A Technique for MIMO Antenna Design With Flexible Element Number and Pattern Diversity

• Main Authors: Yasin Kabiri, Alejandro L. Borja, James R. Kelly, Pei Xiao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2019-01-01
• Series: IEEE Access
• Subjects: MIMO antenna; pattern diversity; isolation reduction
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8706884/

This paper presents a new technique for designing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas having pattern diversity. Massive MIMO is expected to form a part of 5G communications and will require antennas having a very large number of elements. However, due to the size limitation, it is highly challenging to preserve high isolation between the ports. Pattern diversity technique is also highly desirable and can facilitate MIMO systems with diversity gain. However, achieving that within a compact antenna, where there is limited space between the elements, is also challenging. In this paper, a technique is introduced and applied to four- and six-element MIMO antennas. This technique can improve the isolation between the ports, and it also yields pattern diversity for MIMO antennas with various numbers of elements. The technique is verified via the experimental measurement.