METAMATERIAL ANTENNA DOES MORE WITH LESS

[Fansome]

2. METAMATERIAL ANTENNA DOES MORE WITH LESS

Cellular handset maker LG recently introduced the first cellphone equipped with an antenna made from metamaterials.
Because metamaterials' construction makes them capable of catching signals at wavelengths much bigger than their
physical size would otherwise suggest, LG was able to make the antenna one-fifth the size of those using conventional
materials. Just as important, says the antenna's developer, is its ability to handle cellular, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth
signals so handsets no longer need multiple antenna arrays. Read on at:

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/metamaterials-arrive-in-cellphones

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Let me cut through the marketing-speak:

They have discovered a conductive material with such a low velocity factor that they can use less of it, and therefore lower the Q of their RF conductors to the point that the already hidden, internal antennas will be slightly more internal and hidden.  Oh, and did we mention, less efficient?  They figure there are enough cell sites saturating the urban areas that ghetto saps will not notice.  Those of us in rural areas certainly will.

I long for the analog phone days when I had a 3-watt phone under the seat and an antenna on the roof of the truck.  Man, that thing sounded great.  People sounded like people, not like robots with severe packet loss.

[cmradio]

They would need an aperture bordering on useless to make it have the same S/N ratio methinks

Peace!