Compact planar frequency reconfigurable multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna with pattern and polarization diversity characteristics for WiFi and WiMAX standards

A compact planar frequency reconfigurable dual‐band multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna with high isolation and pattern/polarization diversity characteristics is presented in this article for WiFi and WiMAX standards. The MIMO configuration incorporates two symmetrically placed identical antenna elements and covers overall size of 24 mm × 24 mm × 0.762 mm. Reconfiguration of each antenna element is achieved by using a PIN diode which allows antennas to switch from state‐1 (2.3‐2.4 GHz and 4.6‐5.5 GHz) to state‐2 (3.3‐3.5 GHz and 4.6‐5.5 GHz). In state‐1, the configuration offers isolation ≥18 dB and 20 dB in lower band (LB) and upper band (UB) respectively; whereas, in state‐2, isolation ≥21 dB and 20 dB in LB and UB respectively is achieved. The same decoupling circuit provides high isolation in dual‐band of two states, which makes overall size of the proposed design further compact. The antennas are characterized in terms of envelope correlation coefficient, radiation pattern, gain, and efficiency. From measured and simulated results, it is verified that the proposed frequency reconfigurable dual‐band multi‐standard MIMO antenna design shows desirable performance in both operating bands of each state and compact size of the design makes it suitable for small form factor devices used in future wireless communication systems.     

Design of a compact protrudent‐shaped ultra‐wideband multiple‐input‐multiple‐output/diversity antenna with band‐rejection capability

In this endeavor, a new multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna with a sharp rejection at wireless local area network (WLAN) band is designed and practically examined for portable wireless ultra‐wideband applications. The intended diversity antenna possess a small size of 15 mm × 26 mm and two inverted L‐strip are loaded over the conventional rectangular patch antenna to form protrudent‐shaped radiator that acts as a radiating element. The sharp band‐rejection capability at WLAN is established by incising the L‐shaped slits at the decoupling structure. More than ?21 dB isolation is accomplished for the complete working band (ie, 2.87 ‐17 GHz). Degradation in the antenna efficiency at the center frequency of band rejection corroborates the good interference rejection capability. The working capabilities of the intended antenna are tested by using the isolation between the ports, total efficiency, gain, envelope correlation coefficient, radiation pattern, mean effective gain, and total active reflection coefficient.     

Complementary meander‐line‐inspired dielectric resonator multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna for dual‐band applications

The communication presents a simple dielectric resonator (DR) multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) dual‐band antenna. It utilizes two “I”‐shaped DR elements to construct an “I”‐shaped DR array antenna (IDRAA) for MIMO applications. The ground plane of the antenna is defected by two spiral complementary meander lines and two circular ground slots. In the configuration, two “I”‐shaped DR elements are placed with a separation of 0.098λ. The antenna covers dual‐band frequency spectra from 3.46 to 5.37 GHz (43.26%) and from 5.89 to 6.49 GHz (9.7%). It ensures the C‐band downlink (3.7‐4.2 GHz), uplink (5.925‐6.425 GHz), and WiMAX (5.15‐5.35 GHz) frequency bands. Each DR element is excited with a 50‐Ω microstrip line feed with aperture‐coupling mechanism. The antenna offers very high port isolation of around 18.5 and 20 dB in the lower band and upper band, respectively. The proposed structure is suitable to operate in the MIMO system because of its very nominal envelope correlation coefficient (<0.015) and high diversity gain (>9.8). The MIMO antenna provides very good mean effective gain value (±0.35 dB) and low channel capacity loss (<0.35 bit/s/Hz) throughout the entire operating bands. Simulated and measured results are in good agreement and they approve the suitability of the proposed IDRAA for C‐band uplink and downlink applications and WiMAX band applications.     

A high‐isolation dual‐polarized quad‐patch antenna fed by stacked substrate integrated waveguides for millimeter‐wave application

A high‐isolation dual‐polarized quad‐patch antenna fed by stacked substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) that is suitable for millimeter‐wave band is proposed in this paper. The antenna consists of a quad‐patch radiator, a two‐layer SIW feeding structure and two feeding ports for horizontal and vertical polarization. The two‐layer stacked SIW feeding structure achieves the high isolation between the two feeding ports (|S₂₁| ≤ ?45 dB). Based on the proposed element, a 1 × 4 antenna array with a simple series‐fed network is also designed and investigated. A prototype working at the frequency band from 38 to 40 GHz is fabricated and tested. The results indicate that the proposed antenna has good radiation performance at 38 GHz that covers future 5G applications.     

A compact printed ultra‐wideband multiple‐input multiple‐output prototype with band‐notch ability for WiMAX,LTEband43, and WLAN systems

A compact ultra‐wideband multiple‐input multiple‐output (UWB‐MIMO) antenna with good isolation and multiple band‐notch abilities is developed in this work. It consists of two quadrant shaped monopole antennas backed by ground stubs. A good isolation is achieved due to the two proposed extended curved ground stubs. The frequency rejection for the WLAN system is realized by loading a capacitive loaded loop resonator adjacent to the feed line. The band rejection for the WiMAX and LTE band43 system is achieved by embedding a quadrant shaped CSRR on each radiator's surface. The measured bandwidth of the antenna is 3.06 GHz‐11 GHz (|S₁₁| < ?10 dB and |S₂₁| < ?18 dB) with a band rejection from 3.5 GHz‐4 GHz to 5.1 GHz‐5.85 GHz, respectively. Time domain performances are investigated in terms of group and phase delay characteristics. Diversity characteristics are evaluated in terms of the envelope correlation coefficient, mean effective gain, and channel capacity loss.     

Compact C‐shaped MIMO diversity antenna for quad band applications with hexagonal stub for isolation improvement

A compact MIMO antenna was proposed in this article. The designed antenna is compact in size with dimensions of 20 × 34 × 1.6 mm. In this proposed antenna model the patch consisting of two counter facing C‐shaped elements facing each other in which a hexagonal ring attached to a strip line which is placed in between the two C‐shaped patch acts as the stub. The novelty of the antenna elements lies isolation improvement by using the ground stub with the use of circular ring resonator. The proposed antenna operates in four bands in which 2.66 to 3.60 GHz (Wi‐Max, Wi‐Fi), 4.52 to 5.78 GHz (WLAN), 6.59 to 7.40 GHz (satellite communication), and 9.55 to 10.91 GHz and having bandwidth of 0.94, 1.26, 0.81, and 1.36 GHz at four bands. The envelope correlation coefficient is ECC ≤ 0.3 and diversity gain > 9.8 dB for the operating bands of antenna proposed. This antenna can work in the bands of Wi‐Max, Wi‐Fi, WLAN, satellite communication in X‐band and for radio location, and astronomy applications.     

Millimeter‐wave antenna with wide‐scan angle radiation characteristics for MIMO applications

A three‐element quasi Yagi‐Uda antenna array with printed metamaterial surface generated from the array of uniplanar capacitively loaded loop (CLL) unit‐cells printed on the substrate operating in the band 25‐30 GHz is proposed. The metamaterial surface is configured to provide a high‐refractive index to tilt the electromagnetic (EM) beam from the two dipole antennas placed opposite to each other. The metamaterial region focuses the rays from the dipole antenna and hence increases the gain of the individual antennas by about 5 dBi. The antenna elements are printed on a 10 mil substrate with a center to center separation of about 0.5 λ ₀ at 28 GHz. The three‐element antenna covers 25‐30 GHz band with measured return loss of 10 dB and isolation greater than 15 dB between all the three ports. The measured gain of about 11 dBi is achieved for all the antenna elements. The three antenna elements radiate in three different directions and cover a radiation scan angle of 64°.     

Low profile four‐port super‐wideband multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna with triple band rejection characteristics

A quad‐port planar multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna possessing super‐wideband (SWB) operational features and triple‐band rejection characteristics is designed. The proposed MIMO configuration consists of four modified‐elliptical‐self‐complementary‐antenna (MESCA) elements, which are excited by tapered co‐planar waveguide (TCPW) feed lines. A radiator‐matched complementary slot is present in the ground conductor patch of each MESCA element. The proposed MIMO antenna exhibits a bandwidth ratio of 36:1 (|S₁₁| < ?10 dB; 0.97‐35 GHz). Further, a step‐like slit‐resonator is etched in the radiator to eliminate interferences at 3.5 GHz. A hexagonal shaped complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) is also loaded on the MESCA radiator to remove interferences at 5.5 and 8.5 GHz. The MIMO antenna is fabricated on FR‐4 substrate of size 63 × 63 mm² and experimental results are found in good agreement with the simulated results. The MIMO antenna exhibits inter‐element isolation >17 dB and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) <0.01 at all the four ports.     

Design and packaging of ultra‐wideband multiple‐input‐multiple‐output/diversity antenna for wireless applications

In this article, a new compact eight‐element three‐dimensional (3D) design of ultra‐wideband (UWB) multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna is proposed. For realizing polarization diversity, four elements of the MIMO antenna are oriented horizontally and four elements are arranged vertically. In the horizontal arrangement, the antenna resonating elements are placed orthogonally to each other, which reduces interelement coupling and offers a consistent link with the wireless systems/devices. The proposed antenna shows a bandwidth (S₁₁ ≤ ?10 dB) of 17.99 GHz (2.83‐20.82 GHz) and isolation larger than 15 dB in the resonating band. The proposed MIMO/diversity antenna performance parameters such as envelope correlation coefficient, diversity gain, and total active reflection coefficient are evaluated and presented. Furthermore, the unit cell of the MIMO system is simulated for the packaged environment and it is observed that the antenna housing does not affect the antenna performance.     

Compact sub‐6 GHz 5G‐multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna system with enhanced isolation

A compact two‐element multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna system with improved impedance matching and isolation is presented for future sub‐6 GHz 5G applications. The two identical tapered microstrip line fed modified rhombus‐shaped radiating elements are placed in the same orientation at a compact substrate area of 0.24λ₀ × 0.42λ₀ (where, λ₀ at 3.6 GHz) on a shared rectangular ground. A remodeled T‐shaped ground stub is placed between a pair of radiating element to achieve improved impedance bandwidth and isolation. Further, a split U‐shaped stub connected to center of each radiating element to achieve the desired resonant frequency of 3.6 GHz. The proposed antenna covers a ?10 dB operating band of 3.34 to 3.87 GHz (530 MHz) with more than 20 dB isolation between a pair of elements. MIMO performances are also analyzed and experimentally validated. The measured performances of a prototype are found in good agreement with simulated performances. Further, the simulation study is carried out to see the effect of housing and extended ground plane on two‐element MIMO antenna for practical application. An idea of realization of 12‐element MIMO is also studied using the proposed two‐element MIMO antenna.     

Investigation on decoupling of wide band wearable multiple‐input multiple‐output antenna elements using microstrip neutralization line

An investigation to enhance the decoupling between the elements of a compact wide band multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna is presented in this communication. A microstrip neutralization line (NL) is designed on the top of antenna surface to enhance the port isolation. The geometry is embedded on a jeans material to be apposite for the on‐body wearable applications. The antenna covers the frequency spectra from 3.14 to 9.73 GHz (around 102.4%) and fulfills the bandwidth requirements of WiMAX (3.2‐3.8 GHz), WLAN (5.15‐5.35/5.72‐5.85 GHz), C band downlink‐uplink (3.7‐4.2/5.9‐6.425 GHz), downlink defense (7.2‐7.7 GHz), and ITU (8‐8.5 GHz) bands. The port isolation is found to be more than 32 dB over the whole application bands. The antenna is appraised in a rich scattering environment with very minimal envelope correlation coefficient (ECC < 0.12) and great amount of diversity gain (DG > 9.8). The proposed MIMO antenna system is able to achieve the channel capacity loss (CCL) of less than 0.2 BPS/Hz throughout the whole operating band. The proposed structure is etched on an area of 30 × 50 mm². The simulated and measured performances of the proposed antenna are in well‐matched state.     

Metal‐frame‐integrated eight‐element multiple‐input multiple‐output antenna array in the long term evolution bands 41/42/43 for fifth generation smartphones

A metal‐frame‐integrated eight‐antenna array operating in the long term evolution bands 41/42/43 (2.496 GHz‐2.69 GHz, 3.4 GHz‐3.8 GHz) for future fifth generation multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) applications in smartphones is presented and discussed. The proposed eight‐antenna MIMO array is formed by integrating four identical building blocks, each of which consists two dual‐mode monopole antenna elements with a neutralization line (NL) embedded in between. Part of the metal frame is exploited to increase the effective resonant length of the monopole antenna. By using the wideband NL, two transmission dips can be generated, and thus an improved isolation (>10 dB) is achieved. The proposed antenna array was simulated and experimentally tested. Good antenna efficiency (>44%) and low envelope correlation coefficient (<0.2) were obtained in the bands of interest. In an 8 × 8 MIMO system with 20 dB signal‐to‐noise ratio, the calculated ergodic channel capacity was as high as 38 bps/Hz in the low band, and 38.3 bps/Hz in the high band. Details of the proposed antenna array are described. The simulated, measured, and calculated results are presented.     

A miniaturized multi‐wideband Quasi‐Yagi MIMO antenna system

A multi‐band directional multiple‐input–multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna system is presented based on a rectangular loop excited Quasi‐Yagi configuration. A 64% reduction in size is obtained using a rectangular meandered element as well as a small ground plane. The proposed two‐element MIMO antenna system covers the Telemetry L‐band and several LTE/WLAN bands. It has a wide measured bandwidth of 689 MHz (1.897–2.586 GHz) in the desired band centered at 2 GHz, and a measured bandwidth of more than 168 MHz across rest of the bands. The MIMO antenna system has a total size of 45 × 120 × 0.76 mm³, with a single element size of 55 × 60 × 0.76 mm³. The non‐desired back‐lobe radiation which is obtained using a small ground plane, is significantly reduced by using a novel defected ground structure (DGS) as compared with the complex techniques present in literature. The proposed DGS provides a high measured front‐to‐back ratio of 14 dB at 2 GHz and 11 dB in other bands. A maximum measured realized gain of 5.8 dBi is obtained in the desired band using a single parasitic director element. The proposed MIMO antenna system has a minimum measured radiation efficiency of 70%, isolation of 12 dB, and envelope correlation coefficient of 0.098 within all bands which ensures very good MIMO performance.     

Dual‐band CPW fed MIMO antenna with polarization diversity and improved gain

A dual‐band MIMO slot antenna with polarization diversity and improved gain is proposed in this article. The antenna is composed of two C‐type back‐to‐back connected slot resonators and offers resonances at 3.5 and 5.2 GHz. This antenna element is further used to design a MIMO antenna. By introducing one U‐shaped slot between two antenna elements, isolation between the ports of this MIMO antenna is improved further. Finally, an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) is placed below the MIMO antenna to enhance its gain. Gain enhancement of 1.5 and 2.2 dB is achieved at lower and upper band, respectively. S‐parameters, radiation patterns, gain, envelope correlation coefficient, and channel capacity loss are investigated to conclude about its performances in MIMO applications. Dual band dual polarization (circular and linear), improved isolation, polarization diversity (right‐hand circular polarization and left‐hand circular polarization), gain enhancement all are presented in a simple design represents the novelty of the proposed MIMO antenna.     

Compact four‐element MIMO SIW cavity backed slot antenna with high front‐to‐back ratio

In this article, a novel design of single layer, compact, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) half‐mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) cavity backed quad element slot antenna with high front‐to‐back ratio (FTBR) is proposed. The proposed antenna consists of four rectangular SIW cavities with semi‐taper radiating slots. The antenna elements are placed in a fashion to achieve high isolation. This antenna is designed for WLAN vehicular communication system to cover the frequency range of 5.84 GHz to 5.96 GHz. It has high front to back ratio (FTBR) of more than 25 dB without using any external metallic reflector. It has more than 37 dB isolation in between orthogonal elements and more than 24 dB in between parallel elements. The envelop correlation coefficient (ECC) and diversity gain are 0.003 and 9.99 dB respectively in between all the elements. Moreover, the antenna has high gain and efficiency of more than 8 dB and 94%, respectively, in 10 dB impedance bandwidth. It can be tuned in a wide range of frequency.     

Design of a dual‐band MIMO dielectric resonator antenna with high port isolation for WiMAX and WLAN applications

A novel dual‐band MIMO dielectric resonator antenna with high port isolation for WiMAX and WLAN applications is designed and investigated. The proposed antenna operates at 3.5 and 5.25 GHz bands. High port isolation is achieved using hybrid feeding mechanism that excites two orthogonal modes at each frequency bands. The measured impedance bandwidth of the proposed antenna covers the entire WiMAX (3.4–3.7) GHz and WLAN (5.15–5.35) GHz bands. The scalable behavior along with the frequency ratio of the antenna has also been investigated in this work. The measured isolation between antenna ports is ?52 dB at the lower band and ?46 dB at the upper band, respectively. Envelope correlation coefficient, diversity gain and mean effective gain have also been investigated. Moreover, measured results are in good agreement with the simulated ones.     

A triple‐band antenna for MIMO WLAN applications

A novel triple‐band antenna element by etching parasitic slot on ground plane is presented. A three‐element antenna system for WLAN MIMO communications is fabricated by using the proposed antenna element. The triple‐band antenna element is designed for the WLAN standard frequency ranges (2.4‐2.485, 5.15‐5.35, and 5.475‐5.725 GHz). The three identical antenna elements are rotationally symmetric on the substrate, isolated by using metal‐vias cavity. The measured average peak gain within the operational bandwidth is about 2.7 dBi. The isolation between the antenna elements can achieve better than 17 dB at the lower band (2.25‐2.65 GHz), while more than 32 dB at the higher bands (5.20‐5.35 and 5.47‐5.73 GHz) is obtained.     

Offset planar MIMO antenna for omnidirectional radiation patterns

An offset quad element multi‐band planar MIMO antenna with omnidirectional radiation patterns is proposed for nonline of site (NLOS) communication on low‐cost FR‐4 dielectric substrate for 4G and future technologies. A 1 × 2 power divider arm results in dual beam and enhances diversity parameters and omnidirectional radiation patterns. Moreover, the MIMO antenna limits the proximity/coupling effects using a T‐shaped isolator and achieves more than 12.4 dB of isolation between the radiating ports. The proposed design covers WLAN/WiMAX bands with gain and radiation efficiency of more than 2.6 dBi and 71%, respectively, in 2:1 VSWR bands of bandwidths 16.39% (2.24‐2.64 GHz) and 7.88% (3.41‐3.69 GHz). The ?10 dB impedance bandwidth is more than 280 MHz in each band. An ECC level of ≤ 0.01 has been achieved in the whole band.     

A low‐profile dual port UWB‐MIMO/diversity antenna with band rejection ability

A band notched ultra‐wideband (UWB) antenna is presented in this article as a good prospect for multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO)/diversity application. The proposed MIMO antenna is constituted of two modified rectangle‐shaped patch antenna elements. A stepped stub is extended from the modified ground plane as a decoupling element between the radiators to realize a good isolation level between them. A band rejection response is obtained by connecting an open resonant stub to each of the radiators. The simulated prototype is fabricated and tested for verification. Results reveal that the proposed prototype provides a 10 dB return loss bandwidth from 3.08 to 10.98 GHz with band notch characteristics from 4.98 to 5.96 GHz, and a good port isolation level (S₂₁ ≤ 20). Diversity performances are ensured in terms of total active reflection coefficient, envelope correlation coefficient (<0.013 except notch band), diversity gain (≈9.51 dB), mean effective gain ratio (≈1), and channel capacity loss (≤0.35 bps/HZ except notch band). It evidences that the presented band notched UWB antenna can be a good prospective for MIMO/diversity applications.     

Gain enhancement and mutual coupling reduction of multiple‐intput multiple‐output antenna for millimeter‐wave applications using two types of novel metamaterial structures

A method to significantly increase the gain and reduce the mutual coupling of microstrip multiple‐intput multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna based on metamaterial concept is presented. The μ‐negative and ε‐negative features of the proposed modified peace‐logo planar metamaterial (MPLPM) and two‐sided MPLPM (TSMPLPM) structures are calculated. The antenna structure consists of eight MPLPM slabs and two TSMPLPM, which are embedded in azimuth plane of a MIMO antenna vertically. The dimensions of MIMO antenna are 28 × 16 × 6.3 mm³ at 40 GHz. As a result, a compact MIMO antenna is simulated in comparison with primary microstrip structures. The corresponding return‐loss of the antenna is better than 10 dB over 34.5 to 45.5 GHz for Ka‐band applications. Good consent between the measured and simulated result is tacked. The maximum simulated gain of the structure is 15.5 dB at 40 GHz, creating a maximum gain improvement of 11.5 dB in comparison with a MIMO antenna without any metamaterial combinations. The value of the insertion‐loss (isolation) is 33 dB, which has improved by more than 25 dB compared to the conventional sample.