Smart antennas will be a major winner in providing new revenue waves for wireless companies in mature markets according to a new report released by West Technology Research Solutions. Wireless technology efficiency is now a necessity, not an 'add on.'
Smart antenna technology will extend the range and increase the efficiency of communications in many wireless communication technologies and protocols. Diminishing spectrum availability coupled with increased demand define the need for this evolving technology.
Having been around for decades, smart antennas have evolved along with the semiconductor innovation cycles, getting ever 'smarter'. For the past 10-plus years, and with the development of multiple antennas for transmission and reception known also as space-time communication, smart antenna technology has become a serious R&D arena. It is a branch of wireless communications that makes use of the 'space dimension' (ie, antennas) along with the traditional time dimension in modulation and coding at the transmitter, and demodulation and decoding at the receiver, in order to improve the performance of wireless links. Shipments in 2008 for 3G adoption alone is expected to reach 155 million units.
Hence smart antenna technology has become essential to the future of wireless communication and data transfer, the former because the spectrum is becoming increasingly more tightly populated, the latter because technological development has improved the transfer rate to an extent where efficiency is no longer just a choice but a principal requirement.
With increasing adoption of wireless services, the imminence of 3G (UMTS and CDMA2000), 4G already more than a concept, and with diminishing available spectrum, smart antenna technology is essential. Already in use in combination with cellphones, television and in industrial applications, smart antennas are no longer a choice, but a necessity for the industrialised world. It is clear, for example, that without smart antenna technology WiMAX and WLAN applications cannot utilise their full potential.
Smart antenna technology is moving directly into maturing markets that are ready and waiting to add supplementary options to existing products. It is a classic curve in industry, to be seized upon by those who recognise the signs of economic downturn and look for an opportunity for regeneration. As such, smart antenna technology offers a second revenue wave in a channel that is already an established presence in a matured segment, but which is experiencing declining margins.
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