Dual-band independently tunable 8-element MIMO antenna for 5G smartphones

Abstract

In this paper, a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antenna for future mobile phone applications operating in sub-6 GHza using a novel combination of an E-shaped slot placed on the ground plane and an F-shaped probe is used to achieve a dual-band independently tunable antenna. The proposed antenna is not only self-isolated but it has also effectively achieved high isolation of greater than 17 dB in both 3.5 GHz (3.4 – 3.6 GHz) and 4.7 GHz (4.6 – 4.87 GHz) frequency bands for 8-element MIMO antenna configuration for 5G smartphones. The simple yet compact size of (0.035 λ0▪ 0.23 λ0), of the slot antenna produces a balanced slot mode which not only reduces the ground effects but also improves the isolation between two adjacent input ports. The novelty of the proposed dual-band MIMO antenna is its independent control of each band across a wide frequency band and results demonstrate higher efficiency (64% – 71%) and diversity gain performance in both frequency bands. Furthermore, the antenna is designed by the meticulous configurations of 8-antenna elements without employing any external decoupling structure to attain the desired polarization diversity. The prototype of this 8-element MIMO antenna is also fabricated and measured to validate its simulated performance. The simple structure of the proposed design and high efficiency makes it a promising candidate for 5G smartphones.