This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
An Extremely Low-Profile Wideband MIMO
Antenna for 5G Smart-phones
Da Qing Liu, He Jia Luo, Ming Zhang, Huai Lin Wen, Bin Wang and Jun Wang
 MIMO antenna in mobile devices. The block is formed by two
Abstract—A low-profile MIMO antenna is proposed for
applications in mobile devices. The antenna is designed by placing
multiple inverted-F antennas (IFAs) on an artificial magnetic
conductor (AMC) ground. The IFAs excite two distinct modes on
the AMC, i.e., the local resonant mode and the TM0 surface wave
mode. By combining the two modes, a fractional bandwidth of
12% is realized with a profile of 0.01, where  is the free-space
wavelength at the center frequency. Within the working band, the
radiation efficiencies are higher than 50%, the mutual couplings
among antennas lower than -10dB and envelope correlation
coefficients (ECCs) lower than 0.2. To validate the antenna design,
a MIMO antenna with 8 elements is fabricated and measured. The
antenna can work from 3.4GHz to 3.8GHz. The total thickness of
the antenna is only 0.97mm, which can be integrated into smart-
phones as their back-covers without occupying inner space of the
device. The throughput achieved by the antenna in an outdoor
environment is also tested using a 5G MIMO system. The MIMO
performance will be discussed and compared with traditional
antennas.
Index Terms—AMC, low-profile antenna, 5G, MIMO antenna,
mobile device
I. INTRODUCTION
W IRELESS communication has experienced a rapid
development in the past decades. The fifth generation
(5G) cellular network are expected to be deployed in the near
future. From the released plans, the 3300-3800MHz band will
be the primary 5G band with potentials for global
harmonization.
In the 5G network, multiple antennas will be applied at both
transmitting (Tx) and receiving (Rx) sides, which is known as
MIMO technology. Several MIMO antennas have been
proposed for mobile devices [1]-[8]. In [1], a printed handset
MIMO antenna is presented, which is consist of 8 modified
PIFAs operating at GSM1900, LTE2300 and LTE2500 bands.
All the mutual couplings are below -10dB and the ECCs below
0.1. In [2], a dual-polarized hybrid eight-antenna array
operating in the 2.6GHz band is presented for 5G operation in
the smartphone. The antenna is composed of two different four-
antenna array types that exhibit orthogonal polarization,
therefore, the mutual couplings between the two arrays are
reduced. In [3], a two-antenna building block is proposed for
Manuscript received May 14, 2018; revised Oct 23, 2018 and Jan 30, 2019;
accepted Mar 8, 2019. This work was supported by the Wireless Technology
Laboratory of Huawei Technologies.
The authors are with the Wireless Technology Laboratory, 2012 Labs,
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, Hangzhou, China (e-mail: liudaqing@
huawei.com).
0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
gap-coupled loop antennas having asymmetrically mirrored
structures. The antenna block is very compact and shows good
isolations. In [7], a frequency reconfigurable multiband antenna
is proposed, the frequency reconfigurability is achieved through
a cluster of mutually coupled antenna elements that is excited
with frequency dependent weights using a multichannel
transceiver. All the above antennas have shown excellent
MIMO performance, e.g., the antenna efficiencies are high and
correlations are low, but their performance might be affected
when integrated into real devices. And some antennas occupy
large inner space and ground clearance, which may cause
problems in space-critical applications.
The metasurface and its application in low-profile antenna
design have been extensively studied [9]-[24]. In [9], a high
impedance surface (HIS) is designed with a mushroom-like
metallic structure, which exhibits unique electromagnetic
properties including forbidden frequency band and in-phase
reflection. Later, the HIS ground plane is applied to cellphone
handsets [10]. In [11], the electromagnetic band-gap (EBG)
structure is exploited to design low-profile wire antenna. The
reflection phase in the range of 45º~ 135º is discriminated as
impedance matching band of wire antenna. In [17] and [18], the
reflection phase profiles of the dipole on HIS is studied. A
fractional bandwidth of 8% (|S11| < -6dB) is achieved at a total
height around 0.030. In [21], a low-profile antenna comprising
a horizontal dipole on a HIS surface is analyzed. The antenna
bandwidth is broaden by an additional resonances of the
radiating structure caused by surface waves propagating on the
HIS. In [22] and [23], a wideband low-profile patch antenna is
designed based on metamaterial. By exciting two adjacent
resonant modes, broadband impedance matching and consistent
radiation are realized across whole band. A measured
bandwidth of 28% is achieved at a low profile of 0.060. All the
above antennas prove the effectiveness of metasurface in low-
profile antenna design.
In this paper, the AMC-based low-profile antennas will be
studied and applied in mobile devices, e.g., the antennas are
integrated onto the non-metal back-cover of smart-phones.
Usually the thicknesses of these back-covers are smaller than
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier: xx.xxxx/TAP. xxxx.xxxxxxx.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation

1mm, the antenna bandwidth at such low profile will be very

limited. To broaden the bandwidth, two modes, e.g., the local
resonant mode occurring at the frequency of in-phase reflection
Slotted patch
and the TM0 surface wave mode, are excited on the AMC
ground. To improve the radiation efficiency of the surface wave,
the IFA is used as excitation structure instead of wire antennas
(e.g., dipoles and bend monopoles). The surface waves are
directed to the ground edge and a resonant mode is formed from Unit cell
the IFA to the ground edge. The application of IFA also make
the MIMO antenna more compact. As a result, a MIMO antenna
with 8 elements are designed. The antenna can work from
3.3GHz to 3.8GHz. The total thickness is only 0.97mm. With W P=W+g Superstrate layer
such low profile, the antenna can be integrated into smart- Substrate layer
phones as their back-covers. The MIMO throughput in an Ground plane
outdoor environment is also tested using a 5G MIMO system
Fig. 1. Geometry of the AMC ground.
developed by Wireless Technology laboratory of Huawei 180
Corporation. The performance is compared with traditional 150

antennas. The pros and cons of the new handset MIMO antenna 120

will be discussed. 90

Reflection Phase (Degree)

60

II. THE LOW-PROFILE MIMO ANTENNA DESIGN 30

A. Mode Analysis of the AMC -30

At first, the AMC ground is presented and analyzed. The -60

-90
geometry of the AMC is illustrated in Fig. 1, which is
-120
constructed by printing periodic patches on a grounded -150
dielectric slab. The vialess-patch will be applied in this antenna -180
design. From our studied, the via-patch structure (mushroom) 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0

does not show obvious advantage and the vialess structure is Frequency(GHz)
(a)
more cost-effective for mass production. Since the total profile 5.0
of antenna is strictly limited, the substrate with high dielectric
4.5
constant is selected. In this work, the RO3010(tm) from Leaky wave
ROGERS Corporation [28] will be used, which is a ceramic- 4.0 region

filled PTFE composite. The dielectric constant is 10.2 and loss

Frequency (GHz)

3.5
tangent 0.0035. The thickness of the substrate is h1 = 0.8mm. A
3.0
superstrate layer is also added to isolate the excitation antennas Mode1
Mode2
from the metallization of AMC. The F4B material will be used 2.5 Surface wave Light line
region
as the superstrate layer, the dielectric constant is 4.2 and loss 2.0

tangent 0.0035. The thickness is h2 = 0.1mm. So the total

1.5
thickness of the antenna is around 0.9mm. For a given geometry
 X
of dielectric layers, the frequency of the in-phase reflection 1.0
20 40 60 80 100 120
(also the first working frequency of the antenna) is determined Phase shift (Degree)
by the width of patch (W) and the gap between adjacent patches (b)
(g). 400

To cover the 3.3~3.8GHz band, the frequency of in-phase 350

reflection is designed to 3.4GHz. By using numerical method, 300

the AMC unit is designed as: W = 10.4mm, g = 0.2mm. The Q(Mode1)
reflection phase for normal incident is plotted in Fig. 2 (a). 250 Q(Mode2)

From the data, the bandwidth of in-phase reflection is from 200

3.3GHz to 3.5GHz by the ±90°criteria. Within this frequency 150

range, the field radiated by the antenna over an AMC ground

100
will be augmented instead of shorted by the reflected field, thus
the radiation efficiency is improved. But at a profile of 0.01, 50

the bandwidth of in-phase reflection is limited for antenna 0

design. And at such low profile, a strong electric field is induced 20 30 40 50 60
Phase shift (Degree)
inside the dielectric layer, which will cause more dielectric loss. (c)
The frequency of the in-phase reflection can be shift to lower Fig. 2. (a) Reflection phase from the AMC surface with normal incident, (b)
Dispersion diagram of the AMC surface, (c) Q-factor of the modes.

0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
Ant1
L1
L2
W1
L3
Ant2
Grounding
W2
Feeding
point point
(a)
Ant3
Ant4
y
(0, 0)
x (c)
(b)
Fig. 3. Geometry of the proposed low-profile MIMO antenna, (a) geometry of
the IFA, (b) two layer of the substrate and (c) IFAs on the AMC surface.
bands by using materials with higher dielectric constant and
smaller gaps, but the bandwidth will be narrowed at the same
time. So the antenna bandwidth and radiation efficiency are the
main challenges in designing this low-profile antenna,
especially for frequencies below 6GHz. In MIMO antenna
design, the mutual couplings and correlations between antennas
should also be considered.
Besides the reflection phase, a mode analysis is also applied
to the AMC structure. The dispersion relationships of the two
lowest modes (TM0 and TE1 modes) are calculated and plotted
in Fig. 2 (b). From the data, the phase shift across unit cell is 45°
for TM0 mode at 3.4GHz, and there is no cut off frequency. At
the frequency of in-phase reflection, the TM0 mode also exists
as surface wave, but the surface wave characteristic is not
prominent. The effective surface impedance of the AMC can be
defined as the ratio of electric field to magnetic field near the
surface, averaged over the unit cell:
At the frequency of in-phase reflection, the transverse electric
field is maximized while the magnetic field is minimized. So
the AMC exhibits a high surface impedance, which can prevent
the propagation of surface waves. The induced field will be
scattered into free-space instead of bounded to the AMC surface.
The radiating property of the intrinsic modes can also be
analyzed by their Q-factors. The Q-factor is usually defined as:
The dissipated energy includes conductor loss, dielectric loss
and radiation loss. If the conductor and dielectric loss are not
considered, the Q-factor is then reduced to the ratio of stored
energy to radiated energy. The Q-factors for TM0 and TE1 mode
are calculated and plotted in Fig. 2 (c). From the data, the
frequency of in-phase reflection corresponds to a minimum
value of the Q-factor for TM0 mode, thus the energy will be lost
to free-space as antenna radiation. The TE1 mode is still in the
0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
leaky wave region, which can also radiate power when
propagating on the AMC surface. So the radiation efficiency is
Ant8 relative high if the antennas is designed to work at the frequency
of in-phase reflection, no matter the energy is coupled into TM
or TE mode. But the bandwidth associated with the in-phase
reflection is very limited at such low profile, another working
Ant7
mode needs to be excited to broaden the bandwidth.
In [21], a TE surface wave resonance is excited to broaden
the bandwidth of a dipole over an AMC ground. In [22] and
[23], two adjacent TM modes are excited in the grid-slotted
patch antenna for broadband design. In these works, the
Ant6 resonant modes are excited on a small and regular AMC ground,
the surface waves will be scattered at the ground edge before
long distance propagation on the AMC ground, so the radiation
Ant5
efficiencies are much improved. It is also easier to have
boresight radiation patterns because the phases at the radiating
edges are the same. But in this work, multiple antennas will be
designed on a large AMC ground. The surface waves may
propagate long distance before scattered into free-space, which
causes more dielectric loss. The radiation pattern may split
because the phases at radiating edges are different due to
asymmetrical geometry. So the surface wave should be properly
controlled before it is used to broaden the bandwidth.
From Fig. 2(b), from 3.6GHz to 3.8GHz, the phase shift for
the TM0 mode varies from 50° to 70°. The corresponding Q-
factor can be found in Fig. 2(c). The Q-factor grows rapidly
above 3.6GHz, which means the TM0 mode behaviors more like
a surface wave. While the TE1 mode is still in the leaky wave
region. The phase shift varies from 35° to 55°.The Q-factors is
also relative small compared with TM0 mode. So in the
frequency band 3.6 to 3.8GHz, the surface wave nature of TM0
mode is more prominent, the power coupled into TM mode will
be bounded to the AMC surface.
B. MIMO Antenna Design
From above analysis, the TM0 mode surface wave will be
excited in the frequency band from 3.6GHz to 3.8GHz. To
ensure the antenna performance, the excitation structures is
specially designed. In [9]-[14], the dipoles are placed over
(1) AMC grounds. The dipoles can launch TE mode surface waves
to omni-directions. When the dipoles are placed on a large
AMC ground, the surface waves will propagate on the entire
AMC surface before scattered at the ground edge, so the
radiation efficiencies are low. In [25], a Yagi-Uda like surface
wave launcher is used for surface-wave beam steering on a
grounded dielectric slab. In [26], a beamforming network (BFN)
is designed to launch a guided surface wave of TM0 mode.
These structures are effective to launch directional surface
(2)
wave, but not quite applicable in this design due to their size. In
this paper, the IFA will be placed horizontal on the AMC as the
excitation structure. The IFA has multiple current traces, which
provides more tuning freedom. The IFA has shorting pins to the
bottom ground, which can block the propagation of TM mode
waves. The IFA also occupies a smaller footprint on the AMC
surface than the dipole and BFN.
The proposed low-profile MIMO antenna is illustrated in Fig.
3. Eight IFAs are placed on an AMC ground. The AMC is
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation

-2

-4

-6

-8
|S (1,1)|
dB

-10 |S (1,2)|
|S (1,3)|
-12 |S (1,4)|
|S (1,5)|
-14 |S (1,6)|
|S (1,7)|
-16 |S (1,8)|

-18

-20
3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4
Frequ ency(G H z)
(a)
0

-2

-4

-6
(a) (b)
-8
|S (2,1)|
-10
dB

|S (2,2)|
|S (2,3)| Direction of
-12
|S (2,4)|
|S (2,5)| wave vector
-14
|S (2,6)|
-16 |S (2,7)|
|S (2,8)|
-18
Resonant area

-20
3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

Frequency (G H z)
(b)
Fig. 4. Simulated S-parameter related to (a) antenna 1 and (b) antenna 2.
0.9 Resonant area
0.8

0.7

0.6 Ant 1
Ant 2
0.5
dB

0.4

0.3 (c) (d)

0.2

0.1

0.0
3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5
F re q u e n cy (G H z)
(a)
6
Ant 1
4 Ant 2
Peak realized gain (dBi)

-2

-4

-6

-8

3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4 (e) (f)
Frequency (GHz) Fig. 6. The induced current on the AMC surface, antenna 1 is excited at (a)
(b) 3.4GHz, (c) 3.7GHz and (e) 4.0GHz, antenna 2 is excited at (b) 3.4GHz, (d)
Fig. 5. (a) Simulated antenna efficiency and (b) Simulated antenna gain 3.7GHz and (f) 4.0GHz.

0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
0 interaction between the IFA and AMC surface. The power will
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
dB
Ant1
-12 Ant2
-14
Ant3 Ant8
Ant4 Ant7
-16
Ant6
-18 Ant5
-20
3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 7. The IFAs on AMC ground with 15×8 units.
composed of 14×7 unit cells. The 2D size is 140mm×70mm,
which is similar to the typical handset devices. The IFAs are
labelled as antenna 1 to antenna 8. The length and width of the
main current trace are l1 and w1. The geometry of the grounding
and feeding traces are the same, the length and width are l2 and
w2, respectively. The distance from the feeding point to
grounding point is l3. The locations of IFAs are determined by
the coordination of their grounding points. In Fig. 3(c),
coordinate origin is on the bottom left corner of the AMC
ground. The locations for antenna 1 to 8 are: (3P, 11P), (3P,
8P), (3P, 6P), (3P, 3P), (4P, 3P), (4P, 6P), (4P, 8P) and (4P,
11P), where P is the periodic of the AMC. With orientations of
the IFAs, the geometry of the low-profile MIMO antenna is
determined. From Fig. 3(c), the IFAs can be categorized into
two arrays. Antenna 1, 4, 5, and 8 have the same relative
position on AMC ground, their antenna responses should be the
same. The orientations of antenna 2, 3, 6 and 7 are orthogonal
to the first array, which helps to promote isolations.
The working frequency band of the antenna has been roughly
determined by the reflection and mode analysis of the AMC.
The antenna parameters are then tuned by running numerical
method. A design example is given as: l1 = 20mm, w1 = 2mm,
l2 = 5mm, w2 = 1mm, l3 = 9mm. The S-parameters are simulated
and presented in Fig. 4. The antenna efficiency and realized
peak gain are also simulated and plotted in Fig. 5. From the data,
two working modes are excited at 3.4GHz and 3.7GHz, which
supports a wideband of 500MHz from 3.3GHz ~ 3.8GHz.
Within the frequency band, the reflection coefficient is less than
-6dB, the mutual coupling among the antennas are all less than
-10dB, the antenna efficiencies are higher than 50% and the
realized peak gains are constant around 5dBi. Although antenna
1 and 2 have different relative positions and orientations, their
antenna response are quite similar.
In Fig. 6, the induced current on the AMC surface is plotted.
At 3.4GHz, the antenna works at the frequency of in-phase
reflection. From above analysis, no prominent surface wave is
excited at this frequency. The induced currents are mainly
localized around the excitation structure. The working mode
can be viewed as a local resonant mode that formed by the
0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
be radiated into free-space readily after launched from the
excitation structure. A conical and broadside radiation pattern
is generated. Because the induce current is localized, the mutual
couplings between antenna elements are also small. And the
working mode is not affected by the ground size or the
placement of IFAs on AMC. The associated bandwidth is
around 200MHz with efficiency larger than 50%.
|S(1,1)|
At 3.7GHz, the surface wave nature of the TM0 mode
|S(2,2)| becomes more prominent. In Fig. 6 (c) and (d), the current
|S(3,3)|
|S(4,4)| distribution indicates that the surface wave can spread on the
|S(5,5)|
|S(6,6)|
entire AMC surface, but most of the power are still localized
|S(7,7)| around the IFAs. A resonant mode is formed on the AMC area
|S(8,8)|
defined by the ground edge and shorting pins of IFAs. Because
3.8 3.9 4.0 antenna 1 and 2 are located on different positons of AMC
ground, the current distributions are different. For antenna 1,
the wave vector is along the diagonal direction of the resonant
area, while for antenna 2, the wave vector is along the
transverse direction. But for both antennas, the induced current
is basically parallel to the wave vector, the resonant modes are
similar and this resonant mode is more related to the TM mode
surface wave. The frequency of this resonant mode is related to
the distance from the IFA to the ground edge. In Fig. 7, the IFAs
are placed on an AMC ground with 15×8 unit cells and the S-
parameters are simulated. For antenna 1, 2, 3 and 8, the second
resonance still occurs at around 3.75GHz, because their
distance to the ground edge is not changed. While for antenna
4, 5, 6 and 7, the second resonance occurs at 3.65GHz. The
frequency shifts to lower band because the distance from the
IFA to the ground edge has been increased. By using the IFA as
the excitation structure, the surface wave is guided to the
ground edges, and a resonant mode is formed between the IFA
and ground edge. The grounding pins of the IFAs can also help
to prevent the propagation of the TM mode surface wave. Most
of power are confined in the resonant mode instead of
propagating on the entire AMC surface, so the radiation
efficiency is much improved and the radiation pattern is nearly
conical and boresight. From Fig. 5, the simulated efficiency is
up to 80% at 3.7GHz. And with the designed IFA placement,
the surface waves are launched to different directions, so the
mutual couplings between IFAs are also very low. From Fig. 4,
all the mutual couplings are below -12dB at 3.7GHz. The
working mode at 3.7GHz is related to a travelling wave, the
bandwidth will be larger than the resonant mode at 3.4GHz.
At frequencies higher than 3.8GHz, both the TE and TM
mode surface waves are excited. The induced currents at
4.0GHz are plotted in Fig. 6 (e) and (f). The grounding pins of
the IFAs cannot prevent the propagation of the TE mode surface
wave. The surface waves will propagate on the entire AMC
surface, which causes more dielectric loss. The realized gain of
the antenna will decrease because the surface waves are
scattered at the ground edges with random phases. The radiation
efficiency is much lowered even the return loss is still small. It
is difficult to make the antenna work efficiently if multiple
surface waves are excited.
In mobile devices, the IFAs are usually placed at the corner
or edge of the devices to have better radiation performance. But
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation

0.9

0.8
ant1
ant2
0.7

0.6

Efficiency
0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
3.0 3.5
Frequency(G H z) 4.0 4.5

(a) (b) (c) Fig. 10. Measured efficiency.

Back-cover MIMO antenna
0 +z
0 +z

0
0
315 45
315 45

-10
-10

-20 -20

-30 270 90 -30 270 90

+x/
+x/
+y
+y
-20 -20

-10 -10
z-x plane, Gain_phi z-x plane, Gain_phi
225 z-x
135plane, Gain_theta 225 z-x plane,
135Gain_theta
0 z-y plane, Gain_phi 0 z-y plane, Gain_phi
z-y plane, Gain_theta z-y plane, Gain_theta

180 180

3.4GHz 3.7GHz
(d) (e) (a)
0 +z
0 +z
Fig. 8. Photo of antenna prototype. (a) Bottom ground of AMC, (b) 2D periodic 0
patch, (c) IFAs on AMC, (d) Measured thickness of the low-profile MIMO 315 45
0
315 45

antenna and (e) Integration with smart-phone. -10

-10

-20 -20
0
S11 -30 270 90 -30 270 90
-2 S12 +x/ +x/
+y +y
S13 -20 -20
-4 S14
S15 -10 -10 z-x plane, Gain_phi
z-x plane, Gain_phi z-x plane, Gain_theta
-6 S16 225
z-x plane, Gain_theta
135 225
z-y plane,
135
Gain_phi
z-y plane, Gain_phi
S17 0
z-y plane, Gain_theta
0
z-y plane, Gain_theta

-8 S18 180 180

-10 3.4GHz 3.7GHz

dB

(b)
-12
Fig. 11. Measured radiation patterns at 3.4GHz and 3.7GHz for (a) antenna 1
-14
and (b) antenna 2.
-16

-18 0.6
-20
R12
3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Frequency(G H z)
0.5 R13
0 R14
-2
R15
0.4 R16
-4 R17
Correlation

-6
R18
0.3 R23
S21
-8
S22
R26
-10 S23 R27
dB

S24 0.2
-12 S25
S26
-14
S27 0.1
-16
S28

-18
3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0
-20
3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Frequency(GHz)
Frequency(GHz) Fig. 12. Correlation between antenna elements.
Fig. 9. Measured S-parameters

0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation

Tx
0.9mm. From Fig. 8(d), the measured thickness is around
Rx
0.97mm. To make the antenna work, the IFAs should be
properly grounded and fed. As we have stated, probe feeding
scheme can used to feed the antenna. Note that the grounding
and feeding probes should not touch the metallization of the
AMC. In Fig. 8(e), the antenna is integrated into a smart-phone.
The antenna board is covered with a sold mask and tailored to
the shape of the back-cover of the smart-phone. The back-cover
(a) (b)
antenna does not take up inner space of the device and is totally
Fig. 13. Photos showing the test environment at (a) BS side and (b) UE side. isolated from the working platform, which makes it different
2200
from previous 5G MIMO antennas for mobile devices.
2000
The S-parameters of the MIMO antenna are measured using
a vector network analyzer (VNA), the measured data are plotted
1800
in Fig. 9. The radiation efficiencies are measured in an anechoic
1600
chamber equipped with a SATIMO near-field antenna
measurement system [29]. The efficiency is defined as the ratio
Throughput(Mbps)

1400

1200 of radiated power to total incident power, so the return loss is

1000 also accounted for. The measured efficiency are plotted in Fig.
800 10. From the data, two working modes are excited at 3.4GHz
600
and 3.7GHz, although there is a little difference between
400
Traditional PIFA antenna array antenna 1 and 2. The measured data is similar to the simulated
Monople antenna array
Low-profile directional antenna array data in Fig. 4. The first working mode occurs at the in-phase
200
reflection frequency, the impedance bandwidth is around
0
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
100MHz if -6dB criteria applied. By exciting the surface wave
SINR(dB) mode, a broadband from 3.3GHz to 3.8GHz is realized. The
Fig. 14. The measured throughput vs. received SNR for three different MIMO relative bandwidth is up to 14%. The measured efficiency is
antennas. larger than 50% within the working band. Above 4.0GHz,
higher order of the surface wave modes will be excited. The
20
  1800
reflection coefficient is still less than -6dB, but the antenna
19
efficiency decrease rapidly, as shown in Fig. 10.
18
The radiation pattern of the MIMO antenna is also measured
17
and plotted in Fig. 11. From the data, nearly boresight radiation
Mean Receive SNR (dB)
Mean throughput (Mbps)

16
patterns are formed across the whole working band. The front
1200
15 to back ratio is up to 20dB, so the antenna can work almost
14 independent on different platforms. The antenna performance
13 is not much lowered when integrated in real devices and there
12 is no need to re-design the antenna when transformed from one
11 platform to another. Because the antenna mainly radiate to the
600 10 broadside of the back-cover, the specific absorption ratio (SAR)
Traditional PIFA Monopole array Low-profile antenna
is low when used in smart-phones.
Fig. 15. Comparison of mean value of throughput and SNR for three MIMO The envelop correlation coefficient (ECC) is usually used to
antennas.
characterize the performance of MIMO antennas, which is
calculated from the measured 3D radiation pattern of each
in this work, the IFAs are placed at center areas on the AMC
antenna element. To calculate the ECC, the mean effective gain
ground, as shown in Fig. 3 and 6. The IFAs work as a surface
wave launchers, the radiation is generated from the resonant (MEG) is first calculated as:
mode that that excited on the AMC ground. So the IFA in this   1  (3)
Ge    G () P ()  G () P () d
work is different from previous antennas for mobile devices.  1   1   
The working mechanism of the antenna is also different from where Ω and Ω denote the and polarization
traditional IFAs. components of the incident field, respectively; denotes the
cross-polarization discrimination between the two polarizations,
III. ANTENNA FABRICATION AND MEASUREMENT RESULTS which is set to 1. Then the ECC is calculated as:
Next, the proposed MIMO antenna will be fabricated and   1 
measured. The photos of the antenna prototype are shown in Fig.   1   E ,i ()E*, j ()P () 
1 
E ,i ()E*, j ()P () d
 (4)
ri, j 
8. The AMC ground and excitation IFAs will be fabricated Ge,i Ge, j
separately on two dielectric layers, which are then stick together where i and j denote two antennas, Ω and Ω denote
by an adhesive layer, so the total thickness is a little larger than
the and polarization components of the far-field pattern.

0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
The ECCs among the antenna elements are calculated and
plotted in Fig. 12. From the data, the ECCs are smaller than 0.1
within the whole working band except the ECC between
antenna 1 and 8 (as well as antenna 4 and 5). Very small ECCs
can be found between antenna 1 and 2, because the two
antennas are placed orthogonal and the polarization diversity is
exploited. So the overall ECCs of the MIMO antenna are
satisfactory.
IV. MEASUREMENT OF MIMO THROUGHPUT
Next, a field trial is carried out to test the real MIMO
performance of the designed antenna. At first, a brief
introduction is given to the testing system. A full-digital
beamforming architecture is applied at both Tx and Rx sides of
the MIMO system. At Tx side, the system is equipped with 32
dual-polarized patch antennas. While at Rx side, up to 8
antennas are supported. The system can work from 3.4GHz to
3.6GHz, supporting a maximum instantaneous bandwidth of
100MHz. A conventional minimum mean square error (MMSE)
receiver is applied at the Rx side. The number of streams and
modulation coding scheme (MCS) are dynamically scheduled
according the channel condition to achieve the maximum
throughput. A system diagram can be found in [8] for reference.
The experiment is carried out in a campus, which is a moderate
scattering environment. The Tx antenna array is mounted on the
rooftop of a building, about 20 meters above the ground. While
the Rx antenna will be placed at different locations on the
ground. At each locations, the throughput data are measured
with different antenna orientations.
Three different MIMO antennas are tested and compared, i.e.,
the traditional PIFA array, the monopole array and the low-
profile MIMO antenna on back-cover. The PIFA array is
similar to the MIMO antenna design in [1], except the
frequency is scaled up to 3.6GHz. Across the whole working
band, the antenna efficiencies are higher than 70%, the ECCs
are below 0.05. The monopole antenna array is composed of 8
monopole working at 3.6GHz. The distance between adjacent
monopole is half wavelength. The antenna efficiency for each
monopole is higher than 80%. In Fig. 14, the measured
throughputs are plotted vs. the received SNRs. The mean values
of throughput and received SNR are calculated and plotted in
Fig. 15. For the PIFA array, the mean received SNR is 17.8dB
and throughput 1760Mbps. For the monopole array, the mean
SNR is 18.7dB and throughput 1460Mbps. While for the back-
cover MIMO antenna, the mean SNR is 19.0dB and throughput
1600Mbps.
From the data, the traditional PIFA array achieves the highest
average throughput, although the SNR is the lowest. The PIFA
can receive signals from any directions and with any
polarizations. The diversity gain of the wireless channel is fully
exploited and more data streams can be discriminated by the
receiver, which is more important for throughput at high SNR
regime. But it is predictable that the antenna efficiency and
radiation pattern will be affected when integrated into real
devices. For the monopole array, the received SNR is higher
than the PIFA array. But only signals with vertical polarization
are well received. The polarization diversity is not fully
0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
exploited. The MIMO throughput is also affected. While for the
back-cover MIMO antenna, only the signals from broadside
directions are well received, so the angle diversity is not fully
used. But the back-cover antennas have advantages in antenna
efficiency and gain, the performance is still satisfactory in a
moderate scattering environment. From Fig. 14, the deviation
of throughput is larger for the back-cover antenna compared
with traditional PIFA antennas. When the broadside of the
antenna is oriented to directions with less incident signals, the
number of streams that can be decoded are much reduced. The
throughput is lowered as well. But these null directions are rare
because there are always reflections from human body and
ground. And in real devices, the traditional antennas are still
indispensable. Both antennas can be implemented in one smart-
phone and co-designed to achieve the optimal MIMO
performance. By implementing the back-cover antennas, the
antenna aperture is largely increased. More powers and signals
will be received, which is helpful to improve the MIMO
performance. And this performance gain is achieved without
occupying inner space of the device.
V. CONCLUSION
A low-profile MIMO antenna is proposed for the mobile
devices. The antenna is designed by placing multiple IFAs on
an AMC ground. The IFAs excite the TM0 surface wave mode
besides the local resonant mode that occurs at the frequency of
in-phase reflection. By optimizing the IFAs and their placement
on the AMC, the surface waves are direction to the ground
edges and scattered to form an efficient radiation. As an
example, a MIMO antenna with 8 elements is designed and
fabricated. The total volume of the antenna is
140mm×70mm×0.97mm. The antenna can work from
3.4~3.8GHz with efficiency larger than 50%. The ECCs among
antenna elements are less than 0.2 across the whole band. The
antenna can be integrated into smart-phones as their back-
covers. The throughputs are also measured using a MIMO
system, which shows great application potentials in 5G smart-
phones. In future, the dual-band or multi-band antenna will be
studied to cover all the 5G spectrums below 6GHz. New
materials, e.g., magnetic material, will be used as substrate to
further lower the antenna profile.
REFERENCES
[1] Z. Qin, W. Geyi, M. Zhang, and J. Wang, “Printed eight-element MIMO
system for compact and thin 5G mobile handset,” Electron. Lett., vol. 52,
no. 6, pp. 416-418, 2016.
[2] Ming-Yang Li, Yong-Ling Ban, Zi-Qiang Xu, Gang Wu, Chow-Yen-
Desmond Sim, Kai Kang and Zhe-Feng Yu, “Eight-port orthogonally
dual-polarized antenna array for 5G smartphone applications,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 64, no. 9, pp. 3820-3830, Sep. 2016.
[3] K.-L. Wong, C.-Y. Tsai, and J.-Y. Lu, “Two asymmetrically mirrored
gap-coupled loop antennas as a compact building block for eight-antenna
MIMO array in the future smartphone,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 1765-1778, Apr. 2017.
[4] S. Zhang, K. Zhao, Z. Ying and S. He, “Adaptive quad-element multi-
wideband antenna array for user-effective LTE MIMO mobile terminals,”
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 61, no. 8, pp. 4275-4283, Aug. 2013.
[5] K.-L. Wong and J.-Y. Lu, “3.6-GHz 10-antenna array for MIMO
operation in the smartphone,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 57, no.
7, pp. 1699-1704, 2015.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2019.2908261, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation

[6] K.-L. Wong, J.-Y. Lu, L.-Y. Chen, W.-Y. Li and Y.-L. Ban, “8-antenna [27] Dingliang Wen, Yang Hao, Max O. Munoz, Hanyang Wang and Hai
and 16-antenna arrays using the quad-antenna linear array as a building Zhou, “A compact and low-profile MIMO antenna using a miniature
block for the 3.5-GHz LTE MIMO operation in the smartphone,” circular high-impedance surface for wearable applications,” IEEE Trans.
Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 174–181, 2016. Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 96-104, Jan. 2018.
[7] Jari-Matti Hannula, Tapio Saarinen, Jari Holopainen, and Ville Viikari, [28] https://www.rogerscorp.com/index.aspx
“Frequency reconfigurable multiband handset antenna based on a [29] http://www.satimo.com/
multichannel transceiver,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no.
9, pp. 4452-4460, Sep. 2017. Da Qing Liu was born in Jining,
[8] Da Qing Liu, Ming Zhang, He Jia Luo, Huai Lin Wen and Jun Wang, Shandong, China, in 1985. He received
“Dual-band platform-free PIFA for 5G MIMO application of mobile
devices,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 11, pp. 6328-6333, the B.S. degree in optical science from
Nov. 2018. the Wuhan University of Technology,
[9] Dan Sievenpiper, Lijun Zhang, Romulo F. Jimenez Broas, Nicholas G. Wuhan, China, in 2008, the M.S. degree
Alexopolous, and Eli Yablonovitch, “High-impedance electromagnetic in electronics engineering from Zhejiang
surfaces with a forbidden frequency band,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propag., vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 2059-2074, Nov. 1999. University, Hangzhou, China, in 2011,
[10] Romulo F. Jimenez Broas, Daniel F. Sievenpiper and Eli Yablonovitch, and the Ph.D. degree in electronics
“A high-impedance ground plane applied to a cellphone handset engineering from the City University of
geometry,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2015.
vol. 49, no. 7, pp. 1262-1265, Nov. 2001.
[11] Fan Yang and Yahya Ramhat-Samii, “Reflection phase characterizations He is currently a Senior Research Engineer with Wireless
of the EBG ground plane for low profile wire antenna applications,” Technology Laboratory, 2012 Laboratories, Huawei
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 51, no. 10, pp. 2691-2703, Oct. Corporation, Hangzhou, China. His research interests include
2003. computational electromagnetic, UE antenna design, radio
[12] Fan Yang and Yahya Ramhat-Samii, “Bent monopole antennas on EBG
ground plane reconfigurable radiation patterns,” Digest of IEEE AP-S frequency power amplifier design, 5G MIMO communication
International symposium, pp. 1819-1821, Monterey, June 2004. and fully-duplex wireless communication.
[13] Fan, Yang, Amir Aminian and Yahya Rahmat-Samii, “A novel surface-
wave antenna design using a thin periodically loaded ground plane,”
Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 47, pp. 240-245, Nov. 2005.
[14] Asem Al-Zoubi, Fan Yang and Ahmed Kishk, “A low-profile dual-band He Jia Luo was born in Hangzhou,
surface wave antenna with a monopole-like pattern,” IEEE Trans. Zhejiang, China, in 1986. He received
Antennas Propag., vol. 55, no. 12, pp. 3404-3412, Dec. 2007. the B.S. and Ph.D. degree in electronics
[15] Hossein Mosallaei and Kamal Sarabandi, “Antenna miniaturization and engineering from Zhejiang University,
bandwidth enhancement using a reactive impedance substrate,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 52, no. 9, pp. 2403-2414, Sep. 2004. Hangzhou, China, in 2008 and 2013.
[16] A. P. Feresidis, G. Goussetis, S. Wang, and J. C. Vardaxoglou, He is currently a Senior Research
“Artificial magnetic conductor surfaces and their application to low- Engineer with Wireless Technology
profile high-gain planar antennas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. Laboratory, 2012 Laboratories, Huawei
53, no. 1, pp. 209-215, Sep. 2005.
[17] M. Faisal Abedin and Mohammod Ali, “Effects of EBG reflection phase Corporation, Hangzhou, China. His
profiles on the input impedance and bandwidth of ultrathin directional research interests include polar code and 5G MIMO
dipoles,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 3664-3672, communication.
Nov. 2005.
[18] Mohammed Ziaul Azad and Mohammod Ali, “Novel wideband
directional dipole antenna on a mushroom like EBG structure,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 56, no. 5, pp. 1242-1250, May 2008. Ming Zhang was born in Bengbu,
[19] H. Nakano, Y. Asano, and J. Yamauchi, “Tilted beam formation by an Anhui, China in 1986. He received the
array composed of strip inerted F antennas with a finite-sized EBG
reflector,” IEEE MAPE 2005, pp. 438-441, Beijing, Aug. 2005. M.S. degree in electronic engineering
[20] H. Nakano, Y. Asano, G. Tsutsumi, and J. Yamauchi, “A low-profile from Hangzhou Dianzi University,
inverted F element array backed by an EBG reflector,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Hangzhou, China, in 2011.
Symp. On Antennas and Propag., NM, Jul. 9-14, 2006, pp. 2985-2988.B.
[21] F. Costa, O. Luukkonen, C. R. Simovski, A. Monorchio, S. A. Tretyakov,
He is currently a Senior Research
and P. M. de Maagt, “TE Surface Wave Resonances on High-Impedance Engineer with Wireless Technology
Surface Based Antennas: Analysis and Modeling,” IEEE Trans. Laboratory, 2012 Laboratories, Huawei
Antennas Propag., vol. 59, no. 10, pp. 3588-3596, Oct. 2011. Corporation, Hangzhou, China. His
[22] Wei Liu, Zhi Ning Chen and Xianming Qing, “Metamaterial-based low-
profile broadband mushroom antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., research interests include UE antenna design and 5G MIMO
vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 1165-1172, Mar. 2014. communication.
[23] Wei Liu, Zhi Ning Chen and Xianming Qing, “Metamaterial-based low-
profile broadband aperture-coupled grid-slotted patch antenna,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 63, no. 7, pp. 3325-3329, July 2015.
[24] S. S. Syed Nasser, W. Liu, and Z. N. Chen, “Wide bandwidth and Huai Lin Wen, photograph and biography not available at the
enhanced gain of a low-profile dipole antenna achieved by integrated time of publication.
suspended metasurface,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 66, no. 3,
pp. 1540–1544, Mar. 2018.
[25] Symon K. Podilchak, Al P. Freundorfer and Yahia M. M. Antar,
“Surface-wave launchers for beam steering and application to planar Bin Wang, photograph and biography not available at the time
leaky-wave antennas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 57, no. 2, pp. of publication.
355-363, April 2017.
[26] Zi Long Ma and Chi Hou Chan, “A novel surface-wave-based high-
impedance surface multbeam antenna with full azimuth coverage,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 1579-1588, April 2017. Jun Wang, photograph and biography not available at the time
of publication.

0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.