Compact Shared-Aperture Dual-Band Dual-Polarized Array Using Filtering Slot Antenna and Dual-Function Metasurface

Abstract

This article presents a shared-aperture dual-band dual-polarized antenna array for fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication. Within one radiating aperture, four higher band (HB) patch antenna elements are placed over the lower band (LB) full-wavelength slot antenna. The proposed array is miniaturized by bending the ground plane of the slot antenna. Suppression of cross-band mutual coupling and scattering is achieved by using the filtering performance of the slot antenna and a dual-function metasurface. The filtering performance of the slot antenna is realized using coupled microstrip lines inside the radiating slot and open-ended stubs on the feeding lines. The dual-function metasurface operates as an artificial magnetic conductor reflector in the LB and bandpass frequency-selective surface in the HB. By placing the dual-function metasurface behind the slot antenna, the radiation of the slot antenna is enhanced in the LB but not HB, and the negative effect of its HB scattering on the HB antennas is reduced. The working mechanism is explained in detail. The measured and simulated results demonstrate that the proposed array has stable radiation patterns in the bands of 0.69–0.96 and 3.4–3.7 GHz with a high cross-band isolation of over 32 dB and is more compact than the previous works.