SkyCross Antenna Shown Inside Mobile Phone

SkyCross introduced one of the wireless industry's first commercially available 900/1800/1900 MHz antennas for worldwide GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless applications. This tri-band antenna provides complete coverage for the three most widely used worldwide frequency bands designated for GSM service.

GSM is a digital cellular phone technology based on TDMA that is the predominant system in Europe, but is also used throughout the rest of the world. More than 400 operators in nearly 180 countries use the GSM wireless system. GSM, which has more than 680 million subscribers worldwide, is allocated to the 1900 MHz frequency band in the United States and the 900 and 1800 MHz bands in Europe and throughout the rest of the world.

The need for phones that can operate on all the worldwide GSM frequency bands is gathering momentum as major phone makers are now beginning to introduce tri-band phones into the market. A significant hurdle for widespread production of these phones, however, has been time and cost concerns. Standard RF technology requires multiple antennas and multiple RF circuitries to support a tri-band phone -- which increases design time for the device and increases RF component costs.

"SkyCross' unique Meander Line Antenna technology allows us to provide GSM phone makers with a high performing, multi-frequency antenna that meets and exceeds their RF performance needs while remaining sensitive to their budget concerns," said Alan Haase, CEO of SkyCross. "Our single, embedded tri-band antenna requires less time to design into a device and requires less RF circuitry support -- and cost -- than typical multi-antenna solutions."

Key elements of SkyCross' 900/1800/1900 MHz antenna include:

-- Peak Gain + 1.5 dBi at 900 MHz
-- Peak Gain +3.5 dBi at 1800 MHz
-- Peak Gain +2.8 dBi at 1900 MHz
-- Low Profile for Embedded Applications

"Multiple frequency band operation is becoming evermore critical as the mobile industry transitions from 2G systems, such as GSM, to 2.5G systems, such as GPRS and EDGE, and then to 3G," said Kerry Greer, vice president of engineering at SkyCross. "The extremely compact size of our embedded antennas, combined with their outstanding performance qualities -- wide bandwidth coverage, multi-frequency operation, increased gain -- is a compelling RF solution for wireless device engineers that are designing next generation handsets today."

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