2013 International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT)

A Compact 8-Element MIMO Antenna System for 802.11ac WLAN Applications

Muhammad U. Khan and Mohammad S. Sharawi
Electrical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, 31261
Saudi Arabia.
Email: {umarkhan , msharawi}@kfupm.edu.sa

ABSTRACT: A compact 8-element MIMO antenna system which conforms to the new 802.11ac standards is designed
for WLAN applications. The antenna operates in the 5 GHz band. The elements of the MIMO antenna system are patch
antennas loaded with the CSRR for antenna miniaturization. The overall size of the MIMO antenna system is 100 x 50
x 0.8 mm3. The measurement results of the fabricated antenna are found to be in agreement with the simulation results
of the design. The measurements show that the proposed MIMO antenna has a minimum bandwidth of 80 MHz and a
minimum isolation of 10.95 dB between its antenna elements. The maximum gain for a single operating element of the
proposed antenna is -0.16 dBi.

INTRODUCTION
Multiple-input-multiple output (MIMO) antenna systems have emerged as the key enabling technology to achieve high
data rates for the current and future needs of wireless communication services. Therefore, all new wireless standards
require a MIMO antenna system. Designing a MIMO antenna system has many challenges especially when it is being
designed for compact wireless devices [1]. For such devices, it is required that the MIMO antenna system have
improved channel capacity, gain, bandwidth and diversity performance. At the same time, the MIMO antenna system
should be compact enough so that it can be easily integrated within small wireless devices.
Recently, many MIMO antenna designs covering various bands have been proposed. The 5 GHz band is a new band
which has been assigned for wireless LAN (WLAN) in the 802.11ac standards [2]. In this standard, up to 8-element
antennas are specified for enhancing the data rate. The maximum bandwidth assigned in this standard has been
specified to be 80 MHz and 160 MHz. Most of the reported MIMO antennas operating in the 5 GHz consist of two or
four elements, and thus does not fit the requirements of the new standard. In [3], a quad-band two element MIMO
antenna was reported whose one band of operation covered 5.15 5.35 GHz. The antenna elements were made of
modified printed inverted F-antennas (PIFA). A dual-band three element MIMO antenna designed for WLAN
application was reported in [4]. It operated in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The antenna elements consisted of circular
dual loop antennas. A 4-element MIMO antenna reported in [5] also had a dual-band operation in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
band. Its antenna elements consisted of modified printed monopoles and PIFAs. A wideband two element MIMO
antenna covering the 5 GHz band was reported in [6]. Its antenna elements were made up of PIFA.
In this paper, an 8-element MIMO antenna system is proposed for 802.11ac devices operating in the 5 GHz band. Apart
from the number of elements in the antenna which is noticeable increase in a standard mobile device terminal board
size, the designed antenna is different from the previously proposed MIMO antenna systems in the 5 GHz band as it
uses patch antennas as the elements of MIMO antenna system. These patch antennas are loaded with the
Complementary Split Ring Resonators (CSRR) for antenna miniaturization. A 65 % reduction in the area of the
individual patch is achieved by CSRR loading. The total size of the MIMO antenna system is 100 x 50 x 0.8 mm3.
The rest of the paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, a complete description of the design of the proposed
MIMO antenna is presented. A discussion on the simulation and measurement results of the MIMO antenna is given in
second part followed by conclusion in the third part.

978-1-4673-2831-9/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE

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MIMO ANTENNA DESIGN

Initially a patch antenna was designed using HFSSTM. The substrate used in the design was FR4 with a dielectric
constant of 4.4 and thickness of 0.8 mm. The dimensions chosen for the patch were 11 x 8 mm2. These dimensions
were chosen keeping in view that when eight such elements were to be used in the MIMO antenna, they fit well in an
area of 100 x 50 mm2 (standard mobile device board size). The patch antenna was excited by a microstrip feed line with
inset feed to match the antenna with 50. From the simulations, the antenna was found to be resonating at 6.52 GHz.
To lower the resonant frequency of the patch antenna and tune it to 5 GHz, a CSRR was etched out underneath the
center of the patch. The CSRR is a metamaterial structure which is a negative image of split-ring resonator (SRR). A
SRR is also a metamaterial element which is made up of two concentric conducting rings. The inner ring resides inside
the outer ring with spacing and both rings have slits that are oriented opposite to one another. The CSRR is made by
cutting from a conducting sheet (usually ground plane) the shape of an SRR. The CSRR is a resonant structure and
behaves as an LC tank circuit [7]. It interacts with the axial electric field and exhibits a negative permittivity around its
frequency of resonance. Antenna miniaturization of a patch antenna in single antenna application has been
demonstrated by loading a patch antenna with the CSRR [8],[9].
The resonant frequency of the patch antenna loaded with the CSRR was related to the dimensions of the CSRR. These
dimensions included the radius of the outer ring of the CSRR r, the width of each ring w, the spacing between the
rings s and the width of the slit in the rings d. Due to the anisotropic nature of the CSRR, its orientation underneath
the patch also affects the resonant frequency of the patch antenna. In the design, the CSRR was oriented in such a way
that the slits of rings were facing the radiating edges of the patch antenna. The slit of the outer ring was facing the edge
of the patch that was excited by the microstrip line. The dimensions of the CSRR were varied to tune the patch antenna
at 5 GHz. The patch antenna resonated at 5 GHz with the CSRR dimensions shown in Table I. The microstrip feed line
was shifted 1.5mm along the width of the patch antenna from its central axis for proper mode excitation.
Once the design of single patch was finalized, eight similar patches were placed together on the same FR-4 substrate to
make an eight element MIMO antenna system. The geometry of the MIMO antenna system is shown in Fig. 1. The top
side of the MIMO antenna is shown in Fig. 1(a) where eight elements are placed together with a spacing of 5 mm.
Fig. 1(b) shows the bottom side of the MIMO antenna where the CSRRs are etched out underneath each element.
Table I: CSRR DIMENSIONS FOR THE PROPOSED ANTENNA
Radius of the outer ring
Width of the rings
Spacing Between the Rings
Width of the slit

Fig. 1 Geometry of the 8-element MIMO antenna

system, (a) Top side, (b) Bottom side

r
w
s
d

2.5 mm
0.25 mm
0.5 mm
0.5 mm

Fig. 2 Fabricated 8-element MIMO antenna system, (a)

Top
side,
(b)
Bottom
side

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The MIMO antenna was designed and its operation verified through simulations in HFSSTM. It was then fabricated.
Fig. 2 shows the top and bottom side of the fabricated antenna. The scattering parameters of the fabricated MIMO
antenna were measured using an Agilent HP8510 network analyzer. Fig. 3(a) shows the simulated reflection coefficient
curves. The simulated reflection coefficient of the MIMO antenna showed a minimum -6 dB (VSWR < 3) bandwidth of
170 MHz which covered 4.94 5.11 GHz.
Isolation between the antenna elements of a MIMO antenna system is an important parameter. The diversity
performance of a MIMO antenna system is directly related to the number of uncorrelated antenna elements. The
isolation curves between the antenna elements of the proposed MIMO antenna system found from simulation are shown
in Fig. 3(b). Only the isolation between antenna element 1 with the rest of the antenna elements is shown. Due to
symmetry, the isolation for all other combinations of antenna elements follows one of the curves shown in Fig. 3(b). A
minimum isolation of 10.95 dB was achieved between antenna elements whose radiating edges were facing each other.
For all other combinations, the isolation was more than 20 dBs.
Once the antenna was fabricated, its measured scattering parameters were compared with the simulation results.
Fig. 4(a) shows the measured reflection coefficient curves of the MIMO antenna elements. Compared with the
simulation results, a shift in the resonant frequency of the antenna elements was observed accompanied by a lower
bandwidth. The antenna elements resonated between 5 5.15 GHz with a minimum -6 dB (VSWR < 3) bandwidth of
80 MHz. This deviation of measurement results from simulation results were attributed to the difference in the material
properties of the substrate defined in the simulation from the one used for fabrication.
0

S22

-5

S33
S44
S66
S77

-15

S13
S14
S15

-20

S55

-10

S12

-10

Isolation(dB)

Reflection Coefficient(dB)

S11

S88

S16
S17

-30

S18

-40

-20
-50
-25

-30
4.85

-60

4.9

4.95

5.05

5.1
5.15
Frequency (GHz)

5.2

5.25

5.3

-70
4.85

5.35

4.9

4.95

5.05

(a)

5.1
5.15
Frequency (GHz)

5.2

5.25

5.3

5.35

(b)

Fig.3 S-parameters of the MIMO antenna system obtained by simulation, (a) Reflection coefficient, (b) Isolation

S22

-5

S33
S44
S66
S77

-15

S13
S14
S15

-20

S55

-10

S12

-10

Isolation(dB )

R eflection C oefficient(dB )

S11

S88

S16
S17

-30

S18

-40

-20
-50
-25

-30
4.85

-60

4.9

4.95

5.05

5.1
5.15
Frequency (GHz)

5.2

5.25

5.3

-70
4.85

5.35

(a)

4.9

4.95

5.05

5.1
5.15
Frequency (GHz)

5.2

5.25

(b)

Fig.4 Measured S-parameters of the MIMO antenna system (a) Reflection coefficient, (b) Isolation

93

5.3

5.35

Fig.5 3D gain pattern, (a) Antenna element 1 , (b) Antenna element 4

Fig. 4(b) shows the measured isolation between the antenna elements for the proposed MIMO antenna. The measured
isolation curves were similar to the ones obtained in simulation. A minimum isolation of 10.95 dB was measured for the
proposed design.
The three dimensional gain pattern for the antenna elements were obtained through simulation. Figs. 5 (a) and (b) show
the gain pattern of the antenna elements 1 and 4, respectively. The antenna elements have a maximum gain of -0.16 dBi.
Due to symmetry, the gain patterns of antenna elements 2, 7 and 8 were similar to that of antenna element 1 while the
gain pattern of antenna elements 3, 5 and 6 were similar to that of antenna element 3.
CONCLUSION
A highly compact 8-element MIMO antenna operating in 5 GHz band was proposed in this paper. The antenna was
specifically designed to conform to the IEEE 802.11ac wireless standard. The antenna was fabricated on a conventional
FR-4 substrate and the overall dimension of the antenna was 100 x 50 x 0.8 mm3. The minimum isolation between
elements was approximately 10.5dB and a single element maximum gain was -0.16 dBi. The proposed antenna can be
used in handheld and other small wireless devices using WLAN in 5 GHz band.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, through
project number RG1219.
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