Mutual coupling reduction in a textile ultra-wide band MIMO antenna

Abstract

This paper presents a mutual coupling reduction technique in a textile ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system implemented on a textile substrate. The compact textile UWB MIMO antenna consists of two patch antennas implemented on a felt textile substrate. The compact size and close placement of the antennas in a MIMO system cause higher mutual coupling which deteriorates the performance of the communication systems. To minimize the mutual coupling, Parasitic Elements and Defected Ground Structures are used in the designed textile UWB MIMO antenna. The MIMO antenna performed very well over almost the whole UWB frequencies ranging from 3.29 GHz to 13.3 GHz. The simulated and the measured parameters showed a good impedance matching with an impedance bandwidth of 133.4%. The results showed an improvement of 20 dB isolation at certain frequencies without impacting the reflection coefficient S11 and the antenna impedance bandwidth. The MIMO antenna has good diversity performance parameters in terms of Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC), Diversity Gain, Mean Effective Gain (MEG) and radiation pattern and the results indicate that the textile antenna is suitable for UWB MIMO applications. The overall size of the antenna is 30x60 mm2. Fully embroidered structure provides freedom of movement and comfort, so it is a good fit for Wireless Body Area Network applications.