A frequency reconfigurable MIMO antenna with agile feedline for cognitive radio applications

A novel frequency agile multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) patch antenna based on a reconfigurable feedline is proposed. The proposed antenna structure has two hexagonal‐shaped patch antenna elements. A defected ground structure having hexagonal shape is included in the ground plane to make the design compact and improve isolation among antenna elements. Further compactness is achieved using reactive loading. Frequency reconfigurability is realized by employing varactor diodes in the microstrip feedline. The proposed antenna achieves a frequency reconfigurable band with wide tuning range from 1.42 to 2.27 GHz with good gain and efficiency. Furthermore, an envelope correlation coefficient value of less than 0.2 and minimum isolation of 12 dB was achieved, displaying good MIMO performance. The presented antenna has a planar, low profile design with compact size of 100 × 50 mm². Thus, frequency agility, wide range tuning, compactness, and planar structure of the proposed antenna design make it suitable for modern wireless handheld devices particularly in cognitive radio applications.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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 tri‐band MIMO antenna based on quarter‐mode slotted substrate‐integrated‐waveguide cavity

A compact tri‐band multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna based on a quarter‐mode slotted substrate‐integrated‐waveguide (SIW) cavity is proposed. By etching a wide slot, a single SIW cavity is divided into two sub‐cavities with the same size. They are fed by coaxial ports to form two MIMO elements and high antenna isolation can be achieved by this slot. To obtain multi‐band operations, two narrow slots are cut in the upper sub‐cavity and the other two slots are etched in the lower sub‐cavity. Three eighth‐mode resonances with different areas can simultaneously occur in these antenna elements. A prototype with the overall size of 0.34λ₀ × 0.34λ₀ has been fabricated. The measured center frequencies of three operating bands are 2.31, 2.91, and 3.35 GHz, respectively. The measured gain at above frequencies is 4.52, 4.29, and 4.57 dBi, respectively. Moreover, the measured isolation is higher than 16.7 dB within the frequency of interest.     

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 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.     

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.     

A vertex‐fed hexa‐band frequency reconfigurable antenna for wireless applications

Present article embodies the design and analysis of an octagonal shaped split ring resonator based multiband antenna fed at vertex for wireless applications with frequency‐band reconfigurable characteristics. The proposed antenna is printed on FR4 substrate with electrical dimension of 0.4884 λ × 0.4329 λ × 0.0178 λ (44 × 39 × 1.6 mm³), at lower frequency of 3.33 GHz. The antenna consists of SRR based vertex fed octagonal ring as the radiation element and switchable reclined L‐shaped slotted ground plane. Antenna achieves six bands for wireless standards viz: upper WLAN (5.0/5.8 GHz), lower WiMAX (3.3 GHz), super extended C‐band (6.6 GHz), middle X band (9.9 GHz—for space communication), and lower K_U band (15.9 GHz—for satellite communication systems operating band). Stable radiation patterns are observed for the operating bands with low cross polarization. The proposed design achieves hexa band characteristics during switching ON state of PIN diode located at reclined L‐shaped slot in the ground plane. Experimental characteristic of antenna shows close agreement with those obtained by simulation of the proposed antenna.     

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.     

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.     

Dual‐band and enhanced‐isolation MIMO antenna with L‐shaped meta‐rim extended ground stubs for 5G mobile handsets

A novel compact planar dual‐band multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna with four radiating elements for 5G mobile communication is proposed. Each radiating element has a planar folded monopole, which is surrounded by L‐shaped meta‐rim extended ground stubs. The compact folded arms act as the main radiating elements, while combined with the L‐shaped meta‐rim stubs, the proposed antenna forms multiple resonances so as to achieve dual‐band coverage. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna has two wide bands of ?6 dB return loss, consisting of 1.6 to 3.6 and 4.1 to 6.1 GHz, respectively. Without any additional isolation structure between the elements, the isolation for the proposed 2 × 2 MIMO antenna in both desired bands can be achieved better than 12 dB. The measured results show that the proposed MIMO antenna with good performance, that is, stable radiation patterns, high efficiencies, low specific absorption ratio (SAR) to human tissues, is suitable for WLAN/LTE, 4G and future 5G mobile phone applications.     

Multi‐standard,multi‐band planar multiple input multiple output antenna with diversity effects for wireless applications

Wireless generations require the miniaturized radiating elements for the portable devices. This research article presents a miniaturized multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna for IEEE 802.11 (WLAN) and IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) wireless standards. The multi‐standard, multi‐band MIMO with 1 × 2 diversity arms is impedance matched with 50 Ω microstrip line on FR‐4 dielectric substrate having dielectric constant 4.4 and 1.524 mm thickness. The simple low profile design covers16.46% (2.23‐2.64 GHz) and 12.37% (3.26‐3.70 GHz) microwave frequency bands, with voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) ≤ 2 achieves more than 12.5 dB of isolation between radiating ports. The proposed MIMO with inverted L shaped slot exhibits more than 73% efficiency, and more than 4 dBi gain at resonant frequencies. The presented MIMO is designed on FR‐4 dielectric substrate of size 45.1 × 90.2 mm². The compact size of the radiating element is 6.7 × 6.7 mm². The effect of radiations on the body has been evaluated using specific absorption rate (SAR) and found to be in safety limit.     

A low‐profile quad‐port UWB MIMO antenna using defected ground structure with dual notch‐band behavior

A compact (45 × 45 × 1.6 mm³) ultrawide‐band (UWB), multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) design using microstrip line feeding is presented. The proposed design comprises four elliptical monopoles placed orthogonally on a cost‐effective FR‐4 substrate. In order to improve the impedance bandwidth and lessen the return loss of the MIMO antenna, defects in ground plane are created by etching symmetrical square slots and half‐rings. Moreover, a different method (of unsymmetrical H‐shaped slot with C‐shaped slot) was proposed into the patch to introduce dual‐band rejection performance from UWB at center frequency 5.5 GHz (covering lower WLAN as well as upper WLAN) and 7.5 GHz (X band). In addition, a stub is introduced at the edge of each defected ground structure to obtain isolation >–22 dB covering entire performing band from 2 to 16.8 GHz (where, S₁₁ < –10 dB). The proposed design has miniaturized size, very low envelop correlation coefficient less than 0.1, stable gain (2‐4 dBi except for notch bands). Furthermore, various MIMO performance parameters are within their specifications, such as diversity gain (= 10 dB), total active reflection coefficient (<–5 dB, and channel capacity loss (<0.35 bits/s/Hz). The presented design is optimized using the HFSS software, and fabricated design is tested using vector network analyzer. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Compact four‐port MIMO antenna on slotted‐edge substrate with dual‐band rejection characteristics

A compact ultra‐wideband (UWB) multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna with dual band elimination characteristics is presented. The proposed MIMO antenna is comprised of four identical elliptical shaped monopole radiators located orthogonally to each other. A second order Koch fractal geometry is applied on the edges of the ground planes of the radiating elements; to reduce the overall size of the MIMO antenna, without compromising the lower frequency response. Further, in order to eliminate the undesired resonant bands (3.5 and 5.5 GHz) from UWB, an elliptical complementary split ring resonator is introduced in the monopole radiator. For reducing inter‐element coupling in the proposed MIMO antenna, a different approach (of slotted edge substrate) is used, as a substitute of traditional decoupling stub/elements. In the entire operating band of 3 to 13.5 GHz, inter‐element isolation more than 22 dB and envelope correlation coefficient less than 0.008 are obtained. The measured parameters of the fabricated prototype antenna are found in good agreement with the simulated results.     

Compact dual‐band antenna based on CRLH‐TL for WWAN/LTE terminal applications

In this article, a compact dual‐band antenna based on composite right/left‐handed transmission line (CRLH‐TL) is proposed for WWAN/LTE wireless terminal applications. By using 2 symmetrical CRLH structures, the proposed antenna can easily produce 2 wide separate operating frequency bands with a compact size of 25 × 25 × 6 mm³. Additionally, a pair of matching strips is introduced on both sides of the feeding line to further improve the impedance characteristics of the terminal antenna. The experimental results demonstrate the proposed antenna is capable of working over the frequency ranges of 0.66‐1.06 GHz and 1.68‐2.88 GHz with |S₁₁| < ?6 dB, which can cover the bands of LTE700, GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS, LTE2300, and LTE2500 for wireless terminals. Moreover, the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) operating performance of the proposed antenna element is also studied, and an enhanced isolation between the antenna elements is obtained by utilizing the defected ground structures and grounded branches.