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.     

Compact 2 × 2/4 × 4 tapered microstrip feed MIMO antenna configuration for high‐speed wireless applications with band stop filters

In this research, compact tapered feed 2 × 2/4 × 4 MIMO antenna are presented and investigated. The proposed MIMO antenna consists of a square patch and modified rectangular ground, which is chamfered at edges and etched with two semicircular slots. Likewise, obstruction caused by WiMAX and WLAN interfering bands is also taken care of by introducing notched filters. WiMAX is removed by embedding an rotated T‐type stub and a C‐type slot eliminates the WLAN band. The proposed antenna configuration covers the usable bandwidth of 3.07 to 11.25 GHz for 2 × 2 MIMO and 2.97 to 11.28 GHz for 4 × 4 MIMO. Also, both the MIMO antennas provide isolation <–20 dB. Proposed MIMO antennas are fabricated and characterized in near, far‐field, and diversity performance where envelope correlation coefficient, directive gain (DG), total active reflection coefficient (TARC), and channel capacity loss are simulated and measured. 4 × 4 MIMO antenna configuration provides stable gain with a maximum radiation efficiency of 91% and monopole radiation patterns.     

Compact dual wide‐band four/eight elements MIMO antenna for WLAN applications

A compact four and eight elements multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna designed for WLAN applications is presented in this article. The antenna operates in IEEE 802.11b/g WLAN (2.4 GHz), IEEE 802.11 ac/n WLAN (5.2 and 5.8 GHz) and WiMAX (5.8 GHz) bands. The resonated mode of the antenna is achieved by two unequal Reverse‐L shaped, line‐shaped slots on top and parasitic element on the ground layer. The single antenna provides wide bandwidth of about 29% (2.3‐3.1 GHz) in lower and 22% (4.9‐6.1 GHz) in the upper band. The compactness of the single element antenna is found about 95% with respect to the patch and 61% in overall dimension. Thereafter an investigation is carried out to design two, four, and eight elements MIMO antennas. All of the multi‐element structures provide compact configuration and cover entire WLAN frequency ranges (2.4‐2.48 and 5.15‐5.85 GHz). The dimension of the proposed eight element MIMO antenna is 102 × 52 × 1.6 mm³. It covers the frequency (measured) from 2.4 to 3.1 GHz and 5 to 6.1 GHz. The diversity performance of the proposed MIMO antenna is also assessed in terms of the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain (DG), and total active reflection co‐efficient (TARC). The ECC is found <0.5 whereas the DG >9.0 is obtained for the desired bands.     

Design of a compact triple band antenna with independent frequency tuning for MIMO applications

In this article, a planar, low profile microstrip line‐fed triple band multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna is presented for WiMax (2.5/3.5/5.5 GHz)/WLAN (2.4/3.6/5.8 GHz) applications simultaneously. The single element of the MIMO antenna consists of (i) a rectangular split ring resonator (SRR), (ii) a stepped impedance resonator (SIR) inside the SRR and (iii) a slot on the SIR. Each of the resonators generates its own individual band and each band is independently tunable. The antenna exhibits three operating bands at 2.35‐2.85 GHz, 3.25‐3.90 GHz and 5.45‐5.65 GHz. Four antenna elements are used to design the proposed MIMO antenna. The simulated results are observed and reported in terms of S‐parameters, gain, radiation patterns, envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain (DG), channel capacity loss (CCL) and total active reflection coefficient. ECC and CCL are within the acceptable range defined for 4G and 5G application standards. To validate the simulation results a prototype structure is fabricated and the measured results are compared with those obtained from the simulation.     

A compact dual‐band 2 × 1 metamaterial inspired mimo antenna system with high port isolation for LTE and WiMax applications

This article proposes a compact (43 × 26 × 0.8 mm³) dual‐band two‐element metamaterial‐inspired MIMO antenna system with high port isolation for LTE and WiMAX applications. In this structure, each antenna element consists of a square–ring slot radiator encircling a complementary split ring resonator. A tapered impedance transformer line feeds these radiating apertures and shows good impedance matching. A 2 × 3 array of two‐turn Complementary Spiral Resonator structure between the two antenna elements provides high dual‐band isolation between them. The fabricated prototype system shows two bands 2.34 – 2.47 GHz (suitable for LTE 2300) and 3.35 – 3.64 GHz (suitable for WiMAX). For spacing between two antennas of 10 mm only, the measured isolation between the two antenna elements in the lower band is around ?32 dB while that in the upper band is nearly 18 dB. The system shows a doughnut‐shaped radiation patterns. The peak measured antenna gains for the proposed MIMO system in the lower and higher bands are 3.9 and 4.2 dBi, respectively. The MIMO system figure of merits such as the envelope correlation coefficient, total efficiency are also calculated and shown to provide good diversity performance.     

Dual‐polarized textile‐based two/four element MIMO antenna with improved isolation for dual wideband application

This article presents the designs of dual‐polarized dual wideband textile‐based two and four elements multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) antennas for WLAN (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/c/n) and WiMAX (IEEE 802.16d) applications. These MIMO antennas cover the frequency spectra from 1.5 to 3.8 GHz (87% bandwidth) and 4.1 to 6.1 GHz (40% bandwidth). The characterization of the textile jeans substrate is determined experimentally using a vector network analyzer and dielectric assessment kit. These antennas provide near about 70% radiation efficiency with around 4 dBi peak gain in desired frequency ranges. The diversity performance is improved noticeably by printing meandered line structures on both planes. The proposed MIMO structure has a very low envelop correlation coefficient (ECC) <0.1 and high diversity gain (DG) >9.9. The Medium effective gain (MEG) also lies within a satisfactory value of ±3 dB. The two elements MIMO Antennas provide linear polarization at all desired frequency band while the four‐element antenna provides circular polarization at 2.4 GHz and linear polarization at 5.2 and 5.8 GHz application bands. The antenna also depicts good performance in wearable condition with safe specific absorption rate < 1.6 W/kg in all desired frequencies.     

Bandwidth enhancement of a circularly polarized tapered crossed slot antenna with corner parasitic directors

This paper presents a single‐feed wideband circularly polarized (CP) antenna with tapered crossed slots and corner directors. According to the multi‐mode resonance concept, the antenna uses two identical cross placed Vivaldi‐like tapered slots as the wideband radiating elements, and four rectangular parasitic patch directors are connected on each corner of the ground for further enhancing the bandwidth. A simple second‐order stepped microstrip line with a via on the other side of the substrate is used to feed the antenna. Two pairs of capacitors and inductors are placed on each slot to realize a 90° phase difference for CP operation. The proposed antenna is designed, fabricated and measured. Simulation results are in good agreement with the measured results that demonstrate a 10 dB impedance bandwidth (IMBW) from 1.98 to 5.71 GHz (3.73 GHz, 97.01%) and a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) from 2.13 to 3.91 GHz (1.78 GHz, 58.94%). The antenna outperforms most of the reported cross slot antennas for its wide IMBW and ARBW.     

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.     

Miniaturized frequency reconfigurable pentagonal MIMO slot antenna for interweave CR applications

In this article, a miniaturized 4‐element frequency reconfigurable multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna system is presented. The proposed design is low profile with planar configuration. The design consists of pentagonal slot‐based frequency reconfigurable antenna elements. Varactor diodes are used to change the capacitive reactance of the slot. The MIMO antenna system can be tuned over a frequency band covering 3.2 to 3.9 GHz with at least 100 MHz bandwidth within each band. The proposed antenna covers several commercial standards including WiMAX (3.4‐3.6 GHz), TDD LTE (3.6‐3.8 GHz), and Wi‐Fi 802.11y (3.65‐3.7 GHz), along with several other bands. The proposed design was realized on a board of dimensions 60 × 120 mm². The isolation between adjacent antenna elements is improved using slot‐line based defected ground structures (DGS). The antenna maintains a minimum isolation of 10 dB in its entire covered operating bands. The antenna is also analyzed for its far‐field characteristics and MIMO performance parameters. The proposed design is suitable to be used in mobile handsets for cognitive radio (CR) platforms.     

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.     

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.     

A UWB MIMO slot antenna using defected ground structures for high isolation

In this article, a multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna with high isolation is proposed for ultrawideband (UWB) applications. The proposed MIMO antenna consists of two symmetric slot antenna elements with quasi F‐shaped radiators and L‐shaped open‐slots to increase impedance bandwidth. To improve isolation at the lower band, a decoupling network, composed of a narrow slot and a fork‐shaped slot, is introduced in the common ground. The measured results show that the proposed antenna provides high isolation of better than 20 dB over the operating band from 3 to 10.9 GHz. The performances of the UWB MIMO antenna in terms of radiation patterns, peak gain, envelope correlation coefficient, mean effective gain, and diversity gain are also studied.     

Compact wideband MIMO mobile‐antenna system design using mode‐based decoupling techniques

This work focuses on designing small mobile antennas and their multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) applications. In this study, it was investigated that small mobile antennas can obtain high radiation performance only when a tight coupling with the ground plane is generated through ground‐mode tuning (GMT) of the ground plane. Furthermore, a novel mode‐based decoupling concept is presented for their MIMO applications, based on a four‐port network and by considering the ground‐mode effect. Consequently, the proposed mode‐based decouplers can effectively sustain high radiation performance and improve the isolation while providing low correlation by generating diagonally directed radiation patterns. In the proposed MIMO system, both GMT structures and mode‐based decouplers are implemented utilizing the metal rims around the ground plane, thereby occupying very compact clearance, and the measured MIMO antennas fully covered 0.69 to 1 GHz band with high isolation up to 20 dB and low envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) value below 0.5, sufficiently applicable in mobile devices.     

Compact slot‐loaded ultra‐wideband multiple‐input multiple‐output antenna with fractal‐inspired isolator

In this paper, a compact multielement ultra‐wideband (UWB) multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna is presented. The proposed antenna is designed by integrating novel technique of stub‐loaded slot, split square ring (SSR), and fractal‐inspired isolator. The antenna size is effectively miniaturized by implementing three‐sided symmetrical stub‐loaded Koch slot and square split ring. The impedance bandwidth is broadened by using small notched partial ground plane. The mutual coupling between the element is impressively reduced by isolating the structure with a Sierpinski fractal. As a result, the proposed antenna achieves a UWB response with a very broad impedance bandwidth of 3.1 to 19 GHz. Moreover, the proposed antenna obtains high peak stable gain and diversity gain of up to 10 dBi, lower group delay (<1 ns), and lower envelop correlation coefficient of <.01. The proposed antenna has electrically small dimensions of 35 × 53 × 0.8 mm. With this low‐profile configuration, the proposed antenna is especially a good candidate for portable UWB‐MIMO wireless communication system.     

Compact eight‐port MIMO/diversity antenna with band rejection characteristics

A new compact three‐dimensional multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna comprised of eight antenna elements is presented. The unit cell of the proposed MIMO/diversity antenna consists of three elliptical rings connected together in the region close to the feed line and a rectangular‐shaped modified ground plane. To achieve polarization diversity with the proposed eight‐port MIMO configuration, four antenna elements are horizontally arranged and the remaining four are vertically oriented. The proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth (S₁₁ < ?10 dB) of 25.68 GHz (3.1‐28.78 GHz) with a wireless local area network notch‐band at 5.8 GHz (5.2‐6.5 GHz). In addition to polarization diversity, the proposed antenna provides a reliable link with wireless devices. The prototype antenna design is fabricated and measured for diversity performance. Also, the proposed MIMO antenna provides good performance metrics such as apparent diversity gain, channel capacity loss, envelope correlation coefficient, isolation, mean effective gain, multiplexing efficiency, and total active reflection coefficient.     

Gain enhancement of the ultra‐wideband tapered slot antenna using broadband gradient refractive index metamaterial

In this article, a broadband gradient refractive index (GRIN) metamaterial is designed and used to enhance the gain of the tapered slot antenna (TSA). The proposed GRIN is implemented using nonresonant parallel‐line unit cell with different refractive index values. GRIN lens are placed in front of the tapered slot direction in the direction of x‐axis. The designed GRIN metamaterials have broad bandwidth (2‐12 GHz) characteristics due to the nonresonant parallel‐line elements which is suitable for the ultra‐wideband frequency band. The measurement results indicates that the radiated beam becomes more directive with narrow beam width. The measured reflection coefficient is below ?10 dB over the frequency bandwidth of 3‐11 GHz. The peak gain of TSA is obtained up to 14 dB at 10 GHz using GRIN lens.     

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.     

Compact high isolation wideband 4G and 5G multi‐input multi‐output antenna system for handheld and internet of things applications

This article presents a compact wideband multi‐input multi‐output (MIMO) antenna with a high port‐to‐port isolation, having a height h = 3.5 mm for 4G, 5G, and Internet of things (IoT) applications. Two identical planar inverted‐F antennas (PIFA) are used in this antenna system. For achieving wideband characteristics, closed‐ended and open‐ended rectangular slots are etched out on top plate of each PIFA, whereas a slot is etched in ground plane under the top plate of each PIFA. For achieving high isolation, a rectangular slot is etched out in the center of ground plane between two PIFAs. For further reduction in mutual coupling, a small rectangular strip is connected between the top plates of two PIFAs that introduce an antiresonance for enhancing isolation between two PIFA elements. The minimum isolation obtained between the ports of the two PIFAs is about ?20 dB. The minimum impedance bandwidth obtained by the two PIFAs is from 2 to around 3.6 GHz, thus become a wide band antenna covering WLAN band (2.45GHz), 4G‐LTE bands, WiMAX bands (IMT‐2.1 GHz, IMT‐2.3 GHz, and IMT‐E 2.6 GHz), and a sub‐6 GHz 5G band (3.4‐3.6 GHz). The simulated results are compared with the measured ones that are generally found in good agreement. Being low profile and compact, this antenna can be used for advanced 5G communication systems and IoT devices.     

Isolation enhanced MIMO antenna for software defined networking (SDN) adapted ultrawide band (UBW) radio tech applications

In this paper four element, four-port “enhanced bandwidth reduced radius single stub annular ring slot” (EBRRSS-ARS) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna with isolation enhancement structure is proposed. The prospective antenna with stub in annular slot reduces the mutual coupling has simple and compact structure. The EBRRSS-ARSA resonates at 4.4 GHz with a bandwidth of 0.9 GHz with minimum isolation of 10 dB between its elements. The parametric study for the proposed fabricated antenna agrees well with the measurements.     

A compact wide band textile MIMO antenna with very low mutual coupling for wearable applications

This communication presents a compact wide band wearable MIMO antenna with very low mutual coupling (VLMC). The proposed antenna is composed of Jeans material. Two “I” shaped stubs are connected in series and are employed on the ground plane between the two patches separated by 0.048 λ to increase isolation characteristics of the antenna‐port. The antenna covers frequency spectrum from 1.83 GHz to 8 GHz (about 125.5%) where the minimum port isolation of about 22 dB at 2.4 GHz and maximum of about 53 dB at 5.92 GHz are obtained. The envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) of the MIMO antenna is obtained to be less than 0.01 with a higher diversity gain (DG > 9.6) throughout the whole operating band. The proposed MIMO antenna is cost effective and works over a wide frequency band of WLAN (2.4‐2.484 GHz/5.15‐5.35 GHz/5.72‐5.825 GHz), WiMAX (3.2‐3.85 GHz) and C‐band downlink‐uplink (3.7‐4.2 GHz/5.925‐6.425 GHz) applications. Simulation results are in well agreement with the measurement results.