The move toward worldwide wireless communications continues at a remarkable pace, and the antenna element of the technology is crucial to its success. With contributions from more than 30 international experts, the Handbook of Antennas in Wireless Communications brings together all of the latest research and results to provide engineering professionals and students with a one-stop reference on the theory, technologies, and applications for indoor, hand-held, mobile, and satellite systems.

Beginning with an introduction to wireless communications systems, it offers an in-depth treatment of propagation prediction and fading channels. It then explores antenna technology with discussion of antenna design methods and the various antennas in current use or development for base stations, hand held devices, satellite communications, and shaping beams. The discussions then move to smart antennas and phased array technology, including details on array theory and beamforming techniques.

Space diversity, direction-of-arrival estimation, source tracking, and blind source separation methods are addressed, as are the implementation of smart antennas and the results of field trials of systems using smart antennas implemented. Finally, the hot media topic of the safety of mobile phones receives due attention, including details of how the human body interacts with the electromagnetic fields of these devices.

Its logical development and extensive range of diagrams, figures, and photographs make this handbook easy to follow and provide a clear understanding of design techniques and the performance of finished products. Its unique, comprehensive coverage written by top experts in their fields promises to make the Handbook of Antennas in Wireless Communications the standard reference for the field.

This lecture explores the emerging area of reconfigurable antennas from basic concepts that provide insight into fundamental design approaches to advanced techniques and examples that offer important new capabilities for next-generation applications. Antennas are necessary and critical components of communication and radar systems, but sometimes their inability to adjust to new operating scenarios can limit system performance. Making antennas reconfigurable so that their behavior can adapt with changing system requirements or environmental conditions can ameliorate or eliminate these restrictions and provide additional levels of functionality for any system. For example, reconfigurable antennas on portable wireless devices can help to improve a noisy connection or redirect transmitted power to conserve battery life. In large phased arrays, reconfigurable antennas could be used to provide additional capabilities that may result in wider instantaneous frequency bandwidths, more extensive scan volumes, and radiation patterns with more desirable side lobe distributions. Written for individuals with a range of experience, from those with only limited prior knowledge of antennas to those working in the field today, this lecture provides both theoretical foundations and practical considerations for those who want to learn more about this exciting subject. Contents: Introduction / Definitions of Critical Parameters for Antenna Operation / Linkage Between Frequency Response and Radiation Characteristics: Implications for Reconfigurable Antennas / Methods for Achieving Frequency Response Reconfigurability / Methods for Achieving Polarization Reconfigurability / Methods for Achieving Radiation Pattern Reconfigurability / Methods for Achieving Compound Reconfigurable Antennas / Practical Issues for Implementing Reconfigurable Antennas / Conclusions and Directions for Future work