 3D
2
antenna view. PCB is 100 mm 40 mm. PIFA height is 6 mm. All dimensions
are in mm.
bandwidth at high frequencies, reaching the UMTS and Blue-
tooth bands.
This paper is organized as follows: Section II shows the new
antenna structure, and Section III presents an equivalent cir-
cuit model for its input impedance. Section IV exposes a de-
tailed study of the physical behavior of the proposed antenna.
Section V discusses the measured experimental results for its
input impedance bandwidth, efficiency, and radiation patterns.
Component interaction is analyzed in Section VI. Its influence
on SAR is investigated in Section VII. Finally, the conclusions
are detailed in Section VIII.
II. ANTENNA STRUCTURE
Beginning from a reference antenna design proposed in [10]
operating at the GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800 and PCS1900
bands, a deeper study has been performed to achieve an antenna
capable to operate at the UMTS and Bluetooth bands too.
The geometry of the proposed PIFA with a slotted ground
plane is shown in Fig. 1. The radiating element consists of two
branches: the narrower and inner one, which is tuned to operate
around 900 MHz, and the wider and outer one, which is tuned
to operate at frequencies around 1900 MHz. The PCB layer has
a FR-4 composite (fiberglass substrate, ), and its size is
100 mm 40 mm to emulate the PCB of a typical mobile phone.
The antenna support is made of ABS (acrylonitrite butadrene
styrene, ).
The PCB is tuned utilizing slots [10], [12], [25]. In compar-
ison with the reference antenna design of [10], the antenna pre-
sented here has two new slots in its PCB, namely slots #2 and
#3. The original slot (slot #1) has two main objectives: to tune
the PCB in order to force it to resonate at GSM850900 fre-
quencies, improving the bandwidth of the whole structure at
those frequencies, and to provide an additional resonator
at the DCS1800-1900 band, enhancing the antenna bandwidth
at high frequencies. The main improvement of the proposed de-
sign over the design presented in [10] is the addition of slot #2.
2527
This slot is tuned at high frequencies in order to resonate around
the UMTS frequencies. In order to make the design suitable for
a real handset design, this second slot is situated under the PIFA,
in an area away from that where the battery and other internal
components of the handset are placed, i.e., displays, RF-mod-
ules, speakers, etc. Slot #3, placed between the feed and the
short-circuit to the ground plane, is used for input impedance
fine-tuning purposes.
III. ELECTRICAL MODEL
An electrical model, based on resonant RLC circuits is pro-
posed to give a physical insight into the behavior of the antenna
presented in this paper. The proposed electrical model is useful
to perform a parametric analysis. For example, using the model
it is possible to see what influence the PCB has into the band-
width of the antenna at low frequencies or, how it affects the
bandwidth at high frequencies if the coupling between the PIFA
and the slot is increased (or decreased).
The electrical model helps to explain how the proposed an-
tenna structure works. It takes into account the fact that:
1) Due to its dimensions and modifications, the PCB res-
onates at a frequency which is very close to the lower res-
onant frequency of the PIFA, enhancing the bandwidth at
the lower band.
2) Additional slots can contribute with their resonance to en-
hance the bandwidth of the structure at the higher band.
The proposed electrical model is depicted in Fig. 2. It is based
on the circuit model for patch antennas presented in [26], which
was extended for a dual-band microstrip antenna in [27] (elec-
trical circuit labeled as Multiband in Fig. 2). In [5], a similar
model for single-band operation is presented. The use of an elec-
trical model is useful to understand the behavior of this kind of
antennas based on parasitic elements [26][30].
In the proposed model, the dual series-parallel RLC circuits
take into account the single PIFA without the slots on the ground
plane. To model the tuned PCB a new resonator has to be added
to the first RLC circuit using a capacitive coupling. Similarly, a
new resonator modeling the slot (the parallel resonator , ,
) is coupled to the second resonance of the PIFA, modeled by
, , .
The PIFA without considering the PCB effect, that is, a PIFA
on an infinite ground plane (labeled as Reference in Fig. 2)
is modeled as follows: RLC values of the first ( , , )
and second ( , , ) resonator are calculated to match
the resonant frequency as well as the antenna quality factor ( ).
For the model taking into account the PCB (the Multiband
model in Fig. 2), the PIFA RLC values of the first ( , ,
) and the second ( , , ) resonator maintain the
same resonant frequency and but in this case and
are larger than and since the parasitic resonators force
the input impedance to decrease [26]. At low frequencies the
effect of the PCB is taken into account using a resonator with a
lower than the one of the PIFA but having the same resonant
frequency. At high frequencies the effect of the slot is taken
into account: this new resonator has almost the same resonant
frequency as that of the PIFA ( , , ) and the same
since both antennas are practically linear resonators, and
2528 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 57, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2009

Fig. 3. (a) Computed current distribution on the PCB at 925 MHz and normal-
ized E field distribution on the top of the PCB at (b) 925 MHz, (c) 1825 MHz,
(d) 1990 MHz, and (e) 2170 MHz.

Similar conclusions can be obtained with the model pro-

posed in [5].
The size of the loop in the Smith Chart depends on the value
of the coupling capacitors ( and ). These values
Fig. 2. Circuit models, and associated reflection coefficient, for the handset an-
tenna proposed in this paper (solid line, Multiband) and for the PIFA without model the coupling between the PIFA and the ground plane
considering the effect of the PCB and slots (dashed line, Reference). For the and slot, which can be controlled by the distance between
Smith chart data: the PIFA without taking into account the PCB and slot, has a the PIFA and the ground plane edge, and by the distance
parallel RLC response. When the PCB and the slot are taken into account, two
impedance loops appears increasing the bandwidth (the loop at 900 MHz and between the PIFA and the slot. If the coupling increases, the
1900 MHz approximately are due to the PCB and slot resonators, respectively. input impedance loop increases and vice versa. Depending
on the SWR specification, the loop size can be adjusted by
adjusting the coupling.
therefore they may be approximated as behaving similarly in
terms of . IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
The proposed values for the resonator components are: Based on the conclusions extracted from the electrical model,
, , ( ; a PIFA handset antenna on a slotted ground plane has been de-
), , , signed. The introduction of a slot on the PCB structure causes
( ; ) for the PIFA when no coupling to the an alteration of the surface current distribution. Slot #1 is de-
PCB and the slot is considered. Taking into account the PCB and signed and placed to force a longer electrical path at low fre-
the coupling slot, the values are: , , quencies; thus, the resonant frequency of the fundamental mode
( ; ), , of the PCB can be decreased. This positively affects the final fre-
, , ( ; quency behavior because it results in a bandwidth enhancement
), , , [12][15] due to the resonance of the PCB itself at the GSM900
( ; ), , , band. The slot length is tuned to make the PCB resonate at a fre-
, ( ; ). quency similar to that of the PIFA. This fact can be observed in
These values are illustrative since the objective of the electrical the input impedance behavior on the Smith chart: a loop appears
model is to analyze the trends when a PCB and the slots have which improves the bandwidth in comparison with the original
similar frequencies than the PIFA antenna. PIFA without slot #1. The coupling loops are similar to those
From the proposed electrical model several conclusions can obtained in [26][30].
be obtained. Besides, the geometries of slot #1 and #2 are designed to be
If the resonant frequency of the resonant circuit which resonators at high frequencies, coupling their radiation to the
models the PIFA and that of the coupled resonator which PIFA: one slot radiates around 1.9 GHz and the other around 2.3
models the PCB are the same, an input impedance loop GHz. Thus, the antenna takes advantage of the slots as radiators
appears in the Smith chart (Fig. 2). The same effect is ob- that couple with the PIFA in order to enhance the bandwidth.
served for the slot resonator. If the resonant frequencies are IE3D software, based on the Method of Moments (MoM),
different, the loop moves to the inductive ( ) has been used to simulate those physical behaviors difficult to
or capacitive zone ( ) of the Smith chart [26]. observe in practice, for instance, the current distribution, which
CABEDO et al.: MULTIBAND HANDSET ANTENNA COMBINING A PIFA, SLOTS, AND GROUND PLANE MODES 2529

Fig. 4. Simulated reflection coefficient of the proposed multiband antenna in

comparison with those presented in [10] (Quad-band and Dual-band PIFA).

gives a physical insight into the radiation process. To emulate a

real environment, the PCB is simulated over a thin layer of FR-4
which is the substrate commonly used in most of the commer-
cial mobile phones. Two plastic layers are also considered to
simulate the antenna carrier and the back cover of the handset.
The current distribution on the slotted PCB, computed at 925 Fig. 5. Manufactured antenna prototypes: (a) Dual-band PIFA and rear view of
MHz, is shown in Fig. 3(a). For the low frequencies it can be the (b) Quad-band PIFA and (c) the Multiband PIFA. In a) the carrier to attach
the metal and the plastic cover are also shown.
seen that slot #1 forces the current to bend emulating a larger
electrical path. However, a different behavior can be observed
at high frequencies: the slot continues to force a longer path,
but its main effect is as a radiator, as shown in Fig. 3(b)-(e),
where the E-field on the slot aperture is depicted. It can be seen
how at high frequencies (DCS1800 to UMTS bands) the main
slot #1 radiates much more efficiently than at low frequencies
(GSM850-900 bands), at which it is in cut off.
Fig. 4 shows the simulated reflection coefficient of the de-
signed antenna after performing a tuning optimization, in com-
parison with the response of the antennas studied in [10], that
is, the PIFA without slots and a PIFA having only one slot (slot
#1). As can be seen, the proposed antenna is theoretically ca-
pable to operate at least at the GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800,
PCS1900, UMTS2000, and Bluetooth bands. Section V shows
the measured results for the proposed design. Fig. 6. Measured reflection coefficient for the three studied prototypes. It
can be seen how the proposed multiband design can operate at least over the
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS GSM850, GSM900, DCS, PCS, UMTS and Bluetooth bands.

Prototypes of three PIFA antennas, namely, a dual-band PIFA

without slots, a quad-band PIFA with one slot, and the pro-
posed PIFA with multiple slots on the ground plane have been
constructed and studied (Fig. 5). The simulation software IE3D
was used for optimizing the design parameters. In the following
results, the antenna geometry described in Section II is used.
Minor changes have been made for fine tuning purposes.
Fig. 6 shows the measured reflection coefficient for the three
built prototypes shown in Fig. 5. It can be clearly seen that
the multiband design achieves enough bandwidth over different
bands thanks to the resonance of slot #2 at the frequency range
2.12.5 GHz. That is, the original PIFA without slots is matched
at the GSM900 and PCS1900 bands, the second design using
one slot (slot #1) improves the matching to the GSM850900,
DCS1800 and PCS1900 bands [12], and the final design pro-
posed here enhances the former quad-band behavior including
the bands from UMTS to Bluetooth, approximately.
Table I summarizes the measured total efficiency ( ) in com-
parison with the simulated one. Total efficiency has been mea-
sured using pattern integration employing the Satimo-Stargate
32 anechoic chamber at Fractus-Lab. The frequencies are repre-
sentative of the bands covered by the multiband PIFA. The mea-
sured total efficiency takes into account the reflection losses, that
is to say, , where is the radiation effi-
ciency. As can be seen, the results are good enough to make the
antenna interesting for the upcoming generation of multiband
mobile phones.
Table II compares of the proposed design with that of
the design without slots, that is, for an antenna that operates at
890960 MHz and 18401970 MHz (its reflection coefficient is
shown in Fig. 6). It is clearly observed that the new design can
expand the number of bands while preserving the same antenna
volume.
2530 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 57, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2009

TABLE I
SIMULATED-MEASURED TOTAL EFFICIENCY RESULTS

TABLE II
DUAL-BAND (NO-SLOTS) AND MULTI-BAND MEASURED TOTAL EFFICIENCY
RESULTS

In Fig. 7, it can be seen how, at 920 MHz, the antenna presents

an omni-directional radiation pattern and a gain of 0 dBi at the
plane. A null at the vertical axis appears at the
plane which can be explained by the fact that the behavior of
the antenna is similar to that of a dipole. In other words, at
this frequency, the radiation comes from the PCB rather than the
PIFA-slot radiators [5]. At high frequencies the radiation pattern
presents more differences between maxima and minima.

VI. COMPONENT INTERACTION Fig. 7. Measured radiation patterns of the proposed antenna design.

A handset antenna shares space with other components such

as speakers, displays, battery, vibrator, camera, etc. Therefore,
component interaction is an issue to take into account [31][33].
This section deals with the effect of a critical component, the
speaker.
This element is sometimes placed on the same side of the PCB
where the antenna is located; in other situations, it is placed on
the other side. For PIFA designs, the first case is critical if the
speaker is close to the antenna as it may cause poor bandwidth
and low radiation efficiency. When it is placed on the other side,
the ground plane acts as a shielding, reducing the interaction Fig. 8. Speaker placed at the other side of the PIFA volume.
between the speaker and the PIFA.
For the present study, 3 cases have been considered, as shown
in Fig. 8. For each case, the total efficiency has been measured, a) At low frequencies ( ), there is almost no
and the results have been compared with the no-component change. This confirms the previous analysis: slot #1 is
case. The speaker has a metallic part that faces the PCB. How- weakly excited at the GSM band; the slot is only forcing
ever, for the present experiment there has been no connection the current to flow along a longer path.
between the speaker and the PCB; what matters is the presence b) At high frequencies ( ) the speaker can de-
of the speaker over slot #1. grade the total efficiency as well as radiation efficiency.
Tables III and IV summarize the data obtained at selected Since slot #1 works as an antenna at these frequencies,
frequencies ( is the difference between efficiencies for the significant changes (about 3 dB for the total efficiency)
no-speaker and speaker cases), revealing interesting results. are observed when the conductor of the speaker is over
CABEDO et al.: MULTIBAND HANDSET ANTENNA COMBINING A PIFA, SLOTS, AND GROUND PLANE MODES 2531

TABLE III
MEASURED TOTAL EFFICIENCY FOR NO-SPEAKER, AND SPEAKER AT LEFT,
CENTER, AND RIGHT POSITIONS

TABLE IV
MEASURED RADIATION EFFICIENCY FOR NO-SPEAKER, AND SPEAKER AT LEFT,
CENTER, AND RIGHT POSITIONS

the open edge of the slot, where the electric field is max-
imal. Half of the losses come from detuning and the other
half from reduction of the radiation efficiency, approxi-
mately.
c) At high frequencies, when the speaker is on the right, there
are no changes, as expected. Therefore, it can share the
antenna area when placed in this position.
As seen, to cover the slot area is critical. The advantage
of the present solution compared with other ones that use
wide slots as antennas [19] is that it facilitates component
integration without degradation of the antenna behavior.
Obviously, there is a tradeoff between antenna volume and
component integration capabilities.

VII. SAR MEASUREMENTS

The specific absorption rate (SAR) in passive mode has been
tested using Dasy-4 at Fractus-Lab. At the GSM850-900 band
the maximum transmitted power is 33 dBm; however, a user
channel uses only 1/8 of a time slot. This results in a power of
24 dBm, which is the power of the continuous wave used to test
SAR. A similar computation is performed at high frequencies;
in this case, the maximum transmitted power is 30 dBm. Thus,
SAR is tested using 21 dBm. The SAR passive test is only a pre-
liminary measurement since SAR is finally tested with an active
device which may result in a different SAR value due to extra
device elements and/or other issues. However, it is interesting
to test SAR in a passive way to analyze if the antenna may pose
a SAR problem.
The ground plane has a foam spacer of 3 mm thickness whose
surface is attached to the right phantom cheek; this represents
the typical separation between the PCB and the cheek. SAR is
tested using two orientations: the first one, in which the antenna
Fig. 9. Measured SAR with Dasy-4 when the handset antenna is attached above
the phantom ear (left column) and for a 180 rotation (right column). The inner
rectangular box is the PCB footprint. The external rectangle is the tested SAR
area. The bottom right part does not appear since it can not be measured because
the angle of inclination for the SAR probe is out of the limits.
area is attached to the phantom ear (top position), and the other
one, in which the handset is rotated 180 (bottom position, see
Fig. 9). SAR distribution as well as maximum SAR values both
for 1 g. and 10 g. tissue volumes are shown in Fig. 9.
It is interesting to remark that at low frequencies (830900
MHz) and for the top case, two hot-spots are observed: one is
due to the slot and the other to the ground plane mode. For the
bottom case the hot-spot due to the slot disappears since, for this
situation, it is away from the check surface. Although for the top
case the slot creates a hot-spot, the hot-spot of the ground plane
2532 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 57, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2009
has a larger intensity. We can also observe that the difference
between SAR for the top and bottom positions is of only 0.5 dB
approximately, confirming the fact that the ground plane mode
is the responsible for SAR. At high frequencies, the slots create
the hot-spots. Therefore, a larger difference in SAR is observed
for top and bottom position (about 3 dB). Based on this passive
data, SAR is a critical parameter to take into account (the most
stringent standard recommends at 1 g) at
high frequencies if the slots are at the top position but it can be
dramatically reduced if the antenna is placed at the bottom part.
Anyway, active SAR is usually lower since it takes into account
all the components of a handset, which partially absorb some of
the radiated power.
As a conclusion, at low frequencies, where the ground plane
mode dominates, SAR is mainly due to it rather than to the an-
tenna topology [5]. On the contrary, at high frequencies the slots
determine the hot-spot. An effective way of reducing SAR at
high frequencies is to place the antenna at the bottom part, a
technique used in some mobile phones.
VIII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a built-in multiband handset antenna covering
the GSM850 and GSM900 bands, and the continuous bandwidth
spanning from the DCS1800 to the Bluetooth bands, has been
presented.
In this new antenna, a slotted ground plane is used to im-
prove the bandwidth at both low and high frequencies without
increasing the volume of the antenna. At low frequencies, the
slot is below resonance, but forces the ground plane mode to be
excited so as to increase the bandwidth at low frequencies; on
the other hand, the slots are comparable to at high frequen-
cies, and therefore they enhance the bandwidth.
This new design has been compared with the same design
without the slots. Results show that the bandwidth and, as a con-
sequence, the total efficiency is improved, obtaining a radiator
useful for multiband handset applications.
The placement of a component (speaker) over the slot
(without any metallic contact between the speaker and the
ground plane) does not affect the antenna performance at low
frequencies. However, it is very critical at high frequencies
when the component is close to the open edge of the slot.
SAR at low frequencies is dominated by the ground plane
mode: the slot is mainly acting as a current path enlarger to ex-
cite the ground plane mode in an effective way as the electrical
length is larger than without slots. At high frequencies, however,
the slots have a big influence on the hot-spot location. An effec-
tive way of reducing SAR is to locate the antenna at the bottom
edge of the PCB.
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[12] J. Anguera, I. Sanz, A. Sanz, T. Condes, C. Puente, and J. Soler, Multi-
band PIFA handset antenna by means of groundplane design, pre-
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NM, Jul. 2006.
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for miniature and multiband antennas, Pat. App. WO 03023900.
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[15] C. Puente, C. Borga, and E. Rogan, Space filling miniature antennas,
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CABEDO et al.: MULTIBAND HANDSET ANTENNA COMBINING A PIFA, SLOTS, AND GROUND PLANE MODES
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2007.
Arnau Cabedo was born in Barcelona, Spain.
He received the B.S. (Hons) and the M.S. (Hons)
degrees in telecommunication engineering from
the Ramon Llull University (La Salle Universtity),
Barcelona, Spain, in 2004 and 2006, respectively.
From 2003 to 2006, he was with the Communi-
cations and Signal Theory Department, Ramon Llull
University (La Salle Universtity). His research inter-
ests there were miniature, wideband and multiband
printed antennas. He also collaborated with the R&D
Department, Fractus, Barcelona, Spain, studying new
techniques to miniaturize and enhance the bandwidth of PIFA antennas.
Mr. Cabedo received the 2008 Best Degree Project award given by the
Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Telecomunicacin (COIT) for his degree
project Multiband Antennas for 2G, 3G, WiFi, WLAN and Bluetooth Appli-
cations on New Generation Handsets.
Jaume Anguera (S99M03SM09) was born in
Vinars, Spain, in 1972. He received the Technical
Ingeniero degree in electronic systems and the
Ingeniero degree in electronic engineering, both
from the Ramon Llull University (URL), Barcelona,
Spain, in 1994 and 1997, respectively, and the
Ingeniero and Ph.D. degrees in telecommunication
engineering, both from the Polytechnic University
of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, in 1998 and
2003, respectively.
From 1998 to 2000, he was with the Electromag-
netic and Photonic Engineering Group (EEF), Signal Theory and Communica-
tions Department, UPC, as a Researcher in microstrip fractal-shaped antennas.
In 1999, he was a Senior Researcher at Sistemas Radiantes, Madrid, Spain,
where he was involved in the design of a dual-frequency dual-polarized fractal-
shaped microstrip patch array for mobile communications. In the same year, he
became an Assistant Professor at the Department of Signal Theory and Com-
munications, Universitat Ramon Llull-Barcelona, where he is currently teaching
antenna theory. Since 2000, he has been with Fractus, Barcelona, Spain, where
he holds the position of R&D Manager. At Fractus he leads projects on antennas
for base station systems, antennas for automotion, handset and wireless an-
tennas. His research interest are multiband and small antennas, microstrip patch
arrays, feeding network architectures, broadband matching networks, array pat-
tern synthesis with genetic algorithms, diversity antenna systems, electromag-
netic dosimetry, and handset antennas. He is Leading Engineer for the Innova-
tion Antenna Group. From September 2003 to May 2004, he was with Fractus-
Korea (Republic South of Korea) where he was managing projects for minia-
ture and multiband antennas for handset and wireless applications. Since 2005,
he has been leading research projects in the antenna field for handset and wire-
less applications in a frame of industry-university collaboration: Fractus com-
pany and the Department of Communications and Signal Theory of Universitat
Ramon Llull-Barcelona, Spain. He holds more than 26 patents on fractal an other
related antennas. He is author/coauthor of more than 110 journal, international,
and national conference papers and he has directed more than 50 bachelor and
master theses.
Dr. Anguera was a member of the Fractal team that in received the 1998
European Information Technology Grand Prize from the European Council
for the Applied Science an Engineering and the European Commission for
the fractal-shaped antenna application to cellular telephony. He was the 2003
2533
Finalist of the Best Doctoral Thesis (Fractal and Broadband Techniques on
Miniature, Multifrequency, and High-Directivity Microstrip Patch Antennas)
on UMTS. (The prize has been promoted by Technology plan of UMTS
promotion given by Telefnica Mviles Espaa). He received the New faces
of Engineering 2004 (promoted by the IEEE and IEEE Foundation). In the
same year, he received the Best Doctoral Thesis in Network and Broadband
Services (XXIV Prize Edition Ingenieros de Telecomunicacin) organized
by Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Telecomunicacin (COIT) and the Com-
pany ONO. He is a reviewer for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS AND ANTENNAS
AND PROPAGATION, IET Electronics Letters, and ETRI Journal (Electronics
and Telecommunications Research Institute, South Korea). His biography is
listed in Whos Who in the World, Whos Who in Science and Engineering,
Whos Who in Emerging Leaders and in the International Biographical Center,
Cambridge-England (IBC).
Cristina Picher was born in Sabadell, Barcelona,
Spain. She received the Technical Engineer Degree
in telecommunication systems from Ramon Llull
University (URL), Barcelona, where she is currently
working toward the M.Eng. degree.
In 2005, she began her investigation in miniature
and multiband antennas when she started her final de-
gree project in the Electronic and Telecommunication
Department, URL, in collaboration with the Depart-
ment of Technology and IPR in Fractus, Barcelona.
She is the author/coauthor of four papers in scientific
journals, international, and national conferences.
Ms. Picher was awarded 3rd Place in 2008 by the Ministry of Science and
Innovation Spain: VII Edition Arqumedes Introduction to Scientific Research
program for her research in miniature and multiband techniques combining
handset antenna and groundplane design.
Miquel Rib (S95M00) was born in La Seu
dUrgell, Catalonia, Spain, in 1970. He received
the Telecommunication Engineering degree from
the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC),
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1994 and the Ph.D.
degree in electronic engineering from Enginyeria
i Arquitectura La Salle, Ramon Llull University
(URL), Barcelona, in 2001.
In 1997, he joined the Communications and Elec-
tromagnetics Research Group (GRECO), Enginyeria
i Arquitectura La Salle (URL), where he currently
teaches microwaves and electromagnetic theory, and works as a Project Man-
ager. His research interests include the multimodal analysis of coplanar and
microstrip transitions, and of EMC problems such as interference generation,
propagation and mitigation.
Dr. Rib is currently Vice Chairman of the Spanish EMC IEEE Society
Chapter, and was Vice Chairman of the EMC Europe 2006 International
Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Barcelona.
Carles Puente (S91M93) received the M.Sc.
degree from the University of Illinois at Ur-
banaChampaign, in 1994 and the Ph.D. degree
from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC),
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1997.
He started researching fractal-shaped antennas
while a student at the Universidad Politcnica de
Catalunya (UPC) in the late 1980s. From 1994 to
1999, he worked with the faculty of Electromagnetic
and Photonic Engineering at UPC on pioneering de-
velopments of fractal technology applied to antennas
and microwave devices. He is a cofounder of Fractus, Barcelona, Spain,
where he leads the Technology Development Team, with responsibility for IP
portfolio development and antenna development. He has authored more than
30 invention patents and 50 scientific publications related to fractal antenna
technology.
Dr. Puente was awarded with the Best Doctoral Thesis in Mobile Communi-
cations 1997, and in 1998 he and his team received the European Information
Society Technology Grand Prize from the European Commission for their work.