Dual-Band Eight-Antenna Array Design for MIMO Applications in 5G Mobile Terminals

This paper proposes a dual-band eight-antenna array for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) applications in 5G mobile terminals. The designed MIMO antenna array comprises eight L-shaped slot antennas based on stepped impedance resonators (SIRs). The required dual-resonance can be obtained by adjusting the impedance ratio of the SIR, and good impedance matching can be ensured for each antenna element by tuning the position of the microstrip feed line. The experimental results show that a measured return loss of higher than 10 dB and a measured inter-element isolation of greater than 11.2 dB have been obtained for each antenna element with a simulated total efficiency of larger than 51% across the long term evolution (LTE) band 42 (3400-3600 MHz) and LTE band 46 (5150-5925 MHz). In addition, the measured envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) is lower than 0.1 between arbitrary two antenna elements, and the proposed MIMO antenna array realizes a simulated channel capacity of higher than 36.9 bps/Hz within both operation bands. Furthermore, the MIMO antenna array can maintain acceptable radiation and MIMO performance in the presence of specific anthropomorphic mannequin (SAM) head and human hands.