Received: 20 May 2020

DOI: 10.1002/mop.32560

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Compact MIMO antenna using 1 | INTRODUCTION

stepped impedance resonator- Microstrip patch antenna has received tremendous attention
because of its low profile and easy fabrication characteristics.
based metasurface for 5G and However, it usually suffers from a narrow operating bandwidth.1
It is a challenge to design a compact antenna with a broad band-
WIFI applications width and good radiation performance, which needs to be over-
come. Metasurface-inspired antennas with wide bandwidth and
Zhan Wang | Yuandan Dong high-radiation performance have drawn substantial research
interest and attention in recent years.2-4 In References 3 and 4
School of Electronic Engineering, University of Electronic Science and
two low-profile metasurface antennas based on mushroom or
Technology of China, Chengdu, China small patches were proposed, both of which show wide band-
width and high-radiation gain. However, the overall size is larger
Correspondence
than the conventional half-wavelength patch antenna. Dispersion
Yuandan Dong, School of Electronic Engineering, University of Electronic
Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
relation was used to analyze the working theory of metasurface
Email: [email protected] in,5 in order to achieve wide bandwidth and miniaturization.
Characteristic mode analysis (CMA) was used to guide the
design of metasurface antenna,6,7 the essential antenna radiation
Abstract
mode could be clearly observed by CMA, which is useful to
A compact metasurface-based multiple-input and multiple-
obtain an optimized feeding. Recently, a low-profile circularly
output (MIMO) antenna using the stepped impedance res-
polarized (CP) metasurface antenna using capacitive loading
onator (SIR) for 5G and WIFI applications is investigated
was investigated in.8 Its electric size is still larger than the half-
in this article. The SIR patch unit-cells are periodically
wavelength though dielectric substrate is used.
etched on the two sides of a thin PCB substrate. As a
Multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas
result, the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor as the
have been widely used to enhance the channel capacity and
series left-hand (LH) capacitor is introduced into the right-
spectrum efficiency.9 However, poor isolation may occur
handed transmission line (RH-TL). Besides, the RH induc-
when multiple antennas are placed closely. The design of a
tor could be easily adjusted through the SIR patch. Based
high-isolation antenna in a restricted area remains a challenge.
on the dispersion relation of the metamaterial-inspired SIR
Different decoupling methods have been proposed.9,10
TL, a compact metasurface antenna is proposed and ana-
In this letter, a novel compact 3-cell MIMO antenna cov-
lyzed. A 3-cell MIMO antenna with a reduced oversize of
ering the whole sub-6GHz and 5 GHz WIFI band for router
0.48 λ0 × 1.34 λ0 × 0.05 λ0 (with λ0 being the free-
application is proposed. To achieve miniaturization, stepped
wavelength at 4.7 GHz.) for WIFI application is proposed
impedance resonator (SIR) metasurface is adopted in the
and fabricated. Good agreement between measurement
design. Owing to a good polarization and radiation perfor-
and simulation has been observed. Wide impedance band-
mance of the SIR surface, a 3-cell MIMO antenna with wide
width (covering 4.68-5.75 GHz, 20.5%) and good isolation
bandwidth and high-port isolation is achieved and fabri-
(all below −25 dB) are achieved. The measured peak gain
cated. A dispersion analysis is given in Section II. The com-
and radiation efficiency are greater than 7.8 dBi and 90%,
pact 3-cell MIMO antenna is experimental verified in
respectively. Owing to a compact antenna configuration,
Section 3. A brief conclusion is drawn in Section 4. The sim-
wide bandwidth (covering both 5G sub-6GHz and WIFI
ulation work is performed using the ANSYS HFSS (High
bands), good radiation performance, and an easy fabrica-
Frequency Structure Simulator). ANSYS HFSS is a 3D elec-
tion process, this antenna is well suited for 5G or/and
tromagnetic (EM) simulation software for designing and
5 GHz WIFI application in the base station.
simulating high-frequency electronic products such as anten-
nas, antenna arrays, RF or microwave components, high-
KEYWORDS
speed interconnects, filters, connectors, IC packages and
compact antenna, metasurface-inspired antenna, multiple-input and
printed circuit boards) and ADS2016. The S-parameters are
multiple-output, stepped impedance resonator, sub-6GHz, WIFI
measured with an R&S Z40 VNA and the radiation perfor-
mance is evaluated with a Satimo near-field chamber.

Microw Opt Technol Lett. 2020;1–6. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mop © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC 1
2 WANG AND DONG

2 | ANTENNA DESIGN AND multiple units to the dispersion engineered TL, the resonance
ANALYSIS frequency of the +first mode could be pushed down to a
lower frequency. Overall, larger LR, CL, and N could be
2.1 | Dispersion relation and equivalent helpful for size reduction.
circuit
2.2 | Compact metasurface antenna
Figure 1A shows the dispersion curve of the SIR unit-cell
and its equivalent circuit model is presented in Figure 1B. Figure 2 shows the configuration of the metasurface-inspired
The simulated HFSS unit-cell model is displayed in the inset antenna, including the 3D view shown in Figure 2A, left-
of Figure 1A. Specifically, the SIR patch is used to replace side view shown in Figure 2B, top view and bottom view
the conventional rectangular patch unit-cell. Metal-insulator- shown in Figure 2C,D, respectively. The SIR patch unit-cells
metal (MIM) capacitor, which works as a left-handed are etched on both sides of the substrate. A 4 × 4 SIR meta-
(LH) capacitor (CL) and radiation slot, has been introduced surface is implemented on the top substrate. A 50-Ω micro-
into the transmission line (TL) model. The patch unit-cell strip line is implemented on the bottom of the second
could be equivalent to a right-handed (RH) TL circuit, which substrate and a rectangular slot is embedded on the reverse
is formed by a series RH inductor (LR) and a shunt RH ground side. They are used to effectively excite this antenna.
capacitor (CR). The LR comes from the inductance effect of The substrates are made with F4BK material with a relative
the TL. Larger LR can be realized by decreasing the patch dielectric constant of 2.2, a loss tangent of 0.001 and a
20-mil thickness. It is noted that the substrate only serves as
width.
Good agreement of the dispersion curve between EM a carrier of the patch. The main substrate of this antenna
should be considered as air substrate. As a result, dielectric
simulation and circuit simulation has been observed in
loss is basically eliminated and high-radiation efficiency
Figure 1A. The series zeroth order resonance (ZOR) fre-
could be realized. The overall size of this metasurface
quency is defined by the following equation11:
antenna is 0.48λ0 × 0.48λ0 × 0.05λ0.
1 Figure 2E shows the simulated |S11| response and gain
f se = pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi : ð1Þ
2π LR C L for the metasurface antenna. The −10 dB bandwidth is
And the +first order resonance frequency is at about 18.4% ranging from 4.80 to 5.77 GHz, and the peak gain
7 GHz. From Equation (1), the ZOR frequency would shift varies from 7 to 9 dBi across the band. Two resonance fre-
to lower region when a larger LR or CL is adopted. A minia- quencies (5.0 GHz and 5.7 GHz) are clearly observed in the
passband. In Figure 1A, the + first order resonance fre-
turized antenna design could be therefore achieved. In addi-
quency can shift to about 4.8 GHz when N = 4 for EM simu-
tion, the resonance frequencies of different modes for an
lation, the discrepancy between unit-cell dispersion analysis
N-stage SIR patch metasurface with π unit-cells can be
and metasurface simulation mainly comes from boundary
described in the following equation11:
difference and small size adjusting.
θN = βNp = nπ Figure 2F,G show the simulated electric field (E-field)
ð2Þ distribution and 3D pattern for the metasurface antenna at
βp = nπ=N ðn = 0, 1, …, N Þ:
two resonance frequencies, respectively. Since the + first
Here, N is the number of unit-cells and n is the number and + second order resonances are coupled together, a
of the resonance order. Equation (2) shows that by applying wide bandwidth is obtained. Moreover, a larger radiation

F I G U R E 1 A, Dispersion curve of the SIR TL unit-cell. B, its equivalent circuit. The EM simulation model is shown in the inset. The circuit
parameters: LR = 6.60 nH, CR = 0.10 pF, and CL = 0.39 pF. SIR, stepped impedance resonator; TL, transmission line [Color figure can be viewed
at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
WANG AND DONG 3

F I G U R E 3 Geometry of the proposed MIMO antenna. A, 3D

perspective view. B, top view. C, a photograph of the fabricated
antenna. D, Measured and simulated S-parameters for the MIMO
antenna. The size parameters: w = 40 mm, l = 40 mm, ws = 0.9 mm,
ls = 14.5 mm, wf = 1.48 mm, lf = 24 mm, s = 8.4 mm, s2 = 3 mm,
w2 = 5 mm, w3 = 2 mm, P = 8 mm, h = 3 mm, g = 1.1 mm,
wg = 110 mm, lg = 40 mm, d = 35 mm, d2 = 43 mm, d3 = 32 mm,
l2 = 34 mm. MIMO, multiple-input and multiple-output; SIR, stepped
impedance resonator [Color figure can be viewed at
F I G U R E 2 Configuration of metasurface antenna in the coordinate wileyonlinelibrary.com]
system. A, 3D view. B, left view. C, top view. D, bottom view. E, its
simulated |S11| and peak gain response. F, its electric field (E-field)
distribution. G, its 3D radiation patterns. The size parameters:
w = 40 mm, l = 40 mm, ws = 0.9 mm, ls = 0.9 mm, wf = 1.48 mm, 3 | D E S I G N O F T H E 3 - C E L L MI M O
lf = 24 mm, s = 8.4 mm, s2 = 3 mm, w2 = 5 mm, w3 = 2 mm, ANTENNA
P = 8 mm, h = 3 mm, g = 1.1 mm. SIR, stepped impedance resonator
[Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
3.1 | Compact 3-cell MIMO antenna
Figure 3 shows the configuration and a photograph of the
aperture with uniform E-field distribution is observed proposed MIMO antenna. Specifically, Figure 3A shows the
provided by the metasurface, resulting in a higher 3D perspective view. Figure 3B shows a top view. And
radiation gain. Figure 3C shows a photograph of the fabricated antenna
4 WANG AND DONG

F I G U R E 4 A, Simulated E-field distribution at 5.2 GHz for the MIMO antenna with different port excitation. B, measured and simulated peak
gain and radiation efficiency for the MIMO antenna with different port excitation (port 1, port 2, and port 3). MIMO, multiple-input and multiple-
output [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Based on the proposed LP metasurface antenna, three LP exhibits a very pure LP, the magnitude of field distribu-
elements are arranged in a row, two of which on the two tion is very weak for the nondriving unit-cell. As a result,
sides rotate 90 angle with respect to the center element. a very compact MIMO antenna with high isolation is
Owing to high-polarization orthogonality, MIMO antennas achieved.
with a high isolation is achieved. Nylon screws with a diam- Figure 4B shows the measured and simulated MIMO
eter of 3 mm are directly used for antenna assembling. The antenna peak gain and radiation efficiency. The measured
whole 3-cell MIMO antenna only occupies a size of peak gain for different ports is all larger than 7.8 dBi, while
0.48λ0 × 1.34λ0 × 0.05λ0. the radiation efficiency is greater than 90%. The small dis-
Figure 3D shows the measured and simulated crepancy between measurement and simulation mainly
S-parameters for the MIMO antenna. The measured −10 dB comes from the extra loss of SMA (The SMA (Subminiature
bandwidth is 4.68-5.75 GHz (20.5%), which covers both version A) connector is a sub-miniature RF and microwave
sub-6GHz and 5GHz WIFI bands. In addition, the isolation connector that has a screw fixing to produce stable connec-
between the ports are all below −25 dB. The small fre- tivity. It is largely utilized) connectors and the measurement
quency shift may come from the fabrication errors. tolerance.
Figure 4A shows the simulated E-field distribution for Figure 5 shows the measured and simulated radiation
the MIMO antenna at 5.2 GHz. Since the antenna element patterns for the proposed MIMO antenna at 5.2 GHz.
WANG AND DONG 5

F I G U R E 5 Measured and simulated radiation pattern at 5.2 GHz for the MIMO antenna with, A, port 1, B, port 2, and C, port3 only excitation.
MIMO, multiple-input and multiple-output [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Specifically, Figure 5A presents the radiation pattern with 3.2 | Comparison with other proposed design
port 1 excited. Figure 5B shows the pattern when port 2 is
A performance comparison of the proposed antennas with
excited and Figure 5C shows the pattern with only port
other state-of-art metasurface antennas are summarized in
3 excited. The measured and simulated results agree very
Table 1. Two metasurface antennas with slightly broad band-
well. Consistent boresight radiation with a low-cross-pol.
width have been proposed in,6,8 which also correspond to a
Level is achieved for different channels.
6 WANG AND DONG

TABLE 1 Comparison with other related designs

Ref Size (λ03) Substrate BW/% Gain/dBi Type

6
0.59 × 0.59 × 0.06 Rogers 4003C 28 7.9 LP
8
0.58 × 0.58 × 0.04 Rogers 4003C 21 6.4 CP
7
0.83 × 0.83 × 0.07 Rogers 4003C 18.5 7.6 4-Cell
Proposed 0.48 × 0.48 × 0.05 Air & F4BK 18.4 8.78 LP
Proposed 0.48 × 1.34 × 0.05 Air & F4BK 20.5 >7.83 3-Cell

Abbreviation: CP, circularly polarized; LP, linearly polarized.

larger antenna size. In,7 a 4-cell metasurface MIMO antenna [4] Yang W, Chen S, Xue Q, Che W, Shen G, Feng W. Novel filter-
with good port isolation is proposed. However, its profile is ing method based on metasurface antenna and its application for
larger with big spacing and ground size. Our MIMO antenna wideband high-gain filtering antenna with low profile. IEEE
Trans Antennas Propag. 2019;67(3):1535-1544.
realize a compact size and high isolation while the gain stays
[5] Liu W, Chen ZN, Qing X. Metamaterial-based low-profile broad-
stable and its bandwidth is also very wide.
band aperture-coupled grid-slotted patch antenna. IEEE Trans
Antennas Propag. 2015;63(7):3325-3329.

4 | CONCLUSION [6] Lin FH, Chen ZN. Low-profile wideband metasurface antennas
using characteristic mode analysis. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag.
2017;65(4):1706-1713.
A novel and compact metasurface-inspired MIMO antenna
[7] Lin FH, Chen ZN. A method of suppressing higher order modes
using SIR TL is proposed and developed. The dispersion
for improving radiation performance of metasurface multiport
curve for the unit-cell is analyzed and engineered for size antennas using characteristic mode analysis. IEEE Trans Antennas
reduction. Based on the pure polarization from the unit-cell, Propag. 2018;66(4):1894-1902.
high-isolation MIMO antenna with a compact size has been [8] Juan Y, Yang W, Che W. Miniaturized low-profile circularly
implemented. This antenna is featured by a wide bandwidth, polarized metasurface antenna using capacitive loading. IEEE
compact size, good radiation performance, and easy fabrica- Trans Antennas Propag. 2019;67(5):3527-3532.
tion, making it suitable for 5G sub-5GHz and 5 GHz WIFI- [9] Paulraj AJ, Gore DA, Nabar RU, Bölcskei H. An overview of
related base station applications. MIMO communications–a key to gigabit wireless. Proc IEEE.
2004;92(2):198-218.
O R C ID [10] Nadeem I, Choi D. Study on mutual coupling reduction technique
for MIMO antennas. IEEE Access. 2019;7:563-586.
Yuandan Dong https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9988-4920
[11] Caloz C, Itoh T. Electromagnetic Metamaterials: Transmission
Line Theory and Microwave Applications. Hoboken-Piscataway:
REFERENCES Wiley-IEEE Press; 2005.
[1] Wong KL. Compact and Broadband Microstrip Antennas.
New York, NY: Wiley; 2006.
[2] Feresidis AP, Goussetis G, Wang S, Vardaxoglou JC. Artificial How to cite this article: Wang Z, Dong Y. Compact
magnetic conductor surfaces and their application to low-profile
MIMO antenna using stepped impedance resonator-
high-gain planar antennas. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag. 2005;
based metasurface for 5G and WIFI applications.
53(1):209-215.
Microw Opt Technol Lett. 2020;1–6. https://doi.org/
[3] Liu W, Chen ZN, Qing X. Metamaterial-based low-profile broad-
10.1002/mop.32560
band mushroom antenna. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag. 2014;62
(3):1165-1172.