Design and Performance Studies of a MIMO Antenna with Circular Polarization Diversity for 5G Applications

An innovative 2-element multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna with the circular polarization (CP) diversity is proposed in this paper with an intention to use in the sub-6 GHz spectrum (3.6-3.8 GHz) for 5G wireless applications. A microstrip line fed slot antenna is working as a single element for the MIMO arrangement. An elliptical shaped slot and the unequal feed lines mechanism are used to sense CP for every element. For CP diversity, mirror operation between the antenna elements is performed. A rectangular slot line in the ground plane is inserted to realize better isolation between the antenna elements. The MIMO antenna provides good isolation < -25 dB between the antenna elements in 5G operating frequency band of 3.6-3.8 GHz. Considering 5 dBic gain as well as axial ratio (AR) less than 0.5 dB, this antenna shows promising CP radiation pattern. Moreover, result of envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) (< 0.002) and channel capacity loss (CCL) less than 0.3 b/sec/Hz make it suitable for fifth generation wireless applications.