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.     

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.     

Small‐size four‐element antenna system for 2 × 2 LTE LB and 4 × 4 LTE M/HB MIMO operations in 5G mobile terminals

A small‐size four‐element antenna system for 2 × 2 LTE low band (LB, 698‐960 MHz) and 4 × 4 LTE middle/high band (M/HB, 1710‐2690 MHz) multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) operations in 5G (fifth‐generation) mobile terminals is presented. The proposed antenna system is formed by two identical tunable loop antennas and two identical coupled‐fed IFA (Inverted‐F Antenna) antennas. By loading a RF switch with four output states as tunable component, the proposed loop antenna can not only operate in the M/HB, but also achieve improved bandwidth coverage in the LB. Each coupled‐fed IFA element operating in the M/HB with compact volume. The four antennas are placed on the both short side‐edge of the mobile terminal with small ground clearance of 4.2 mm. The simulated S‐parameters show that the proposed MIMO system can cover 698 to 960 MHz and 1710 to 2690 MHz with reflection coefficients less than ?6 dB and isolations are all more than 12 dB. Good MIMO performances such as radiation efficiencies, envelope correlation coefficient (less than 0.4 within the entire operation bands) and channel capacity are also obtained. The effects of user's hand(s) on performances for the proposed antenna system are also discussed. This four‐element antenna system prototype is fabricated and measured.     

A compact multi‐band multi‐input multi‐output antenna for 4G/5G and IoT devices using theory of characteristic modes

A compact four element multi‐band multi‐input multi‐output (MIMO) antenna system for 4G/5G and IoT applications is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna is developed using the theory of characteristic modes helping in systematic design of MIMO antenna system. It consists of four L‐shaped planar inverted‐F antenna (PIFA) elements each operating at 3.5, 12.5, and 17 GHz bands with the bandwidth of 359 MHz, 1 GHz, and more than 3.7 GHz, respectively. The proposed antenna system is suitable for both 4G/5G and internet of things devices as it shows the satisfactory MIMO system performance. Good isolation characteristics are observed by implementing complimentary Metamaterial structure on the ground plane resulting in isolation level lower than ?21 dB between the antenna elements. The proposed antenna is fabricated and experimental results are also presented and discussed.     

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.     

A Dual‐band and dual‐polarized antenna array for 2G/3G/LTE base stations

A dual‐band antenna array is proposed for the application of base station (BS) in 2G/3G/long term evaluation (LTE) mobile communications. This antenna consists of two independent ±45° dual‐polarized arrays, one of which operates from 1.71 to 2.17 GHz, and the other of which is designed from 2.5 to 2.69 GHz. The proposed BS antenna array has a high isolation of greater than 29 dB and high front‐to‐back ratio of more than 26 dB at the operating frequencies. The measured peak gain is 17.9 and 18.1 dBi for the lower and upper bands, respectively, and the cross polarizations isolation (CPI)(within ±60º of the mainlobe) is 16 dB lower than the broadside co‐polarization. It was confirmed that the proposed antenna array meets the communication standards in China. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 26:154–163, 2016.     

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 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.     

A low‐cost high‐gain dual polarized antenna design from cuboids and shorting strips for base stations

This article presents a novel low‐cost high‐gain dual‐polarized antenna using suspended cuboid and ground connected cuboid geometry. The design structure of the antenna is simple and it's all components are fabricated by a copper sheet of thickness 0.5 mm. The prototype is fabricated and measured and has ?15 dB impedance bandwidths of 33.33%(2.5‐3.5 GHz) with broadside gain of 9.2 ± 0.3 dBi and 32.25%(2.6‐3.6 GHz) with broadside gain 9 ± 0.3 dBi over bandwidths when measured from port 1 and port 2, respectively. The isolation between the ports is enhanced by shorting suspended cuboid from the ground plane and measured one more than 17 dB from 2.45 to 3.7 GHz. The proposed dual polarized antenna can be used for base stations such as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) applications. The antenna is designed and simulated and there are good agreements between simulated and measured results are obtained.     

Design,analysis, and modeling of miniaturized multi‐band patch arrays using mushroom‐type electromagnetic band gap structures

Novel designs of miniaturized multi‐band 1 × 2 patch antenna array with electromagnetic band gap (EBG) for wideband operation are presented in this article. The proposed patch array is composed of three unequal arms fed by CPW‐to‐slotline transitions to widen the impedance bandwidth with multiple resonances. By adding two conventional mushroom‐type EBG (CMT‐EBG) structures on both sides of 100 Ω slotline transitions, the compact wideband patch array (first design) is obtained. This proposed design with CMT‐EBG includes two bands with the measured ranges (S₁₁ ≤ ?10 dB) of 6.65‐6.95 GHz (C‐band) and 8.57‐11.53 GHz (X‐band). Moreover, the proposed 1 × 2 patch array with the 3 × 3 CMT‐EBG array on the one side of the structure (second design) operates at multi‐bands with the measured ?10 dB impedance bandwidths of 5.80‐5.98 GHz, 6.25‐6.47 GHz, and 8.48‐11.52 GHz. The second design compared to the first design introduces a considerable size reduction with more resonance tuning capability. The performance of the proposed designs is analyzed based on the EBG band gap properties near the slotline transitions. These designs with the EBGs indicate prominent features like resonance tuning capability, acceptable miniaturization, and enhanced impedance bandwidth with low‐fabrication cost. In this study, an equivalent circuit model of the proposed first design with EBG is also offered to describe the properties of multi‐band operation.     

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 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.     

A Multiband antenna using plus‐shaped fractal‐like elements and stepped ground plane

A multiband planar symmetrical plus‐shaped fractal monopole antenna with stepped ground plane is presented in this study. Measured results show that the proposed antenna operates with 10 dB return loss bandwidths from 1.630 to 1.88 GHz and from 4.5 to 8.5 GHz covering The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 1800 MHz 2G spectrum band, 4400 to 4900 MHz 5G spectrum band adopted by Japan and China for future 5G communication in sub‐6 GHz band, 5.15 to 5.925 GHz LTE band 46, WLAN IEEE 802.11 y/a/h/j/n/P bands, and 5.8 to 7.707 GHz military band. The antenna gain varies between 1.73 and 1.97 dB in lower band and 3.6 to 5.05 dBi in upper band with radiation efficiencies more than 90% in lower band and more than 80% in upper band. The antenna has more than 64 and 28 dB isolations between the copolar and cross‐polar radiation patterns in the lower and upper bands, respectively.     

A dual‐band dual‐polarized end‐loaded quasi‐open‐sleeve dipole antenna with stable pattern for wireless local area network applications

This article presents a dual‐band dual‐polarized end‐loaded quasi‐open‐sleeve dipole antenna (ELQOSDA) with stable radiation patterns for WLAN applications. The ELQOSDA consists of an end‐loaded planar dipole and two parasitic strips. Dual polarization is obtained by two ELQOSDAs perpendicularly crossing, with some parts overlapped. The unidirectional stable radiation patterns are achieved by adding a square resonance ring between the ground plane and antenna. The ring has little influence on antenna performance at the lower frequency, but improves the coupling currents between the ground and antenna at the upper frequency. As a result, satisfactory dual band and broadside radiation performance is obtained. For demonstration, the proposed antenna is implemented. Measured dual‐band 10‐dB impedance bandwidths are 9.4% (2.33‐2.56 GHz) and 33.5% (4.23‐5.93 GHz) in the lower and upper bands, covering the entire WLAN 2.4/5.2/5.8‐GHz bands. Moreover, the measured antenna has a 6.7‐8.1 dBi broadside gain and stable radiation patterns over the whole operating band.     

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‐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.     

Dual‐band circularly polarized aperture‐coupled stack antenna with fractal patch for WLAN and WiMAX applications

This article presents a novel circular polarized (CP) aperture coupled stack antenna for wireless local area network and worldwide interoperability for microwave access dual‐band systems. The compact stack antenna consisted of square fractal patch, aperture couple, feed line and the perturbation. The square patch is constructed with the complementary Minkowski‐island‐based fractal geometry. By way of adjusting the relevant parameters, we can obtain the dual‐band responses at 3.5 and 5.25 GHz respectively. The CP of each band are presented. The measured 10 dB return loss impedance bandwidth are 270 MHz (7.5%) for 3.5 GHz band and 450 MHz (8.6%) for 5.25 GHz band. The 3 dB axial ratio bandwidths for each bands are 1.4 and 0.76%, the polarization of radiation patterns are both left‐hand CP, and the antenna power gain are 2.84–3.1 and 0.16–2.2, dBic respectively. The proposed antenna is successfully simulated and measured with frequency responses, radiation patterns and current distributions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:130–138, 2014.     

Modified circular common element four‐port multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna using diagonal parasitic element

A four‐port multiple input multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna with common radiating element is proposed for 2.4 GHz Wi‐Fi applications. It comprises a modified circular radiator fed by four identical modified feedlines, partial ground planes, and a diagonal parasitic element (DPE). The parasitic element is used to enhance the interport isolation. The antenna has a 2:1 Voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) impedance band 2.34‐2.56 GHz and nearly omnidirectional radiation patterns. The radiation efficiency is more than 79% and gain is 2 dBi at resonant 2.43 GHz. The isolation in the given frequency band is 10 dB. At the 2.43 GHz, the isolation between adjacent ports (1, 2 and 1, 4) is 14 dB and between opposite ports (1, 3) is 12 dB. The mean effective gain (MEG) ≤ ?2.7 dB and envelope correlation coefficient is <0.01. The ?10 dB total active reflection coefficient bandwidth is 202 MHz. The antenna is designed for a Wi‐Fi device and the effectiveness of antenna has been checked for distance of ½ feet from the human head. The specific absorption rate (SAR) is found to be ≤0.17 W/Kg by CST simulation tool.     

Multiband multiple‐input multiple‐output antenna with high isolation for future 5G smartphone applications

A multiband high‐isolation multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna using balanced mode and coupled neutralization line (NL) is presented in this article. The balanced modes of dipole and loop antennas, which leads to good isolation intrinsically are used for the 8 × 8 MIMO in the LTE bands 42 (3400‐3600 MHz)/Chinese 5G band (3300‐3400 and 3400‐3600 MHz). The unbalanced mode of loop antennas, which optimized by decoupling structure are designed for the 4 × 4 MIMO in the LTE band 40 (2300‐2400 MHz). Therefore, the eight‐antenna array is formed by four dipole elements and four loop elements. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna can cover 2300 to 2400 and 3300 to 3600 MHz, with reflection coefficient better than ?6 dB and isolation higher than 15 dB. Good radiation performance and low envelope correlation coefficient can also be obtained. Specific absorption rate of user's hand is also discussed in this article.