Design & Analysis of Mutual Coupling Reduction in MIMO Antenna Using Different Metamaterial Structures

Abstract

Multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) refers to a wireless technology that is used to transmit more data at the same time between the transmitter and receiver in order to increase data rate and minimize errors. It is a type of wireless network technology that allows access points or wireless routers to have multiple antennas. To reduce mutual coupling between closely spaced microstrip patch antenna elements, a metamaterial structure is presented in this paper. Two elements of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennae are closely placed with each other at the edge-to-edge separation of 8 mm. The design & simulation of the proposed MIMO antenna is performed in the CST Studio Suite. The antenna is designed at an operational frequency of 5.8 GHz with a dielectric substrate and a conducting ground plane (W×L=44×37 mm2). The material of the substrate is FR-4(lossy), with a permittivity of 4.3 and a height of 1.5 mm. The material of the ground plane is copper (annealed) with a thickness (t) of 0.035 mm. The optimized dimension of the antenna is Wp =14 mm and Lp=12 mm. The width of the feedline connected to the patch is 2.9 mm and the length is 18 mm. The proposed antenna is fabricated and tested. A reasonable agreement between simulated and measured results is observed.