Multiphysics Analysis and Reliability for 5G/6G Antenna System Design

April 13, 2023

42 1 minute read

Making 5G/6G technology real requires an increased density of more complex electronic systems in smaller form factors. As 5G/6G proliferates into safety critical systems and infrastructure, such as autonomous vehicles and healthcare, reliability is paramount.

Engineers must determine the performance and the lifetime of the systems they are designing and deploying. The increased density of components increases the interdependency of design considerations. For example, electromagnetic performance can no longer be considered in isolation from thermal and mechanical performance as they impact each other and are interdependent. Thermal issues are now one of the primary failure modes for electronic systems.

Studying antenna array and tower structural integrity, you need to account for electro-thermal effects and thermal impact on data coverage. This includes interference, optimizing antenna design, and performance under severe wind loads with critical angles of attack to incorporate mechanical effects in an integrated workflow to determine thermal stress-induced deformation at the PCB level or the more detailed solder ball level to random model vibration, drop test, and fatigue studies.

All can help estimate the complete system performance and reliability under various external circumstances. Ansys dedicated electronics reliability solutions can make lifetime predictions by computing the cumulative damage index, time to failure, and life curve.

What You Will Learn

Predict electrical performance drift under varying environmental conditions and thermal impact on RF link marginAssess and evaluate thermal management systems for cost/reliability tradeoffsUnderstand antenna deformation due to mechanical loads and structural specificationsRight-sizing of antenna system housings and support structures to meet reliability targets while minimizing size and weight