This thesis proposes a variety of antenna designs suitable for modern of mobile products, such as mobile phones, PDAs and so forth, on both the 2G and 3G communication systems according to the mobile communication development. Based on the integration of monopole or planar inverted-F antenna with the system ground planes, multi-frequency, broadband, and high radiation efficiency can be achieved, which is very promising to be adapted into communication products. Furthermore, an antenna capable of WLAN and UWB is proposed for future wireless communication applications.

In this thesis the study mainly focuses on the trends in development of present-day mobile phones and provides a promising alternative for integrating various elements inside mobile phones. With the presence of a small ground plane protruded from the main circuit board of a mobile phone, the proposed antenna design is substantially different from the configuration of feeding the conventional internal patch or planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA), and the proposed antenna can be placed in close proximity to the RF shielding case in the mobile phone, with very small effects on the antenna performances. Thus, more flexibility in the integration between an internal antenna and other associated elements inside a mobile phone can be obtained. In addition, by making use of the space inside the shorting cylinder of the internal PIFA, which can be treated as a shielding wall, the lens module of an embedded digital camera or other possible practical modules can easily fit in the cylinder to satisfy the trends in development of the miniaturized and multi-function mobile phones.

Three novel wideband antennas suitable for DTV (Digital Television) signal reception in the 470 ~ 806 MHz band for Portable Media Playrer (PMP) applications are presented in this thesis. The antennas include a novel broadband planar monopole antenna in Chpater 2, a novel low-profile planar inverted-U monopole antenna in Chpater 3, and a novel internal planar inverted-F antenna in Chpater 4. These antennas all have wide impedance bandwidths, good radiation efficiencies, and good radiation patterns. In addition, we propose a one-layer simplified hand model for achieving efficient and reliable simulation study for PMP antennas. The studied antenna in Chapter 2 is selected to be the example to study the user¡¦s hand effect on the antenna for PMP application.

In this thesis, the study mainly focuses on the current trends in development of compact multi-media mobile phone and provides a wideband monopole antenna design suitable for application in wireless communicating system in the near future. By utilizing the planar monopole antenna structure, the proposed antenna design is easy to be embedded into the mobile phone. Further, by using a shielding metal cover, we create a zone with low surface current distribution. This effect will reduce the electromagnetic coupling between the antenna and the electronic elements and make it possible to integrate more related elements into the mobile phones. Finally, we use the simulation software to analyze the dielectric effect caused by the casing of mobile phone and human body on the proposed antenna.

In this dissertation, thin internal antennas for mobile communication devices with a total thickness of less than 10 mm are proposed. There are mainly two differences in the antenna¡¦s construction between the proposed thin internal antennas and conventional planar inverted-F antenna. The first proposed antenna for thin internal antenna is a combo type formed by combining the conventional inverted-F antenna with the monopole antenna. The second proposed antenna is obtained by integrating two radiating arms into a radiating patch. By adjusting the tapering angle and the direction of the end portions, thin internal planar antenna with a thickness of less than 4 mm can be successfully achieved. In these two antennas, their Q-value can be lowered, and then the impedance bandwidth can be effectively improved. This kind of thin internal antennas not only has good impedance matching but also shows good radiation performance. Additionally, by adding a vertical metal wall acting as a RF shielding wall, EM fringing fields between the thin internal EMC antenna and nearby metal components can be effectively supressed. This kind of EMC antennas can effectively eliminate the isolation distance between the antenna and nearby conducting elements to increase the available space on the printed circuit board for additional functions. Besides, multi-band operation is another important function in current mobile devices. In this dissertation, we also studied the effects of the plastic casing and the user¡¦s hand and head on the antenna charateristics. For studying the antenna with the presence of the user¡¦s hand and head, the simulation model provided by SPEAG simulation software SEMCAD is used. From the results obtained, it is seen that the frequency detuning is greatly dependent on the presence of the user¡¦s hand and head. Owing to the presence of the user¡¦s hand and head, large decrease in the radiation efficiency is seen. It also indicates that the radiation efficiency decrease and radiation pattern distortion are mainly owing to the radiation power absorption by the user¡¦s hand and head.

For laptop computers, the conventional internal antennas are usually used to operate in the WLAN system only, which can not provide sufficient and seamless services for wireless users. In order to overcome this problem, we propose some internal antennas having dual-/multi-network operation capability in this dissertation. Firstly, we present a combo antenna, which combines two shorted monopole antennas for operating in the WWAN/WLAN dual-network system. Secondly, we introduce a shorted monopole antenna through adding a parasitic element to enhance the impedance bandwidth for operating in the WLAN/WiMAX dual-network system. Thirdly, for achieving the compact-size antenna, we present a composite antenna which is composed of a ceramic chip and a printed radiating portion. Fourthly, we introduce a wideband shorted monopole antenna which can provide a wide bandwidth to cover the WPAN, WLAN, and WiMAX operations, and apply it to the MIMO system. Finally, we propose a coupling-type monopole antenna having multi-network operation capability and a compact size, which is about the smallest antenna for wideband operation in the laptop computer so far.