IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 18, NO.

10, OCTOBER 2019 2105

Performance Improvement of Multiband MIMO

Dielectric Resonator Antenna System With a Partially
Reflecting Surface
Gourab Das , Anand Sharma , Student Member, IEEE, Ravi Kumar Gangwar , Member, IEEE,
and Mohammad S. Sharawi , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—This letter presents a novel partial reflector surface

structure to improve the isolation and correlation coefficient val-
ues between cylindrical dielectric resonator antennas (cDRAs) for
multiband multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) applications.
To achieve multiband characteristics, three different groups of
cDRA are proposed to cover 5.2, 5.5, and 5.8 GHz bands, re-
spectively. Each group has two cDRAs. Thus, three groups (i.e,
six cDRA) are placed at the top of the substrate and each cDRA
is excited using a coplanar waveguide-fed conformal strip-line.
To achieve improved isolation, three different phase gradient fre-
quency selective surfaces (FSSs) are designed, which operate at 5.2,
5.5, and 5.8 GHz bands, respectively. This phase-gradient FSS is
utilized as a superstrate above each group of the DR elements. As
a result, two different far-field patterns are achieved from each
group of antenna elements, which deliver improved isolation as
well as low field correlation. This exclusive technique offers more
than 12 dB of enhancement in the isolation values and more than
70% improvement in the envelope correlation coefficient values,
thus guaranteeing improved MIMO performance.
Index Terms—Envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), frequency
selective surfaces (FSSs), isolation, multiple-input–multiple-output
(MIMO).
I. INTRODUCTION
URRENTLY, most wireless standards utilize multiple–
C input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems, which
will also be used in the forthcoming technologies because of
the numerous advantages such technology offers like improved
data rates, system capacity, and throughput compared to single-
antenna systems [1]. In addition, tilted beam antennas are impor-
tant to various applications, such as satellite, cellular, WLAN,
etc., since they can mitigate the multipath fading problem by
steering the antenna beam toward the intended direction to
minimize interference and noise sources [2]. MIMO requires
tilted beams to lower the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC)
and enhance channel capacity.
Manuscript received August 1, 2019; revised August 24, 2019; accepted
August 24, 2019. Date of publication August 28, 2019; date of current version
October 4, 2019. (Corresponding author: Ravi Kumar Gangwar.)
G. Das and R. K. Gangwar are with the Department of Electronics Engineer-
ing, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad 826004,
India (e-mail: gourab.das@ece.ism.ac.in; ravi.gangwar.ece07@itbhu.ac.in).
A. Sharma is with the Department of ECE, MNNIT Allahabad, Prayagraj
211004, India (e-mail: anand@ece.ism.ac.in).
M. S. Sharawi is with the Electrical Engineering Department and the Poly-
Grames Research Center, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4,
Canada (e-mail: mohammad.sharawi@polymtl.ca).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2019.2938004
Fig. 1. Geometry of the unit cell. (a) Top view. (b) Bottom view. (c) Side view
(P = 15.75 mm, R2 = 5.6 mm, and R1 is a variable).
For an ECC estimation, most of the MIMO-based works
utilized the scattering parameter-based expression developed in
[3]. In most of these cases, such type of calculation method
gives inaccurate values of ECC, which was demonstrated in
[4], because this easy method does not take the radiated field
spatial coverage into account, which is essential in the channel
decoupling required for MIMO. Consequently, it was shown
that the ECC can be reduced significantly by lowering the
mutual coupling values between the antenna elements, with
negligible variation in the radiation patterns [5], [6], which
ignores the fact that MIMO requires independent uncorrelated
channels that directly depends on the radiated field behavior.
Therefore, MIMO performance of the antenna can be enhanced
by spatially decorrelating the radiation patterns. On the basis of
this phenomenon, few research articles have recently appeared
in the literature [7]–[10].
In this letter, a triple-band 6-element cylindrical dielectric
resonator antenna (cDRA)-based MIMO antenna is presented.
Three groups of cDRAs of different height are excited to achieve
triple-band operation. The three different phase-gradient par-
tially reflecting surfaces (PRSs) are used as a superstrate to
decorrelate the radiation patterns in each band.
II. DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF THE PRS
A Fabry–Perot (FP) cavity antenna is designed by employing
PRS at a certain height from the radiators. The interesting feature
of PRS is that it can act as a FSS superstrate composed of the
periodic unit cells to enhance the directivity as well as tilt the
antenna beam [11], [12]. To achieve steerable antenna beams,
the PRS must be designed in such a way that there exists a
continuous magnitude and phase variation along an axis.
The unit cell configuration is shown in Fig. 1. The bottom
side of the PRS consists of a circular patch, which will form the
capacitive grid, and the top side consists of the circular apertures
that will form the inductive grid [13], [14]. They are printed
on an FR4 substrate (εsub = 4.4) with thickness of 1.6 mm.

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2106 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 18, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019

Fig. 2. Configuration of the PRS. (a) Top view. (b) Bottom view.

TABLE I
DIFFERENT UNIT CELLS USED IN PRS-I, II, AND III

Fig. 3. Magnitude and phase response of different unit cells used in the PRS.
(a) PRS-I. (b) PRS-II. (c) PRS-III.

The tilted beam can be obtained by controlling the reflection

magnitude and phase of the PRS [15]. This can be achieved by
using two methods: first, vary the capacitive grid of the PRS,
and second, vary the inductive grid of the PRS. In the proposed
case, inductive grids (top circular apertures) are varying since
the changes in inductive layer creates larger tilt angle [13]. The
inductive grids are made variable by varying the value of R1 .
As a result, the reflection coefficient magnitude and phase also
vary. This phenomenon is applied for different frequency bands.
Fig. 2 shows the designed PRS of the proposed antenna. It can
be observed from Fig. 2 that three PRS groups (PRS-I, II, and
III) are designed to cover the different frequency bands.
Each PRS consists of 2 × 7 unit cells, as shown in Fig. 2. To tilt
the beam, the unit cells are organized in such a manner that each
PRS is symmetric from the middle cell. The side lengths of each
PRS (LPRS and WPRS ) are 110.25 and 31.5 mm, respectively.
In each PRS, the center cell (cell-1) is considered as a reference
cell. The value of R1 is increased regularly when moving from Fig. 4. Configuration of 6-element DR-based MIMO antenna without and
with PRS: (a) top view (without PRS), (b) side view (without PRS), (c) three-
the middle cell (cell-1) to the top or middle cell (cell-1) to the dimensional (3-D) view (with PRS), and (d) side view (with PRS) (Different
bottom along each PRS group. In this way, symmetry is created dimensions are: LS = 112, WS = 96.25, HS = 1.6, L1 = 33, W1 = 2, g1 =
in each PRS. Table I shows the dimensions of different unit 0.5, H1 = 5.5, H2 = 5.5, H3 = 6.0, HA = 7.8, HB = 6.7, HC = 6.0, D =
cells present in PRS-I, II, and III. The magnitude and phase 14, C = 22, T = 15; all are in mm).
responses of different unit cells used in PRS-I, II and III are
shown in Fig. 3(a)–(c), respectively. Fig. 3 reveals that the
reflection magnitude and phase decreases with the increase of of ΔR is increased for PRS-II and III to maintain the continuous
R1 . It should be noted that a PRS will act as an artificial mag- phase changes in between +90 and −90°.
netic conductor (AMC) till the reflection phase lies in between In the proposed application, the radiation patterns of the pro-
+90 and −90° [14]. To steer the antenna beam, the phase as posed structure have to be tilted in complementary direction. To
well as magnitude of the unit cell is changed continuously by achieve this, the unit cells are organized in such a way that they
increasing the circular aperture diameter from the center cell create a symmetric PRS. The symmetry should be maintained so
(cell-1). The difference between circular aperture diameters of that the branch power ratio is not affected to achieve improved
adjacent sections is calculated with the help of gradation con- MIMO performance. The unit cell, which has maximum reflec-
stant (ΔR). The diameter of the circular aperture for each PRS is tion coefficient magnitude, is situated at the center of each PRS.
denoted as The reflection magnitude of each unit cell decreases gradually
toward the edge of the PRS in both directions by varying the
Ri = R1 + i × ΔR (1) inductive grid. The radiation beam is tilted toward the low re-
flection magnitude-based unit cell [13], [14]. Due to this reason,
where R1 is the circular aperture diameter of the center unit cell two antenna patterns are tilted in complementary directions.
(cell-1) for all the PRS (PRS-I, II, and III) and the cell number
is represented by i. The gradation constants are chosen as 2,
2.8, and 3.0 for PRS-I, PRS-II, and PRS-III, respectively. The III. DESIGN OF THE PROPOSED MIMO ANTENNA
reflection phase difference between two adjacent unit cells is Fig. 4 shows the geometry of the six-port DR-based MIMO
deteriorated with the increase of frequency. That is why the value antenna. To realize multiband operation, the proposed antenna
DAS et al.: PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OF MULTIBAND MIMO DIELECTRIC RESONATOR ANTENNA SYSTEM WITH A PRS
Fig. 5. S-parameter with and without PRS (simulated) (a) reflection coefficient
and (b) isolation response.
contains three groups of two-port antenna systems covering 5.15,
5.5, and 5.8 GHz bands, respectively, as shown in Fig. 4(a) and
(b). Fig. 4(a) and (b) reveals that the cDRA in each group has
same diameter (14 mm) but different height. Each group consists
of two cDRAs of the same height and placed opposite to each
other. The dielectric resonators (εDRA = 9.8) are employed at
the top of an FR4 substrate (εsub = 4.4). coplanar waveguide
(CPW)-fed microstrip-line-based conformal stripline is used to
excite the HE11δ mode in each cDRA. The resonance frequency
of the DRA due to HE11δ mode is calculated as shown in [16]
and [17]. By choosing DRA height as 7.8, 6.7, and 6 mm, the
resonant frequencies calculated were 5.39, 5.6, and 5.9 GHz,
respectively. The interelement distance between each group of
DRA is kept up in such a manner that each DRA excites in
boresight direction (θ = 0° and φ = 0°). To achieve this, the
interelement distance (C) between each group of DRAs (e.g.,
between DR-1 and 2) is 18 mm, which belongs to 0.31 λ/0.33
λ/0.35 λ at 5.25/5.5/5.8 GHz, respectively. This is the minimum
spacing between DRAs at which they radiate in a broadside
direction. If the distance (C) is reduced between each group of
DRA, the beam maxima deviate from broadside since very high
mutual coupling is established between the DRA elements.
The proposed antenna system is shown in Fig. 4(c) and (d).
The minimum distance between substrate and PRS layer is
15 mm (0.26 λ/0.27 λ/0.29 λ at 5.25/5.5/5.8 GHz). The proposed
PRS is positioned in such a way that PRS-I, PRS-II, and PRS-III
are placed just above of the first group of DRs (DR-1 and 2),
second group (DR-3 and 4), and third group (DR-5 and 6),
respectively.
Fig. 5 shows the scattering parameters of the proposed antenna
without and with PRS conditions. The impedance bandwidth for
first, second, and third groups of DR is 3.8% (5.15–5.35 GHz),
4.5% (5.4–5.65 GHz), and 3.4% (5.7–5.9 GHz), respectively.
Fig. 5(b) shows isolation characteristics between the ports with-
out and with the PRS condition. The isolation between ports (1,
2), ports (3, 4), and ports (5, 6) is low (13 dB) without PRS
case. However, the isolation is almost 25 dB between antenna
elements when the PRS is placed. Thus, the isolation is improved
by 12–13 dB for the proposed structure after placing of PRS. The
isolation is better than 20 dB between ports (1, 3) and ports (3,
5) for both cases without and with PRS.
2107
Fig. 6. 3-D polar plot of the proposed antenna in DR-1 and DR-2 (without
PRS condition) at 5.25 GHz.
Fig. 7. 3-D polar plot of the proposed antenna (with PRS) at different fre-
quency (a) 5.25, (b) 5.55, and (c) 5.75 GHz.
Fig. 8. Fabricated antenna (a) 3-D view and (b) side view.
The isolation enhancement can be clarified with the help of
3-D polar plot of the proposed radiator for both the cases. The
3-D polar plots of the proposed MIMO antenna due to port-1
and 2 are displayed in Fig. 6 with no PRS condition. Fig. 6
reveals broadside radiation is obtained since HE11δ mode is
excited. The mutual coupling is high (13 dB) between the ports
of the same group of DRA elements, due to the overlapping
of the radiation beam obtained from adjacent ports. The polar
plots (3-D) of the proposed radiator (with PRS) for different
resonance frequencies are shown in Fig. 7. For first, second,
and third groups of DRAs, the beam tilted toward −45° and
+45° for each. Hence, the radiation beams of each DRA group
are separated spatially. As a result, the correlation of radiation
pattern is minimum between each group of DRs, which ensures
that the proposed 6-port MIMO antenna achieves high isolation
as well as low field correlation.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The fabricated MIMO antenna system is shown in Fig. 8.
The scattering parameters (measured) of the proposed antenna
are displayed in Fig. 9. The measured impedance bandwidth is
6.3% (5.05–5.38 GHz), 6.2% (5.4–5.75 GHz) and 5.9% (5.7–
6.05 GHz) for ports-1 and 2, ports-3 and 4, and ports-5 and 6,
respectively. The measured isolation curves between the ports
for both conditions are shown in Fig. 9(b). It reveals that the port
isolation between each group of DRA has been improved due
to the PRS superstrate. The measured isolation exceeds 25 dB.
The far-field patterns of the proposed antenna are shown in
Fig. 10. These patterns are plotted at three different resonant
frequencies for the xz plane. Fig. 10 confirms that the radiation
2108
Fig. 9. S-parameters with and without PRS (measured) (a) reflection coeffi-
cient and (b) isolation response.
Fig. 10. Simulated and measured far-field patterns at xz plane for different
ports: (a) port-1, (b) port-2, (c) port-3, (d) port-4, (e) port-5, and (f) port-6.
beams of the antenna elements in first, second, and third groups
are tilted toward opposite directions (i.e., −45° and +45°). It
can be observed from Fig. 10 that the sidelobe level increases
with the increase in frequency. This can be minimized using
wideband PRS (a future work).
The peak gain and radiation efficiency plot of the proposed
antenna for port-1 (other ports follow the same trends) are shown
in Fig. 11. Fig. 11 reveals that the peak gain of the indepen-
dent antenna is increased by 2 dB when PRS is placed. The
IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 18, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019
Fig. 11. Gain and radiation efficiency (port-1) of the proposed antenna.
Fig. 12. ECC plot with and without PRS condition.
TABLE II
COMPARISON WITH PROPOSED AND PREVIOUS PUBLISHED WORKS
radiation efficiency is decreased after placing of the PRS [11].
The radiation efficiency is 90% for the independent antenna, but
after placing the PRS, the radiation efficiency is almost 80%.
The envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) is calculated by
utilizing far-field pattern method [18]. Fig. 12 shows the ECC
curve of the presented structure without PRS and with PRS
conditions. At 5.25, 5.55, and 5.8 GHz, the ECC values are 0.31,
0.31, and 0.33, respectively, without PRS. However, after adding
the PRS superstrate, these values are reduced to 0.06, 0.09, and
0.11, respectively. The use of DRAs in this letter as compared
to patches and the orientation of the PRS with multiband cov-
erage helped in enhancing both the port (i.e., 20 dB) and field
couplings, whereas in [14], the port isolation between the patch
elements deteriorated (i.e., 12 dB) after using the PRS. Table II
gives a performance comparison of the proposed structure with
other related MIMO DRA antennas. Table II reveals that the
proposed structure provides excellent MIMO performance in
terms of the ECC and isolation values.
V. CONCLUSION
In this letter, port isolation as well as the ECC between DRA
is enhanced by utilizing three different PRS for triple-band
coverage between 5.15–5.35, 5.4–5.65, and 5.7–5.9 GHz. As
a result, 10–12 dB improvement in isolation and more than 70%
improvement in the ECC values are realized.
DAS et al.: PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OF MULTIBAND MIMO DIELECTRIC RESONATOR ANTENNA SYSTEM WITH A PRS
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