Compact MIMO arrays based on planar directive antennas for Multipath Fading Channels

Francesco Sacchetto; Visiting Researcher

16th June, 2010 at 1.00 pm - Video Conference Room, Sanderson Building

Joint UoE/HWU videoconference seminar

The development of optimal antenna elements to be included in MIMO arrays is widely recognized as a key feature to reach high channel capacity. However, in the literature the attention is often focused on reducing mutual coupling instead of optimizing the active element patterns. To obtain very compact MIMO array configurations, where inter-element spacings are smaller than half a wavelength, the pattern distortion can no longer be neglected, as the displacement between antennas will result also in an induced pattern diversity. Investigation of the radiation pattern influence on the MIMO system performance is then mandatory, and tight control of the radiation mechanism is required. A novel approach to the design of compact MIMO arrays by using planar directive antennas is presented. The radiation properties of properly designed microstrip radiators is exploited to obtain a MIMO array of sectoral antennas. This enables achieving both pattern orthogonality and low mutual coupling between adjacent elements. The effectiveness of the design is studied through numerical simulations with IEEE 802.11n channel models.