Nature Inspired MIMO Antenna System for Future mmWave Technologies

Four port tri-circular ring MIMO antenna with wide-band characteristics for future 5G and mmWave applications

MIMO (Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output) antenna systems are promising for fifth-generation (5G) networks, offering lower latency and higher data rates. These systems utilize millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency bands for efficient transmission and reception of multiple data simultaneously, enhancing overall efficiency and performance. This article presents a compact size, wide band tri-circular ring mmWave MIMO antenna with suitable performance characteristics for next-generation communication systems. The MIMO system consists of a tri-circular ring patch with slots on a ground plane. The four elements of the antenna are arranged together in the polarization diversity configuration with overall dimensions of 23×18×0.254 mm3, and designed on a 0.254 mm thin, flexible RO5880 substrate with a relative permittivity of 2.3 using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) 2022. The proposed antenna design shows the impedance bandwidth of 14 GHz with isolation >18 dB throughout the 26-40 GHz resonance band. The obtained gain is 6.6 dBi at 28 GHz with radiation efficiency > 90%. Several MIMO parameters are also investigated, such as Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC), Mean Effective Gain (MEG), Diversity Gain (DG), Total Active Reflection Co-efficient (TARC), and Channel Capacity Loss (CCL), and are found to be within the accepted limits for a practical MIMO system. Furthermore, the fabricated MIMO antenna was tested, and the measured results aligned favorably with the simulated results, confirming the suitability of the proposed design. Through the obtained results, the mmWave MIMO antenna is suitable for practical 5G as well as mmWave applications due to its lightweight, simple design, and wideband characteristics, which cover the 5G frequency bands of 26, 28, 32, and 38 GHz.

Dual-polarized 8-port sub 6 GHz 5G MIMO diamond-ring slot antenna for smart phone and portable wireless applications

This manuscript presents high performance dual polarized eight-element multiple input multiple output (MIMO) fifth generation (5G) smartphone antenna. The design consists of four dual-polarized microstrip diamond-ring slot antennas, positioned at corners of printed circuit board (PCB). Cheap Fr-4 dielectric with permittivity 4.3 and thickness of 1.6mm is used as substrate with overall dimension of 150 × 75 × 1.6 mm3. In mobile system due to limited space mutual coupling between nearby antenna elements is an issue that distort MIMO antenna performance. Defected ground structure is used to control coupling. The defected ground structure has advantages like ease of fabrication, compact size and high efficiency as compare to other techniques. Less than 30dB coupling is achieved for adjacent elements. The -10 dB impedance bandwidth of 700 MHz is achieved for all radiating elements ranging from 3.3 GHz to 4.1 GHz. The value is about 900MHz for -6dB. The proposed antenna offers good results in terms of fundamental antenna parameters like reflection coefficient, transmission coefficient, maximum gain, total efficiency. The antenna achieved average gain more than 3.8dBi and average radiation efficiency more than 80% for single dual polarized element. The antenna provides sufficient radiation coverage in all sides. The MIMO antenna characteristics like diversity gain (DG), envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), total active reflection coefficient (TARC) and channel capacity are calculated and found according to standards. Furthermore, effect of user on antenna performance in data-mode and talk-mode are studied. Proposed design is fabricated and tested in real time. The measured results shows that proposed design can be used in future smartphones applications. The design is compared with some of the existing work and found to be the best one in many parameters and can be used for commercial use.

A Novel High Isolation 4-Port Compact MIMO Antenna with DGS for 5G Applications

This paper presents the design and realization of a simple and low-profile, four-port multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna operating in a mm-wave band supporting 5G communication technologies. As part of the design methodology, the initial stage involved the development of a conventional monopole patch antenna optimized for operation at 26 GHz, which was matched to a 50 Ω stepped feed line. Afterward, a square-shaped defected ground structure (DGS) with semi-circle slots on the edges was placed on the ground to improve the isolation, and the circular and rectangular slots were incorporated as DGSs to optimize the antenna impedance bandwidth. Etching semi-circular-shaped slots on the ground plane achieved more than 34.2 dB isolation in the 26 GHz operating band. In addition, an arrangement of four symmetrical radiating elements was positioned orthogonally to minimize the antenna's physical size and improve the isolation. The proposed MIMO antenna's overall dimension was 25 × 25 mm2, which was printed on a Rogers 5880 substrate at a width of 0.787 mm and εr = 2.2. The proposed antenna covered the 5G mm-wave band with a 10 dB bandwidth ranging from 25.28-28.02 GHz, whereas the maximum gain attained for the proposed structure was 8.72 dBi. Additionally, the implementation of these slots effectively mitigated mutual coupling, resulting in reduced envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) values. Furthermore, other MIMO performance metrics, including channel capacity loss (CCL), mean effective gain (MEG), and diversity gain (DG), were analyzed for the proposed structure. The obtained results indicate its suitability for various usage areas, such as smart devices, mobile phones, and sensors in 5G applications.

A Four Element mm-Wave MIMO Antenna System with Wide-Band and High Isolation Characteristics for 5G Applications

In this article, we propose a light weight, low profile Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna system for compact 5th Generation (5G) mmwave devices. Using a RO5880 substrate that is incredibly thin, the suggested antenna is made up of circular rings stacked vertically and horizontally on top of one another. The single element antenna board has dimensions of 12 × 12 × 0.254 mm3 while the size of the radiating element is 6 × 2 × 0.254 mm3 (0.56λ0 × 0.19λ0 × 0.02λ0). The proposed antenna showed dual band characteristics. The first resonance showed a bandwidth of 10 GHz with a starting frequency of 23 GHz to an ending frequency point of 33 GHz followed by a second resonance bandwidth of 3.25 GHz ranging from 37.75 to 41 GHz, respectively. The proposed antenna is transformed into a four element Linear array system with size of 48 × 12 × 0.254 mm3 (4.48λ0 × 1.12λ0 × 0.02λ0). The isolation levels at both resonance bands were noted to be >20 dB which shows high levels of isolation among radiating elements. The MIMO parameters such as Envelope Correlation Co-efficient (ECC), Mean Effective Gain (MEG) and Diversity Gain (DG) were derived and were found to be in satisfactory limits. The proposed MIMO system model is fabricated and through validation and testing of the prototype, the results were found to be in good agreement with simulations.

A Miniaturized Full-Ground Dual-Band MIMO Spiral Button Wearable Antenna for 5G and Sub-6 GHz Communications

A detachable miniaturized three-element spirals radiator button antenna integrated with a compact leaky-wave wearable antenna forming a dual-band three-port antenna is proposed. The leaky-wave antenna is fabricated on a denim (ε_r = 1.6, tan δ = 0.006) textile substrate with dimensions of 0.37 λ₀ × 0.25 λ₀ × 0.01 λ₀ mm³ and a detachable rigid button of 20 mm diameter (on a PTFE substrate ε_r = 2.01, tan δ = 0.001). It augments users' comfort, making it one of the smallest to date in the literature. The designed antenna, with 3.25 to 3.65 GHz and 5.4 to 5.85 GHz operational bands, covers the wireless local area network (WLAN) frequency (5.1-5.5 GHz), the fifth-generation (5G) communication band. Low mutual coupling between the ports and the button antenna elements ensures high diversity performance. The performance of the specific absorption rate (SAR) and the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) are also examined. The simulation and measurement findings agree well. Low SAR, <-0.05 of LCC, more than 9.5 dBi diversity gain, dual polarization, and strong isolation between every two ports all point to the proposed antenna being an ideal option for use as a MIMO antenna for communications.

Planar MIMO antenna for mmWave applications: Evolution, present status & future scope

The increased traffic in e-commerce, cloud-based processing, social media, and online video streaming demands higher data rates. The current 4G has reached the bottleneck, due to which it may not be able to fulfill the high data demand, so the focus is drifting toward millimeter wave (mmWave). The mmWave spectrum ranging from 30 to 300 GHz offers wide bandwidth with low latency, which finds its application in various communication fields, including 5G cellular. Despite its atmospheric attenuation and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation, most countries are currently adopting mmWave 5G at the 28/38 GHz band due to less atmospheric attenuation, low path loss exponent, and low signal spread at these bands. The single-element patch antenna is a compact solution for mmWave applications, but its performance is inferior in terms of bandwidth, gain, and radiation efficiency. The array antennas have overcome these demerits, as it has shown a significant increase in bandwidth, gain, and radiation efficiency. Still, it has a limitation on data rate support. As a result, Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology can increase the data rate to 1000 times through spatial diversity and multiplexing techniques. So, to refine the performance further, there is a need to comprehend the MIMO antenna structures designed so far at mmWave. This paper presents the planar MIMO antenna structures developed so far, categorized here as slot, coplanar waveguide, defected ground structures, tapered/Vivaldi, meta-surface/metamaterial, dielectric resonator, and flexible antennas. The performance of these designs is compared based on bandwidth, gain, isolation, efficiency, and radiation pattern. This article also discusses the effects of slots, partial ground, and decoupling structures on impedance matching, bandwidth, and isolation levels. Also, a thorough discussion of the design issues and future work to be undertaken is discussed in this here.

Multiport Single Element Mimo Antenna Systems: A Review

In response to the increasing demand for voice, data, and multimedia applications, the next generation of wireless communication systems is projected to provide faster data rates and better service quality to customers. Techniques such as Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) and diversity are being studied and implemented to meet the needs of next-generation wireless communication systems. Embedding multiple antennas into the same antenna system is seen as a promising solution, which can improve both the system's channel capacity and the communication link's quality. However, for small handheld and portable devices, embedding many antennas into a single device in a small area and at the same time providing good isolation becomes a challenge. Hence, designing a shared antenna system with multiple feed ports with equivalent or better performance characteristics as compared to the approach of multiple antennas with multiple feed ports is a promising advantage which can reduce the size and cost of manufacturing. This paper intends to provide an in-depth review of different MIMO antenna designs with common radiators covering various antenna design aspects such as isolation techniques, gain, efficiency, envelope correlation coefficient, and size, etc. There is also a discussion of the mathematical concepts of MIMO and different isolation techniques, as well as a comparative analysis of different shared radiator antenna designs. The literature review shows that only very few antennas' design with common radiator have been suggested in the available literature at present. Therefore, in this review paper, we have endeavored to study different antennas' designs with common radiator. A comparison is provided of their performance improvement techniques in a holistic way so that it can lead to further develop the common radiator multiport antenna systems and realize the promising advantages they offer.

Inverted-L Shaped Wideband MIMO Antenna for Millimeter-Wave 5G Applications

Interconnected three-element and four-element wideband MIMO antennas have been proposed for millimeter-wave 5G applications by performing numerical computations and carrying out experimental measurements. The antenna structure is realized using Rogers 5880 substrate (εr = 2.2, tan δ = 0.0009), where the radiating element has the shape of an inverted L with a partial ground. The unit element is carefully designed and positioned (by orthogonally rotating the elements) to form three-element (case 1) and four-element (case 2) MIMO antennas. The interconnected ground for both cases is ascertained to increase the practical utilization of the resonator. The proposed MIMO antenna size is (0.95λ × 3λ) for case 1 and (2.01λ × 1.95λ) for case 2 (at the lowest functional frequency). Both the designs give an impedance bandwidth of approximately 26–40 GHz (43%). Moreover, they achieve greater than 15 dB isolation and more than 6 dBi gain with an ECC value lower than 0.02, which meets the MIMO diversity performance thus making the three-element and four-element MIMO antennas the best choice for millimeter-wave 5G applications.

mmWave Four-Element MIMO Antenna for Future 5G Systems

This paper presents an S-shape four-port Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) wideband mmWave antenna with bandwidth of 25 GHz to 39 GHz. The antenna is designed on 0.254 mm ultra-thin RO5880 with permittivity of 2.3. The dimensions of proposed S-shape antenna are 10 × 12 mm for single element and 24 × 24 mm for four-port MIMO configuration. A decoupling network is introduced to further compress mutual coupling among MIMO elements. The peak gain achieved is 7.1 dBi and MIMO assembly delivers diversity scheme. The proposed MIMO antenna is fabricated, and simulated results are found to be in excellent agreement with simulations. Through the results obtained, the proposed MIMO antenna system can be considered as a potential candidate for future mmWave devices.

Four-Port MIMO Antenna System for 5G n79 Band RF Devices

In this article, a compact four-port MIMO antenna system resonating from 4.7–5.1 GHz on −6 dB criteria is discussed. The proposed antennas are arranged in a perpendicular manner providing diversity with good isolation characteristics. The proposed antenna was fabricated and designed on a commercially available low-cost FR-4 substrate with a relative permittivity of 4.4. The total size of the antenna is 40 × 40 mm2, and a minimum isolation of 25 dB was observed at most nearby resonating elements. The proposed antenna was fabricated and tested at an in-house facility, and the measured results agree well with the simulations. The MIMO antenna characteristics, such as the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) among any two radiating elements, have been found to be less than 0.1, and the diversity gain (DG) value evaluated showed that the proposed antenna is well designed. Furthermore, the SAR analysis showed that the desired antenna system is safe for users, with a value of 0.94 W/Kg. The channel capacity (cc) was found to be 18.7 bps/Hz, approximately 2.7 times more than SISO systems. Through its robust and reliable performance and its peak gain of 2.8 dBi, the proposed compact antenna is a good candidate for future 5G devices.

E-Shaped H-Slotted Dual Band mmWave Antenna for 5G Technology

The aim of this work is to propose a dual band millimeter wave (mmwave) MIMO antenna system for 5G technology. In addition, the arrangement of the antenna elements in an array should be in such a manner that without using the traditional decoupling structures and/or techniques, a reasonable isolation level must be achieved. To demonstrate this, a system consists of four radiating elements that are etched on a 0.508 mm-thick Rogers-5880 substrate. The dielectric constant of the substrate is 2.2 and the loss tangent is 0.0009. Each radiating element consists of three parts; an E-shaped patch, an H-shaped slot within a patch, and a transmission line. The system is resonating at two different mmwave frequencies, i.e., 28 GHz and 38 GHz with a minimum port isolation of 28 dB. The mean measured gain is found to be at 7.1 dBi at 28 GHz and 7.9 dBi at 38 GHz with average efficiency, and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) of the system at 70%, and 0.0005 respectively. The proposed system is designed and simulated in a full-wave electromagnetic wave software Computer Simulation Technology (CST), fabricated using LPKF D104 milling machine, and measured using R&SZNA67 vector network analyzer. An excellent agreement is observed between the simulated and the measured results and a detailed comparison with the previous works is also presented. Due to attributes such as low-cost, easy to fabricate, and dual-band, it is believed that this system will find its application for future 5G systems.

A Novel Hook-Shaped Antenna Operating at 28 GHz for Future 5G mmwave Applications

To address atmospheric attenuation and path loss issues in the mmwave portion of the spectrum, high gain and narrow beam antenna systems are essential for the next generation communication networks. This paper presents a novel hook-shaped antenna array for 28 GHz 5G mmwave applications. The proposed antenna was fabricated on commercially available Rogers 5880 substrate with thickness of 0.508 mm and dimensions of 10 × 8 mm2. The proposed shape consists of a circle with an arc-shaped slot on top of it and T-shaped resonating lengths are introduced in order to attain broad band characteristics having gain of 3.59 dBi with radiation and total efficiency of 92% and 86% for single element. The proposed structure is transformed into a four-element array with total size of 26.9 × 18.5 mm2 in order to increase the gain up to 10.3 dBi at desired frequency of interest. The four-element array is designed such that it exhibits dual-beam response over the entire band of interest and the simulated results agree with fabricated prototype measurements. The proposed antenna array, because of its robustness, high gain, and dual-beam characteristics can be considered as a potential candidate for the next generation 5G communication systems.