MASSIVE MIMO BEAMFORMING ANTENNA WITH IMPROVED GAIN

An 8T8R antenna has a plurality of columns of antenna elements whereby a subset of the columns are combined into a plurality of composite columns. In an example, the antenna has six columns of antenna elements whereby the two columns at either end of the array are combined into a composite column. The antenna ports corresponding to the two outer composite columns are coupled to a splitter/combiner that has a power divider and a delay line to provide phase compensation. The antenna also has a phase compensator that provides for phase compensation between the outputs of the splitter/combiners and the antenna ports corresponding to the inner columns that are not combined into composite columns. In a variation, the columns of antenna elements are combined into a plurality of composite columns, each having a pair of columns, whereby the number of columns is twice the number of composite columns.