Translation of the Danish Blog
Below a translation of the danish Blog without the Google Translate mumbo-jumbo.
Has the iPhone 4 been born with Antenna-Problems?
"Its enver been done before. And its really cool engineering." This is how Steve Jobs presented the new metal-frame on the new iPhone, when the phone was unveiled for the wondering world.
The frame works like the phones antenna.
But in reality, the principle behind the iPhone4 Antenna-system is far from new.
And it might possibly be so problematic that it will reduce the phones effeciency.
En of the leading experts, when it comes to mobile-antenna's, is Professor Gert Frølund Pedersen from Aalborg University's Institute for Electronic Systems.
He is leading an international research-team, that just the other day got a million-crown support from the "Højteknologifonden" (High-Tech Fund) for the development of a more effecient mobile-antenna, and har for many years studied the anetanna-technology on the cell-phone front.
Asked about Apples presentation of the iPhone4, he answered, that the construction of the antenna as part of the phones frame is old news that has been seen many times before.
Pretty much all mobile-antenna in the market uses the phones metal-parts as antenna.
But on the iPhone 4, it also looks like that this antenna constructions can give special problems, because part of the antenna will unavoiderbly make contact with the users hand.
"The printcard itself works as part of the antenna and the metalframe directs the signal to it. But that means that the user cannot avoid interferring with the antenna-system with his touch" says Gert Frølund Pedersen til ComON.
But can the designers not compensate for touch in the software, so that they negate the problem of even provide a benefit ?
"The human tissue will under any circumstances have a inhibiting effect on the antenna. The touch means, that a larger part of the antenna's energy will be turned into heat and is therefore lost. Thereby, the antenna will be less effecient at sending and receiving the radiosignal" says Gert Frølund Pedersen.
Scientists in Aalborg university has previously demonstrated, that the hand reduces the cell-phones antenna-effeciency in a large degree. The antenna-effect can be reduced with more than 90%, if you hold the cell-phone tightly where the antenna is placed.
But on top of that comes the electrical disturbances, which the physical contact between the tissue of the skin and the metal of the antenna will produce.
When Steve Jobs t he other day demonstrated an online-function on t he new phone, he could not at first manage to connect the wonder-machine to some of the present WiFi-Net. But was th e reason for the mess in the otherwise so controlled presentation caused by a badly designed antenna ?
"There are most likely other factors that can cause that you cannot get on in a place like this. But maybe the antenna has been a contributing factor. The machines that have the weakest signal, is of course thrown off first" says Gert Frølund Pedersen.
He points to, that a more effecient antenna-construction in a smartphone, would be a system with two different antenna, that could take over for one another, depending on where you were holding your hand.
Exactly such an antenna-model, that works optimal and energy-friendly in the futures advanced smartphones, the north-jutland team has set as their goal to develop.
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Please excuse any spelling-errors I might have missed.