FSS inspired two port CP MIMO antenna with enhanced gain for X-band applications

Abstract

In this work, a dual-port circularly polarized (CP) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna equipped with frequency selective surface (FSS) for X-band applications is designed and analyzed. The antenna system aims to enhance gain, a critical parameter like isolation radiation pattern, etc. In wireless communication systems working in the X-band frequency range. The present MIMO antenna consists of two parts that provide coverage for the whole frequency band of 7.6–11.6 GHz, specifically for X-band communication applications. As a decoupled network, the meander line architecture greatly improves isolation. The MIMO antenna's measurements include 25 × 30 × 1 mm3. To improve the antenna's peak gain even further, a FSS is placed below the present MIMO antenna at 10.5 mm. The whole volume of the FSS-inspired composite structure is 50 × 60 × 11.6 mm3. By correctly incorporating the FSS array with the antenna's structure and utilizing its frequency-selective properties, gain improvement can be attained. Without FSS, the antenna's gain is 4.8 dBi and it is enhanced by 21 % and the maximum value of gain is 15 dBi in the desired frequency spectrum. The efficiency of the proposed FSS-inspired structure is >84.2% in the operating frequency band. To evaluate the MIMO performance of the current antenna, several attributes are evaluated. On the evaluation, it is found that the present MIMO antenna has an envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) < 0.004, a diversity gain (DG) over 9.99, measured mean effective gain (MEG) below 3 dB, and CCL of less than 0.4 bits/s/Hz throughout the resonant frequency spectrum. Through modeling and experimental testing, the current MIMO antenna model is created and verified.