A new Wi-Fi 6E multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system from The Antenna Company is designed to increase network capacity, extend range and reduce latency in enterprise and industrial internet of things (IoT) networks. The system enables simultaneous operation in the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz frequency bands, resulting in an additional 1.2 GHz of spectrum and greater than two times increase in available channels.

“The adoption of high performance Wi-Fi 6E antenna systems is a key enabling technology to fully realize the benefits of the unlicensed spectrum between 5.925 and 7.125 GHz,” said Mark Hung, vice president of Technology and Source: The Antenna CompanyEngineering at the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Optimized for seamless integration into access points, the design supports a total of 15 antennas, including dedicated 4×4 5 GHz plus 4×4 6 GHz plus 4×4 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi antennas. Cross-pair Wi-Fi antenna isolation of greater than 45 dB is achieved for concurrent operation in the 5 GHz band.

An additional 0.9/2.4 GHz IoT antenna is included to enable IoT use cases, along with tri-band 2.4/5/6 GHz antennas for radio spectrum management. The entire antenna system is mounted on a metal backplate to enable mechanical, thermal and radio frequency integration with the access point.

The design also comes with an ultra-wide band (UWB) option to enable real-time location system services such as access control, indoor navigation, asset tracking and contact tracing. The UWB antennas support channels 5 and 9 for worldwide spectrum coverage. To avoid coupling and detuning between antennas, greater than 30 dB of isolation is achieved between the UWB and Wi-Fi antennas.

The Antenna Company’s Wi-Fi 6E + UWB antenna system also features:

• Compact design that enables size reduction of enterprise access-points by 20% or more, without sacrificing antenna system performance;
• Low input impedance essential to achieve peak data rates for 80/160 MHz channels;
• Uniform radio coverage to avoid nulls and blind spots.