A Quad-Port Design of a Bow-Tie Shaped Slot Loaded Wideband (24.2–30.8GHz) MIMO Antenna Array for 26/28GHz mm-Wave 5G NR n257/n258/n260 Band Applications

Abstract

This paper describes a four-port MIMO antenna array design featuring bow-tie-shaped slot-loaded patches with wideband capabilities that cover the frequency range from 24.2[Formula: see text]GHz to 30.8[Formula: see text]GHz. The proposed antenna design is printed on an FR4 substrate and occupies an area of 25[Formula: see text]×[Formula: see text]24[Formula: see text]mm2. The MIMO antenna consists of four antenna arrays that are symmetrically placed in an upper-lower configuration. The bow-tie-shaped slots loaded radiators are separated horizontally by 3.48[Formula: see text]mm and vertically by 5.94[Formula: see text]mm. Each antenna array contains two elements that are separated by a distance of wavelength/4. The suggested MIMO antenna array delivers a high gain of 19.09[Formula: see text]dB at 27.8[Formula: see text]GHz and has a bandwidth of 6.6[Formula: see text]GHz that covers the frequency band of 24.2–30.8[Formula: see text]GHz. The research demonstrates the quality of the proposed MIMO antenna through various diversity parameters such as mutual coupling, port correlation, diversity gain, and data rate that can be transmitted over a communication medium. The simulation results are validated and found to be consistent with the experimental results. The presented antenna covers the entire bandwidth allocated to different regions, including Europe (24.25–27.5[Formula: see text]GHz), Sweden (26.5–27.5[Formula: see text]GHz), USA (27.5–28.35[Formula: see text]GHz), China (24.25–27.5[Formula: see text]GHz), Japan (27.5–28.28[Formula: see text]GHz), and Korea (26.5–29.5[Formula: see text]GHz). The proposed MIMO antenna design could be an excellent option for 26/28[Formula: see text]GHz 5G NR n257, n258, and n260 bands under mm-wave wireless communication systems.