A low-profile, high gain, dual-port, planar array antenna for mm-wave powered 5G IoT systems

Abstract

A dual-port, corporate-series fed, planar 8 × 2 rectangular patch compact antenna array with a very high gain is introduced for 28 GHz millimeter wave (mm-wave) communication in 5G Internet of Things (IoT) systems. In the proposed design, successive radiating elements are excited with the same amplitude but opposite phase through two separate feed networks associated with two different ports. To ensure the reliability of the proposed design, a prototype is fabricated and tested. Testing indicates that the measured results closely follow the simulated results, which proves the accuracy of the proposed design. The measured performance specifies that the dual-port antenna array provides impedance bandwidth of 4.3% operating from 27.6–28.8 GHz for |S11|≤−10 dB, the radiation efficiency of 78%, and gain of 18.2 dB. Measured radiation characteristics verified that the proposed array directs maximum power towards broadside with half-power beam widths (HPBWs) of 24.6°and 9.6°, side lobe levels (SLLs) <−18.3 dB and <−10 dB, as well as cross-polarization levels <−41.16 dB and <−42.51 dB in E plane and H plane, respectively. Due to the very high gain, directional radiation pattern, and low SLLs, the proposed array antenna can be used for mm-wave powered communication in IoT 5G devices.