Frequency Tunable Antenna Using a Magneto-Dielectric Material for DVB-H Application

This paper presents an ultracompact antenna design suited for digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) reception devices. The DVB-H frequency band is ranging from 4 70 to 862 MHz and divided in 49 channels of 8 MHz. Designed to be integrated in a tablet, it is not only heavily miniaturized (λ₀ /49 × λ₀/71 ×λ₀/160 at 470 MHz), but also able to cover each channel thanks to the use of a magneto-dielectric material. The advantage of using such a material is studied and described in this paper. Moreover, the operating frequency is continuously tuned over the whole DVB-H band by the integration of a varactor diode. This varactor diode has been characterized and modeled to properly cosimulate its behavior within the antenna. Limitations in terms of accepted power by the diode are emphasizing. Finally, the antenna design, including both magneto-dielectric material and varactor diode is integrated in the DVB-H receiver device. Measurement performances are presented and discussed.