Development challenges for 5G base station antennas

Abstract

This paper presents mainly the challenges in the development of base station antennas for the fifth-generation (5G) wireless system. As one of the key technologies, Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (M-MIMO) system can provide huge improvements in terms of system capacity and have been proven both in theory and practical network. The antenna element in the M-MIMO array is discussed at first, and then the multi-system antenna for 5G which is compatible with 4G/3G is involved. As the most important part, three different ways to generate multibeams is presented in details. At the end, the antenna testing method and new material requirement are mentioned.