volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A wideband 10-port multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna array operated below 6 GHz for the fifth generation (5G) metal-frame smartphones is presented and discussed in this paper. The proposed MIMO antenna array element is composed of a microstrip line with a tuning stub and rectangular slot. The size of the rectangular slot is only 15 mm x 2 mm (0.211λ₀ x 0.028λ₀, and λ₀ is the wavelength with the resonance frequency of 4.2 GHz). U-shaped slots on the substrate are used to reduce the mutual coupling between the antenna elements. At the same time, in order to improve the radiation characteristics of the antenna arrays, narrow slits are etched in the metal-frame. The proposed antenna covers 3.3-5.5 GHz (S₁₁ < -6 dB), which is ultra-wide bandwidth for the 5G communications. The proposed MIMO antenna array is fabricated and measured. Results show that in the desired wide frequency band, the proposed antenna array can achieve desirable performances, including antenna isolation better than -13 dB with decoupling structures, efficiency, and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC)<0.06. Moreover, radiation pattern, calculated ergodic channel capacity, the effects of the user's hand effects and head specific absorption rate (SAR) are also given in the paper. Good agreement between measured and simulated results is obtained, which means that the proposed MIMO array is a good candidate for 5G metal-frame smartphone applications.

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Dr. Peng Liu

Dr. Yufa Sun

Dr. Tao Liu

Dr. Qing Li

Dr. Xuefeng Wang