Arltenna Designer's Notebook

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Tom Milligan

A Compact MIMO Antenna for Wireless Communication

Haili Zhang, Zhihong Wang, Jiawei Yu, and Jia Huang
State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films & Integrated Devices University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Chengdu 610054 China E-mail: wzh@uestc.edu.cn

Abstract
This paper presents the design of a 2.65 GHz MIMO antenna with three equilateral triangular microstrip patches as the antenna elements. The wide-beam characteristics of a triangular-patch antenna, combined with the high gain of each antenna element, improve the SNR and interference rejection of the MIMO system. Through the analysis of mutual coupling and correlation between each pair of antenna ports, it is shown that the antenna achieves good polarization and directivity diversity. A high diversity gain can therefore be achieved. Keywords: MIMO systems; mutual coupling; correlation; microstrip antennas; equilateral triangular patch antenna; diversity methods

1. Introduction
he development of wireless multimedia technology has raised the capacity and reliability requirements of wireless communication systems. It has become increasingly difficult to fulfill these requirements with traditional SISO (single-input single-output) systems, due to the limitations in channel capacity [1, 2]. By using transmitting-diversity, diversity-reception, and channel-coding techniques, MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) systems are able to transmit multiple decorrelated signals, with the same power level, simultaneously through spatially parallel channels. These signals are then received and combined using diversity techniques. One of the main benefits of MIMO systems over traditional SISO systems are their improved capacity and reliability, without increasing transmitted power or bandwidth. In a MIMO system, the antennas not only have a great impact on the
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system's received channel capacity, but they also play an important role in system stability. The design of antenna arrays optimized for different diversity schemes and the impact from the environment on the antenna arrays are important current research topics for MIMO systems [3, 4]. The major requirements of MIMO systems are maximum channel capacity and minimum bit-error rate (BER). To achieve these, the antenna arrays used in MIMO systems are required to have high gain, a wide lobe pattern, and high isolations between antenna elements [5]. This paper presents a MIMO antenna-array design that is realized with three equilateral triangular-patch antennas. The triangular-patch antennas, which have a wide-lobe radiation pattern, are specially arranged such that a good radiation pattern and polarization diversity can be achieved. If the short-circuited triangular-patch antenna described in [6] is used, the bandwidth of the antenna array can be further improved.
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2. Antenna Array Design

The geometry of the MIMO antenna array presented in this paper is shown in Figure 1, and the actual antenna array is shown in Figure 2. The array operates at 2.65 GHz. It consists of three 36 mm equilateral triangular-patch antennas, which are positioned such that their inward-pointing vertices all point toward a point. In each antenna element, there is a feed point located 17 mm away from the vertices. To increase the isolation between each antenna element, the ground plane on the back side is divided into three sections. The antenna array is fabricated on an FR4 substrate, with dimensions of 90 mm x 120 mm, and a thickness of 1.0 mm. Each antenna is fed by a RG178 coaxial cable with an SMA connector.

3. MIMO Antenna Mutual Coupling Analysis

For mobile applications, the spacing between each antenna is generally smaller, even smaller than A/4. In this case, the impact of mutual coupling on antenna perfonnance is no longer negligible. Since mutual coupling causes changes in the current distribution, which result in defonnations of the radiation pattern of each antenna element, the system's perfonnance usually degrades in MISO (multiple-input multiple-output) and SIMO (single-input multiple-output) systems, due to channel correlation [3]. In MIMO systems, while the antenna's perfonnance is degraded due to channel correlation, the defonnation of the radiation pattern induces polarization diversity, which enhances diversity gain and MIMO system perfonnance [3]. Mutual coupling is caused mainly by surface waves and space waves. For planar structures on a thin substrate, the effect of the surface wave can be negligible. The mutual coupling between each antenna element can be obtained by measuring the isolation between each element [7]. Figure 3 shows the isolation characteristics between each antenna element. At about 2.65 GHz, S31 was about -32dB, which was lower than 811 and 813 (these were

Figure 2. The actual antenna array.

0 ...............- . - -.....- . - -.........................

-10

1-----821
- - - - - - - - 823

-20

a -30 ~
...,
~ -50

....831

Figure 3. The isolation between two ports (Sij )

-28 dB and -29 dB, respectively). This was because the dIstance between antennas 1 and 3 was longer than the distances between antennas 2 and the two other antennas, and thus the isolation between antennas 1 and 3 was relatively lower. Nevertheless, the antenna still satisfied the design requirement for isolatic;>n at 2.65 GHz, which was a minimum of -28 dB. The separation of the ground plane increased the isolations between the ports by about 1 dB.

Figure 1. The geometry of the antenna array (dimensions in mm).

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As a result of mutual coupling between antenna elements, the radiation pattern of each element is different from their isolated counterparts. According to the structure of the antenna array (Figure 1), the antenna elements are positioned such that one vertex of each antenna points toward a point; thus, their polarization directions are vertical. Figure 4 shows the E-field radiation pattern of each antenna element, and the respective H-field radiation patterns are shown in Figure 5. According to the figures, the E-field radia105

'I---++--+--+--~e----+--+--~--f 90

180

180

180

Figure 4. The E-field radiation patterns at 2.65 GHz: (a), (b), and (c) correspond to the x-z plane patterns of antenna elements 1,2, and 3, respectively.

90

ISO

180

Figure 5. The H-field radiation patterns at 2.65 GHz: (a), (b), and (c) correspond to the x-y plane patterns of antenna elements 1,2, and 3, respectively.
tion pattern of the center antenna element (i.e., antenna 2) was affected by mutual coupling between the side antennas, and resembled an omnidirectional pattern. Even though antennas 1 and 3 were also affected by mutual coupling, their radiation patterns still retained the characteristics of equilateral triangular-patch antennas. These results were in agreement with those obtained previously from the analysis of isolation between antenna ports. the antenna elements [1]. If a uniform random field is assumed and the antenna losses are not considered, the envelope correlation can be obtained from the S parameters by the following equation [7]:

4. Antenna Diversity Performance

The diversity performance of the MIMO antenna array depends on the cross-correlation and the relative mean power level among the signals delivered from each antenna element. The crosscorrelation of the signals can be characterized by the envelope correlation coefficient, Peij' Following a Rayleigh distribution, the envelope correlation coefficient, Peij' can be obtained from the

The mutual coupling causes the correlation coefficient between each antenna element to increase under some conditions, and at the same time the mutual coupling causes the radiation pattern of each antenna element to deform, which induces diversity gain that causes the correlation coefficients to decrease. Due to the structure of the antenna array shown in Figure 1, all the antenna elements are vertically polarized. This induces a mutual-coupling effect that reduces the correlation between antenna elements. If Pe < 0.7 , the diversity gain is not sensitive to the envelope correlation coefficient. In general, to obtain the characteristic of diversity, Pe < 0.7 at the base station or Pe < 0.5 at the mobile [5]. From the measurements, the correlation coefficient between antenna 1 and antenna 3 was about 0.4, and the correlation coefficient between antenna 2 and the two other antennas (1 and 3) was about 0.5. These values
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 50, No.6, December 2008

complex correlation coefficient, with the relation Peij "'IPcijI2.

From the equation, Peij can be evaluated from either the mutual coupling between antenna ports or from the radiation patterns of
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are sufficient to fulfill the diversity requirements for MIMO systems. In order to receive the multipath signals as much as possible and to increase the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), the antenna arrays used in MIMO systems are often required to have a wide lobe pattern and a high gain. For the antenna array presented in this paper, a triangular-patch antenna was chosen because it has a relatively wide lobe pattern, compared to other patch-antenna designs. According to the E-field radiation patterns shown in Figure 5, the lobe of antennas 1 and 3 was as wide as 120%. The lobe of antenna 2 resembled an omnidirectional pattern due to the cross-coupling effect, which facilitates the reception of multipath signals. The 2.8 dBi gain of each antenna element at the resonance frequency also increases diversity gain, and improves the SNR and interference-rejection properties of the antenna array [1, 8].

6. References
1. M. Karaboikis, C. Soras, G. Tsachtsiris, and V. Makios, "Compact Dual-Printed Inverted-F Antenna Diversity Systems for Portable Wireless Devices," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 3, 2004, pp. 9-14. 2. Hyundong Shin and Jae Hong Lee, "Capacity of MultipleAntenna Fading Channels: Spatial Fading Correlation, Double Scattering, and Keyhole," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory,49, 10, October 2003, pp. 2636-2647. 3. Bruno Clerckx, Christophe Craeye, Danielle VanhoenackerJanvier, and Claude Oestges, "Impact of Antenna Coupling on 2 x 2 MIMO Communications," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 56, 3, June 2007, pp. 1009-1018. 4. Quan Zhou and Huaiyu Dai, "Joint Antenna Selection and Link Adaptation for MIMO Systems," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 55, 1, January 2006, pp. 243-255. 5. Rodney G. Vaughan and 1. Bach Andersen, "Antenna Diversity in Mobile CQmmunications," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 36, 4, November 1987, pp. 149-172. 6. Jeen-Sheen Rowand Yen-Yu Liou, "Broadband Short-Circuited Triangular Patch Antenna," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-54, 7, July 2006, pp. 2137-2141. 7. M. Karaboikis, C. Soras, G. Tsachtsiris and V. Makios, "FourElement Printed Monopole Antenna Systems for Diversity and MTMO Terminal Devices," 17th International Conference on Applied Electromagnetics and Communications, October 1-3, 2003, Dubrovnik, Croatia. 8. Christian Waldschmidt and Werner Wiesbeck, "Compact WideBand Multimode Antennas for MIMO and Diversity," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-52, 8, August 2004,pp.1963-1969.

5. Conclusion
The antenna array presented in this paper operates at 2.65 GHz and consists of three antenna elements. The equilateral triangular-patch antenna elements are arranged in a configuration that provides good polarization and radiation properties, yet is still compact enough to be used in mobile applications. The wide lobe pattern of the triangular-patch antenna elements, combined with the omnidirectional radiation pattern of the center antenna element, allow the antenna array to receive a wide range of multipath signals and to increase the SNR of MIMO systems. The high gain of each antenna element, combined with high isolation characteristics between antenna elements, allows the antenna array to deliver the high diversity gain required by MIMO systems.

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