TPL Systèmes, one of France’s leading manufacturers of radio communications systems for emergency response and industrial applications, came to Leti with a particularly challenging project: to make the company’s pager antennas smaller and more practical for users without sacrificing performance. Plus, Leti had to maintain the current two communication standards (400 MHz TETRA and 900/1800MHz GSM/DCS) in the same device without changing the existing terminal’s form factor.

Leti researchers started by developing a custom RF-optical measurement bench for ultra-miniaturized antennas. None of the subsequent development work would have been possible without this truly exceptional piece of equipment, which came in the form of a very large anechoic chamber enabling extremely accurate measurements of antenna properties at relatively low frequency.

Next, the researchers developed a flexible, reconfigurable 400 MHz TETRA antenna designed to make the best use of the available space and a 900/1800MHz GSM/DCS antenna, optimizing integration with regard to the TETRA antenna. They also developed electronics to easily switch from one TETRA subband to another.

The new antenna performs twice as well as the previous version and offers a much smaller form factor. The development won an award in 2014 from FIEEC, France’s electrical, electronics, and communications industry federation.