Massive 16-Element Wideband Decoupled Pairs with High Integration for 5G Smartphones

• Published in: IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters 2024-01, Vol.23 (12), p.4114-4118
• Main Authors: Ren, Aidi, Yu, Haoran, Yang, Lixia, Huang, Zhixiang, Liu, Ying, Hou, Jianqiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5G mobile communication; Antenna arrays; Antennas; Bandwidths; Broadband; Broadband antennas; Channel capacity; Coupling; Couplings; Decoupling; fifth-generation (5G); Frequencies; integrated antennas; MIMO communication; Radiators; smartphone antennas; Smartphones; Strip; Wideband
• ISSN: 1536-1225; 1548-5757
• DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2024.3435874

This letter presents a massive 16-element multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) array with symmetrically integrated wideband antenna pairs. Specifically, the T-shaped shorting strip is closely arranged within the pair for wideband decoupling, and a connecting strip is integrated between two antenna pairs to mitigate coupling and improve integration level. Notably, the inverted-L strip works as a main radiator in the lower frequency band and operates as a decoupling component to mitigate coupling between two antenna pairs in the higher frequency band. For validation, both an eight-element MIMO array and an integrated 16-element MIMO array are simulated, fabricated, and measured. The results demonstrate that a wide bandwidth of 4.4 GHz to 6 GHz (30.76%) can be obtained for both MIMO systems, and the tightly integrated 16 × 16 MIMO system can provide a higher channel capacity of 71 bps/Hz. The proposed 16-element MIMO system, with its benefits of massive antennas, a high integration level, and a wide bandwidth, is very promising and could provide much more data throughput for 5G smartphones.