Compact wide band quad element MIMO antenna with inbuilt isolator for 5G applications

Abstract A compact quad-element multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with self-isolation and pattern diversity features for 5G applications has designed in this article. In the proposed MIMO antenna design, drop-shaped slots have been cut from the ground plane to attain wide bandwidth of 1 GHz in the operating band 3.3–4.3 GHz of near radio (NR-77) band for 5G applications. Further, a criss-cross shaped isolator is formed after integrating four single wideband antenna elements with different orientations in the ground plane. This shape is responsible for high self-isolation of 25 dB in the desired band of 5G. Further, the 2D radiation pattern of the MIMO antenna has pattern diversity characteristics with a high peak gain of 6 dB in the working band, which validates the proposed work for the 5G MIMO application. The diversity performance of the proposed MIMO antenna has been validated with measured envelope correlation coefficient of 0.0002, diversity gain of 10 and channel capacity loss is below 0.5 bits s −1 Hz −1 across the entire frequency band. Furthermore, simulation studies have been demonstrated for different practical applications such as housing, automotive and on body for practical utility of proposed prototype.