Inverted-L Shaped Wideband MIMO Antenna for Millimeter-Wave 5G Applications

Abstract

Interconnected three-element and four-element wideband MIMO antennas have been proposed for millimeter-wave 5G applications by performing numerical computations and carrying out experimental measurements. The antenna structure is realized using Rogers 5880 substrate (εr = 2.2, tan δ = 0.0009), where the radiating element has the shape of an inverted L with a partial ground. The unit element is carefully designed and positioned (by orthogonally rotating the elements) to form three-element (case 1) and four-element (case 2) MIMO antennas. The interconnected ground for both cases is ascertained to increase the practical utilization of the resonator. The proposed MIMO antenna size is (0.95λ × 3λ) for case 1 and (2.01λ × 1.95λ) for case 2 (at the lowest functional frequency). Both the designs give an impedance bandwidth of approximately 26–40 GHz (43%). Moreover, they achieve greater than 15 dB isolation and more than 6 dBi gain with an ECC value lower than 0.02, which meets the MIMO diversity performance thus making the three-element and four-element MIMO antennas the best choice for millimeter-wave 5G applications.