Investigation of circularly polarized MIMO antenna with enhanced isolation for sub-6 GHz application

Abstract This article demonstrates the design process for a unique, two-port, circularly polarized (CP) multiple input multiple outputs (MIMO) antenna for fifth-generation (5G) applications operating at sub-6 GHz. The proposed 2-port CP MIMO antenna comprises a patch antenna with a distinctive slot and a circular split ring resonator (SRR) at the ground plane. The circular patch antenna’s resonant frequency is moved to a lower frequency by the addition of a circular SRR at the ground plane. Investigating a special slot at the patch antenna can help in the enhancement of circular polarization and bandwidth. A sequence of parasitic elements in the shape of ‘h’ is placed in the space between the two antenna elements for decoupling. The minimum 20 dB inter isolation among the antenna elements in the proposed 2-port CP MIMO antenna’s operating band is made possible by these h-shaped parasitic elements. In addition, to ensure the proposed antenna is more reliable for 5G applications at sub-6 GHz, other diversity parameters including Envelop Correlation Co-efficient (ECC), Mean Effective Gain (MEG), Diversity Gain (DG), TARC (Total Active Reflection Co-efficient) and CCL (channel capacity loss) are also calculated . In comparison to existing MIMO systems of the same order, the proposed 2-port CP MIMO antenna appears to have the minimum channel capacity loss and excellent diversity performance. The proposed 2-port CP MIMO antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 3.3 to 3.6 GHz with impedance matching better than 10 dB and has an axial ratio bandwidth of 3.35 to 3.51 GHz with a steady radiation pattern in both planes over the operating frequency bands.