Gain enhancement for MIMO antenna using metamaterial structure

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, a multiple input multiple output antenna which operates at 5.8 GHz for wireless local area network applications is proposed. The proposed antenna is composed of two sets of four elements antenna array (2 × 2) on the top and a novel metamaterial structure on the ground plane. Here, the ground plane, which includes a lattice of 2 × 5 unit cells of metamaterial structure, is utilized in order to improve parameters of the antenna. Thanks to the proposed metamaterial structure, not only gain and bandwidth of antenna are enhanced, but also mutual coupling is reduced. The final design, with an overall size of 137 × 77 × 3.048 mm3, resulted in a |S11| <−10 dB bandwidth of 1.78 GHz and a peak gain of 9.2 dBi. In addition, the isolation is higher than 18 dB although the close separation from edge to edge of the two antennas is only 2 mm and radiation efficiency of 73% at the operating frequency band. All is simulated based on CST Studio software and the simulated S-parameter results of the antenna are in good agreement with measurement results.