A Low-Profile Dual-Polarized Magneto-Electric Dipole Antenna for 5G Applications

A low-profile dual-polarized magneto-electric dipole (MED) is presented in this communication. The low profile was achieved using meander slots on the vertical magneto dipole, reducing the antenna height to 0.15 lambda(0), where lambda(0) is the wavelength of the center frequency. Relatively, the proposed MED structure is easier to process and more stable than the traditional low-profile MED structure. The broadband performance for 5G Applications was realized based on MED structure, and the dual-polarization structure has wider coverage area and lower multipath transmission losses. Moreover, the orthogonal feeding structure provides a satisfying isolation between two ports. To verify the simulation results, a prototype of the proposed antenna was fabricated and measured. The results show that the overlapped operating frequency bandwidth with |S11| <= -10 dB, |S12| <= -20 dB was 36.8% from 3.1 GHz to 4.5 GHz, the peak gain reached 10.2 dBi, and the average gain exceeded 8.5 dBi. The measured 3 dB beamwidth with more than 44 degrees beamwidth was realized in both E-plane and H-plane. In addition, cross-polarization levels below -22 dB that covered the above frequency band were achieved. Compared with other MED antennas, in addition to broadband and high gain, the proposed antenna has the advantages of a low profile, easy processing, and low cost, which make it a competitive candidate for 5G applications.