Infinity Shell Shaped MIMO Antenna Array for mm-Wave 5G Applications

In this paper, a novel single layer Multiple Input-Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna for Fifth-Generation (5G) 28 GHz frequency band applications is proposed and investigated. The proposed MIMO antenna operates in the Ka-band, which is the most desirable frequency band for 5G mm-wave communication. The dielectric material is a Rogers-5880 with a relative permittivity, thickness and loss tangent of 2.2, 0.787 mm and 0.0009, respectively, in the proposed antenna design. The proposed MIMO configuration antenna element consists of triplet circular shaped rings surrounded by an infinity-shaped shell. The simulated gain achieved by the proposed design is 6.1 dBi, while the measured gain is 5.5 dBi. Furthermore, the measured and simulated antenna efficiency is 90% and 92%, respectively. One of the MIMO performance metrics-i.e., the Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC)-is also analyzed and found to be less than 0.16 for the entire operating bandwidth. The proposed MIMO design operates efficiently with a low ECC, better efficiency and a satisfactory gain, showing that the proposed design is a potential candidate for mm-wave communication.