A Compact Self-Decoupling MIMO Antenna

Multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems are pivotal for modern wireless communication, offering enhanced data rates and efficient spectrum utilization. However, compact designs in wireless terminals often lead to closely spaced antennas, causing significant electromagnetic (EM) coupling that degrades performance. This report introduces a novel self-decoupled antenna design to mitigate mutual coupling in compact MIMO systems. The design adds two stubs to the widely used Inverted-F Antenna (IFA) to minimize EM interactions between antennas. These additional elements increase the isolation from 10 dB to over 20 dB, reducing inter-port interference, while antenna efficiency improves from 68% to 81.43%, ensuring stronger signals and reduced energy loss. The lower envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) shows enhanced data throughput and system capacity. The design eliminates external decoupling structures, reducing cost and complexity while maintaining a compact form factor. This distinctive design provides a cost-effective, high-performance solution for compact MIMO systems, particularly in 5G applications.