CHAPTER 6

DUAL BAND-NOTCHED UWB ANTENNA FOR

MIMO APPLICATIONS

6.1 INTRODUCTION

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology has attracted significant research attention

for its well-known advantages such as reducing multipath fading and increasing transmission

capacity. This technique increases channel capacity allowing several users to access various
services at the same time. Antennas for for MIMO systems should be designed to ensure iso-
lation between the elements should be less than -15 dB. Thus, antennas are typically placed
apart from each others by at least half wavelength of the lowest operating frequency, and this

could lead to the increase in dimensions of MIMO antenna. Therefore, miniaturizing the an-
tenna size and improving the isolation coefficients are the two most important aims for MIMO
antennas. Different approaches to MIMO antenna design have been proposed in the liter-
ature [170–179]. In [170], two planar-monopole antenna elements with microstrip-fed and
placed perpendicularly to each other are used to design MIMO antenna. A wideband neutral-

ization line consists of two metal strip and metal circular disk is connected to and inserted
between two monopoles to reduce the mutual coupling of a compact ultrawideband (UWB)
multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna in [171]. In [172], two-element semi-ring an-
tenna integrated with a commercially available UWB amplifier is proposed to design MIMO

antenna. Two back-to-back connected staircase-shaped radiating elements with an isolating

metal strip placed in between is used to achieve high isolation in the entire UWB band [173].
Two identical triangular-shaped radiating elements excited by tapered feed and a combina-

tion of T- and H-shaped metallic stub in the ground plane are used to achieve isolation [174].
In [175], to achieve better isolation, a mushroom type Electronics Band-gap structure is used
between two antennas while a coplanar strip (ACS)-fed MIMO antenna with an I-shaped slot
in the radiator and a rectangular patch on the back are used to increase isolation [176]. Two

inverted L-shape parasitic strips and two smaller L-shape stubs are used to achieve UWB band
whereas etching a slot at the centre of the ground is used to achieve isolation [177]. An an-
nular slot antenna and two shorts in the opposite direction placed at 45 degrees between the
microstrip lines are use to achieve an isolation [178]. In [179], wideband isolation is achieved

by using the different patterns and polarizations of the two antenna elements. As listed in
Table I, all above reported MIMO antennas have larger size and lower isolation. Therefore,
it is necessary to design an antenna with compact size and improved isolation. The designed
antenna has the smallest dimensions in comparison with previous work on ultrawide band

MIMO antennas with band notched, which are shown in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1: Performance Comparison of the Proposed UWB MIMO antenna with Other Reported
MIMO Antennas

Refrences Size (in mm) Impedance BW (GHz) Isolation (dB)

[170] 26×40×0.8 3.1-10.6 -15
[171] 35×16×0.8 3.1-5 -22
[172] 50×90×0.76 1.8-5.5 -12
[173] 25×30×1.6 3.1–10.6 -20
[174] 46×32.6×1.6 1.8-13 -20
[175] 31×20×1.6 3.8-7.8 -15
[176] 26×26×1.0 3.1-7.6 -15
[177] 30×40×0.8 3.1-10.6 -15
[178] 80×80×0.6 3-12 -15
[179] 25×40×1.55 3.1–5.15 -26
Proposed 26×15×1.6 3–25 -24

In order to immune the system from other system interference or noise, several UWB
MIMO antennas with band rejection was reported in [180–188].

A antenna having a folded monopole antenna coupled with a parasitic inverted-L element,

76
 Table 6.2: Comparison of Various MIMO Antennas with Band-Notched Characteristics

Refrtences Size (mm3 ) Notched–Bands covered (GHz)

[180] 55×13.5×0.8 WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[181] 48×48×0.8 WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[182] 38.5×38.5×1.6 WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[183] 30×40×0.8 WiMAX(3.4-3.7), WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[184] 30×35×0.8 WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[185] 27×30×0.8 WiMAX(3.4-3.7), WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[186] 39.8×23×1.524 WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[187] 22×36×1.6 WLAN(5.1-5.8)
[188] 18×36×1.6 C-band(3.62-4.77)
Proposed antenna 26×15×1.6 WLAN(5.1-5.8), IEEE INSAT/C-band 6.7–7.1

with an open stub to reject the WLAN is proposed in [180]. In [181] two staircase-shaped
radiating elements and a decoupling rectangular stub between the two radiators are used to
provide the high isolation. Further, to reject the WLAN band SRR slot is etched on the ra-

diator. A parasitic T-shaped strip, a ground plane etched with a rhombic slot is designed to
get the UWB band, and a pair of L-shaped slits to reject the WLAN band in [182]. In [183]
two rectangular patches and a ground plane with decoupling structure are designed for a good
isolation. The band notching at two frequencies is obtained by adding two strips to the ground

plane. A circular patch and a tapered slot ground are used to achieve UWB band, and a sharp
notch-band characteristic is obtained by adding a pair of open-ended stubs to the ground and
by etching a pair of slits in the circular patches in [184]. In [185] the antenna consist of two
U-shaped radiators and a rectangular ground plane with two metal strips for band notched at
WLAN band, and two open slots for WiMAX band rejection are designed. High isolation is

achieved through two orthogonally placed radiators, and a rectangular ground connected with
stub and a pin diodes are used to get the on-demand band rejection function in [186]. An
antenna composed of two square monopole radiators and T-shaped ground is used to get the
better isolation, and to reject the WLAN band two strips are etched from the ground in [187].

In [188] an eye-shaped slotted circular radiator and T-shaped stub extruded in the ground plane
are used to design MIMO antenna, and L-shaped stub is introduced for band-notch function.

77
However, the above discussed MIMO antennas are designed to reject the lower frequency

bands. Therefore, UWB MIMO antennas having a compact size with high isolation, and band
rejection at high frequency along with the lower frequency are required.

In this work, a very compact dual band-notched UWB MIMO antenna is presented. The
UWB performance of antenna is attained by using two triangular shaped patches and a funnel
shaped ground plane. Further, two J-shaped slits are etched in the radiator to create the band-

notch at two difference frequencies. By placing the two J-shaped slits in the right position and
choosing the appropriate length for both the slits, a dual band-notched UWB MIMO antenna
with high performance is obtained. The S11 at the notched centre frequency of 5.3 and 6.8
GHz are -1.1 and -2 dB, respectively. The designed antenna has the smallest dimensions in
comparison with previous work on ultrawide band MIMO antennas with band notched, which

are shown in Table 6.2. The antenna is designed using computer simulation technology (CST)
Microwave Studio (MWS) software [140]. The dimensions of the proposed antenna are given
in Table 6.3.

Table 6.3: Design Parameters (in mm) of the Proposed UWB MIMO Antenna

Parameters Unit (mm) Parameters Unit (mm)

L 15 W p1 7
L p1 4.5 W p2 0.6
L p2 1.5 W p3 2.5
L p3 6 Wg1 3
Lg1 6 Wg2 14
Lg2 7 Wg3 6.5
Lg3 2 Wg4 1
Ln1 1 Wn1 5.5
Ln2 2.5 Wn2 2
Ln 0.5 Wn3 3
W 26 Wn4 1.3

78
 Wg1
Wp1
Wg2

Wn1 Wn3
Lg1
Ln1 Ln
Lp1 Ln2 Wn4
Wn2
L

Lp2

Lg2
Lp3

Lg3
Wp2
Wp3 Wg3 Wg4
W

Figure 6.1: Geometry of the Proposed Antenna

6.2 UWB MIMO ANTENNA DESIGN

6.2.1 Antenna Configuration

The design idea of the antenna arises from a capacitively loaded broadband monopole design.

Here the shape of the monopole is selected as a triangular patch and the ground plane is shaped
such a way that it capacitively loads the monopole, so that it will provide a miniaturized design.
The dimensions of the monopole, and the gap between the monopole and the ground plane is
optimized for broadband impedance matching. A funnel shaped stub is attached to the ground

plane and its dimensions are optimized for better isolation between the antennas. Fig. 6.1
describes the configuration of proposed UWB, MIMO antenna which is designed on a 1.6-
mm-thick epoxy FR4 substrate having dielectric constant εr = 4.4 and loss tangent tan δ =
0.02 with the overall size of 26×15 mm2. The proposed antenna has a simple configuration,
consists of two triangular shaped radiators which are designed on the top of the substrate with

their direction opposite to each other and connected to a linear tapered microstrip feedline.

The evolution process of final antenna is illustrated in Fig 6.2. In the first step, a regular
rectangular shape radiator [Antenna1] is used to attain the UWB band [see Fig 6.2(a)], but

this design shows worst impedance matching throughout the desired band. Further, as shown
in Fig. 6.2(b) the length of the radiator is reduced and tapered microstrip feed line is used

79
 (a) Antenna 1 (b) Antenna 2 (c) Antenna 3

Figure 6.2: Different Shapes of Radiator Used in the Evolution of Final Antenna

[Antenna2]. This design improves the impedance matching but it shows multiband behaviour.
Finally, the rectangular shaped of the radiator is converted to a triangular shaped radiator
[Antenna3] as illustrated in Fig 6.2(c) and desired band from 3.0-25 GHz is obtained.

−10

−20
[dB]

−30
11
S

Antenna 1
−40 Antenna 2
Antenna 3

−50

−60
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.3: Simulated S-parameters versus Frequency for Different Antenna Designs S11

The shape of ground is kept same for all three designs. In portable devices, installation
of multiple radiators degrade the diversity performance due to strong mutual coupling. Thus,

the main challenge in MIMO design is to reduce the mutual coupling while maintaining the
small size of the antenna. The mutual coupling can be reduced by using decoupling structure,
however, it occupies the larger space in MIMO structures. In the proposed design, a funnel
shape ground connected with two triangles at the lower end is used as a decoupling structure

that effectively reduces the mutual coupling of the multiple radiators. Fig. 6.3 and Fig. 6.4
shows the simulated S11 and S21 graphs for the proposed antenna design with different shapes

80
of radiator.

−10

−20
[dB]
−30
21
S

−40
Antenna 1
Antenna 2
−50 Antenna 3

−60
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.4: Simulated S-parameters versus Frequency for Different Antenna Designs S21

−10

−20
[dB]
11
S

−30 4 mm
6 mm
8 mm
−40

−50
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.5: Simulated S11 versus Frequency for Different Lp3

The S11 parameter for different values of Lp3 and Wp1 are shown in Fig. 6.5 and Fig. 6.6,
respectively. Fig. 6.5 demonstrates the S11 against frequency for different values of length Lp3

of the feed line . It can be seen that Lp3 dominantly affects overall frequency band. Therefore,
6 mm is chosen as optimal value for the Lp3 to get the desired UWB band with good impedance

81
matching in overall frequency range. The effect of width of triangular slot Wp1 on the S11 is

shown in Fig. 6.6. From the Fig it is clear that the lower frequency band is affected by the
Wp1 . On increasing the Wp1 the impedance mismatching for the lower frequencies is reduced.
Therefore, 13 mm is chosen as final value.

−10

−20
[dB]
11
S

−30
9 mm
11 mm
−40 13 mm

−50
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.6: Simulated S11 versus Frequency for Different Wp1

In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed decoupling structure and UWB opera-

tion, the current distribution on the antenna surface is illustrated in Fig. 6.7[(a)-(d)] at various
frequencies. The current distribution at 3 and 8.5 GHz frequencies are obtained when port 1
is excited and port 2 is terminated and vice versa at 13 GHz and 21.5 GHz. Current densities
at two different frequencies with port 1 excited are shown in Fig 6.7[(a)-(b)]. It can be seen
from the Fig. that for 3 GHz frequency current is mainly distributed in the lower part of the

triangular radiator, ground plane and feed line which confirms that lower resonating frequen-
cies are excited due to the lower part of the triangular radiator and the ground plane. Fig also
shows that for the 8.5 GHz frequency current is uniformly distributed over the triangular ra-
diator and the ground plane, which confirms the operation of the antenna at this frequency. In

Fig 6.7[(c)-(d)] current densities at 13 GHz and 21.5 GHz is shown with port 2 excited. It is
clear from the Fig that current is distributed over the triangular shape patch which confirms the

82
operation of the antenna element for these two frequencies. From Fig 6.7[(a)-(d)] it is clear

that there is very low mutual coupling between the two antennas. Fig.6.7(e) and(f) shows the
fabricated prototype of proposed antenna

Figure 6.7: Surface Current Densities for Proposed UWB MIMO Antenna at (a) 3 GHz (b) 8.5 GHz
(c) 13 GHz and (d) 21.5 GHz

6.2.2 Measured Results And Discussion

−10
S−Parameter [dB]

−20

−30

−40
S /S simulated
11 22
S /S simulated
12 21
−50 S /S measured
11 22
S /S measured
12 21
−60
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency[GHz]

Figure 6.8: Measured and Simulated S-parameters for the Proposed UWB MIMO Antenna

The proposed MIMO antenna design is fabricated through the MITS-Eleven Lab PCB
machine and validated by measuring the various parameters using Agilent N5230A vector

83
network analyser. The measured and simulated S-parameter curves of the proposed antenna

are shown in Fig.6.8. It is observed from the Fig. that the simulated and measured results
show relatively good agreement with each other. The antenna efficaciously shows the large
impedance bandwidth of 22 GHz from 3.0 - 25 GHz with mutual coupling of less than -24
dB between the two antenna elements. The realized gain, total efficiency and the multiplexing

0 10

−0.5 8
Multiplexing Efficiency

Realized Gain [dB]

Total Efficiency
Efficiency [dB]

−1 Realized Gain
6
−1.5
4
−2

−2.5 2

−3 0
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.9: Gain and Efficiency against Frequency for the Proposed UWB MIMO Antenna

efficiency of the proposed UWB, MIMO antenna are shown in Fig. 6.9. It is perceived from
the Fig that the proposed antenna shows the gain of 2 - 6 dB for the entire UWB band. The
Fig also shows that the multiplexing efficiency of the antenna is similar to that of the total

efficiency. This indicates that the performance of the proposed MIMO antenna is mainly
limited by the total efficiencies of the antenna elements.
Group delay gives an indication of the time delay that the impulse signal suffers while in
propagation through the dimensions of the antenna. The simulated group delay variation is
shown in Fig 6.10. Fig 6.10 shows that the group delay is stable in entire UWB band from

which it can be concluded that the designed antenna displays the phase linearity at desired
UWB frequencies.

84
 2

Group Delay [ns]

0

−1

−2
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.10: Group Delay against Frequency for the Proposed UWB MIMO Antenna

Figure 6.11: Radiation Patterns for the Proposed UWB MIMO Antenna at (a) 3.5 GHz (b)7 GHz (c)15
GHz and (d) 19.5 GHz.

85
 The measured radiation patterns of the proposed UWB, MIMO antenna in X-Y, Y-Z, and

X-Z plane are illustrated in Fig. 6.11 at four different frequencies (a) 3.5 GHz (b) 7 GHz (c)
15 GHz and (d) 19.5 GHz, respectively. The radiation patterns of the antenna are obtained
by exciting the port 1 and terminating the port 2 of the antenna. It can be seen from the
Fig6.11[(a)-(b)] that the antenna shows the stable radiation patterns in the frequencies ranges

from 3-10 GHz. The radiation at higher frequencies is due to the higher-order modes which
are responsible for splitting of the radiation lobe as shown in Fig 6.11[(c)-(d)].

6.2.3 Diversity performance

0.05 10.1

0.04 10

Diversity Gain [dB]

0.03
ECC

0.02 9.8
Measured Diversity Gain
Measured ECC
Simulated ECC
0.01
Simulated Diversity Gain

0 9.6
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.12: Envelope Correlation Coefficient and Diversity Gain of the Proposed UWB MIMO An-
tenna

The envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), MEG, TARC and the diversity gain are the
important parameters for two-port MIMO antenna. The envelope correlation coefficient de-

scribes the ability of each antenna to receive information independently. In order to achieve
significant diversity performance, it is often desirable to obtain a correlation value below 0.2.
For a loss less MIMO antenna, the ECC can be calculated using the method proposed in [189].

∗ S + S ∗ S |2
|S11 12 21 22
ECC = (6.1)
(1 − |S11| − |S21 | )(1 − |S22|2 − |S12 |2 )
2 2

86
 3

2.5

MEGi/MEGj [dB]
2

1.5

0.5

0
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.13: Ratio of MEGs of Two Antenna Elements

The simulated ECC and diversity gain curves for the MIMO antenna are plotted in Fig
6.12. It shows that the simulated ECC is below 0.03 in an entire UWB band from 3.0 - 25,
which is low enough to ensure good diversity performance of the presented MIMO antenna.
The diversity gain of the proposed UWB MIMO antenna can be calculated using [190]

q
DG = 10 1 − |ECC|2 (6.2)

From the Fig 6.12 it can be seen that the diversity gain of the antenna is above 9.9 dB, as
expected.

The relative mean power levels between the signals delivered from each antenna is mea-
sured using the MEG(mean effective gain). For a good diversity performance and channel

characteristics, the ratio of MEG of the two antenna elements should full-fill the criteria
MEGi /MEG j < 3dB [191] . Here, i and j denote the antenna elements 1 and 2, respectively.

From Fig 6.13, it is observed that for the proposed MIMO antenna the ratio of MEG of
lies in between the above-mentioned limit for the entire UWB band, with a maximum of 1.3

dB at 6 GHz and 14 GHz.

For multi-port antenna systems, adjacent antenna elements affect each other and when

87
 −10

−20 Simulated
Measured
−30

−40
TARC

−50

−60

−70

−80
2 6 10 14 18 22 25
Frequency[GHz]

Figure 6.14: TARC verses Frequency for the Proposed UWB MIMO Antenna

operating simultaneously they affect the overall operating bandwidth and efficiency. Thus,
depending on the S-parameters alone will not be enough to predict the actual system behav-
ior. A new metric that is denoted as the total active reflection coefficient (TARC) has been
introduced to take this effect into account. TARC can be defined as square root of the ratio

of total reflected power to the total incident power and it apparent return loss of the overall
MIMO antenna system. For dual-port MIMO system, it can be calculated as the following
equation [192]

p
(S11 + S12 )2 + (S21 + S22 )2
TARC = √ (6.3)
2

For a MIMO communication system the value TARC should be <0 dB. The measured and

simulated values of TARC are shown in Fig 6.14. It is observed from the Fig. that the value
of TARC for the proposed antenna is less than -10 dB for entire UWB band.

88
6.3 BAND-NOTCHED UWB MIMO ANTENNA

6.3.1 Antenna Configurations

The approach towards the dual-band notched MIMO antenna is shown in Fig 6.15. In the first

step, an antenna is designed to achieve the ultrawide band through two identical triangular
shape radiators placed in opposite direction on the top of the substrate, and a funnel shaped
ground plane on the bottom of the substrate, which act as a decoupling structure to effectively
reduces the mutual coupling of the multiple radiators are shown in Fig 6.15(a). After, achiev-
ing the UWB performance an inverted J-shaped slit is etched in the radiator to attain the band

rejection characteristic at WLAN band from 5.1–5.8 GHz as shown in Fig 6.15(b). Further, to

(a) UWB Antenna

(b) Single Band-Notched UWB Antenna

(c) Dual Band-Notched UWB Antenna

Figure 6.15: Evolution of the Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO Antenna

reject the IEEE INSAT/Super-Extended C-band from 6.7–7.1 GHz another inverted J-shaped

slit is etched just below the first slit as shown in Fig 6.15(c). Width of both the slits used to
achieve band-notched characteristics is chosen as 0.2 mm. The antenna is fed by a tapered

89
microstrip feedline. Fig. 6.16 and 6.17 show the simulated s-parameters for all the geometries

used in the evolution of the final design.

−10

−20
S11/S22 [dB]

−30

−40
UWB Antenna
−50 UWB Antenna with Single−Notch
UWB Antenna with Double−Notch

−60
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.16: Simulated S11 /S22 versus Frequency for the Three Different Antennas

−10

−20

−30
[dB]
21

−40
S /S
12

−50

UWB Antenna
−60 UWB Antenna with Single−Notch
UWB Antenna with Double−Notch

−70
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.17: Simulated S12 /S21 versus Frequency for the Three Different Antennas

The current densities at various frequencies are studied to determined the behaviour of the
proposed antenna. Fig 6.18(a) shows the current densities at 5.5 GHz with port 1 excited. It
is seen from Fig. 6.18(a) that the stronger current distributions mainly exist near the edges of

the upper inverted J-shaped slit which confirms the notch operation at WLAN(5.1-5.8 GHz)
band. In Fig 6.18(b) current densities at 6.9 GHz are shown with port 2 excited. The fig shows

90
that the current is mainly concentrated at lower inverted J-shaped slit for 6.9 GHz frequency,

which confirms the notch operation at IEEE INSAT/Super-Extended C-band. But for the notch
frequencies the current direction oppose each other. Therefore, the resultant radiated fields
cancel out hence, the antenna does not radiate efficiently at these frequencies. At the other
passband frequencies of 12.8 GHz and 20.8 GHz, the surface current is uniformly distributed

over ground plane, radiator and feedline of the antenna which confirms the UWB performance
over the entire band as shown in 6.18(c) and 6.18(d). The fabricated prototype of proposed
antenna is shown in Fig.6.18(e) and (f).

Figure 6.18: Surface Current Densities for the Proposed MIMO Antenna at (a) 5.5 GHz (b) 6.9 GHz
(c) 15 GHz (d) 20.5 GHz

6.3.2 Parametric Study and Design Equation for Notched Bands

To study the effect of J-shaped slits on creating the band-notched characteristics parametriza-
tion is done. Firstly the single notched antenna parameter Wn2 is varied to show the effect of
overall length of upper J-shaped slit on the WLAN band-notched frequency in Fig 6.19. As
seen from the Fig on increasing the value of Wn2 from 1 to 3 mm the notch band is shifted

towards the lower frequency. Therefore, to get the desired band-notched frequency 2 mm is
chosen as a final value.

91
 0

−10

S11 /S22[dB]
−20

−30 3 mm
2 mm
1 mm
−40

−50
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.19: Variation of Wn2 verses Frequency for the Proposed Antenna

For the band-notched characteristic at WLAN band, this slit acts as a quarter-guided-
wavelength resonator, the length of upper J-shaped slit can be calculated as

Lt1 = Wn1 + Ln1 +Wn2 (6.4)

The centre-notch frequency fn can be calculated as

c
fn ≈ q (6.5)
εr +1
4Lt1 2

where εr is the dielectric constant, and c is the speed of light. Thus, for the centre frequency of
WLAN band-notched the calculated length Lt1 is 8.5 mm. The design equation is also verified

by calculating the notch frequency for the values given in Fig. 6.19. The design equation
values of the notch frequency for different values of Wn2 are compared with the simulation
values in Table- 6.4. It is clear from Table- 6.4 that there is very small difference between both
the values .

After studying the effect single notch parameter Wn2 on the WLAN band, the effect of
parameter Wn4 of lower J-shaped slit on creating the IEEE/INSAT C-band is shown in Fig

92
Table 6.4: Comparison of Design Equation Resonant Frequency with Full-wave Simulation Data as a
Function of Wn2

Wn2 Lt1 Resonant frequency (GHz)

(mm) (mm) Design equation Full-wave simulation
3 9.5 4.80 4.85
2 8.5 5.4 5.3
1 7.5 6.0 5.7

6.20. From the Fig it is clear that notch band shifted towards higher frequency on increasing
the Wp4 . Therefore, 1.5 mm is chosen as final value.

−10

−20
[dB]

−30
22
S /S
11

0.8 mm
−40 1.3 mm
1.5 mm
−50

−60
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.20: Variation of Wn4 verses Frequency for the Proposed Antenna

For the band-notched characteristic at IEEE/INSAT C-band , this slit acts as a quarter-
guided-wavelength resonator, the length of lower J-shaped slit can be calculated as

Lt2 = Wn3 + Ln2 +Wn4 (6.6)

The centre-notch frequency fn can be calculated as

c
fn ≈ q (6.7)
εr +1
4Lt2 2

93
Table 6.5: Comparison of Design Equation Resonant Frequency with Full-wave Simulation Data as a
Function of Wn4

Wn4 Lt2 Resonant frequency (GHz)

(mm) (mm) Design equation Full-wave simulation
0.8 6.3 7.24 7.3
1.3 6.8 6.71 6.8
1.7 7.3 6.2 6.6

Thus, for the centre frequency of IEEE/INSAT C-band notched band, the calculated length

Lt2 is 6.8 mm. The design equation is also verified by calculating the notch frequency for
the values given in Fig. 6.20. In Table- 6.5, notch frequency for different values of Wn4
of the lower J-shaped slit is compared with the design equation values. Both the values are
approximately same which confirms the effectiveness of the design equation.

6.3.3 Measured Results And Discussion

−10

−20
S−Parameter

−30

−40
Simulated S /S
−50 11 22
Simulated S21/S12
Measured S11/S22
−60 Measured S /S
21 12

−70
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.21: Measured and Simulated S-parameters for the Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO An-
tenna

Fig. 6.21 illustrates a comparison between the simulated and measured S-parameters val-

ues of the proposed antenna with respect to frequency. The measured results show that the
designed antenna has sufficient ultra wideband performance of from 3.1 to 35 GHz, with two

94
band-notches in the frequency ranges 4.6-5.8 GHz for WLAN band with S11 of - 1.1 dB and

6.4-7.3 GHz for IEEE INSAT/Super-Extended C-band with S11 of - 2.0 dB. In Fig 6.22 the
gain and efficiency of proposed MIMO antenna are depicted. As desired, the gain of the pro-
posed antenna decreases drastically over the rejected bands between 5.1-5.8 GHz and 6.9-7.3
GHz, however it gradually increases with rise in frequency. The Fig also shows that the effi-

ciency of the proposed antenna is more than 50% for the UWB band. In both the notch bands
the efficiency of antenna drops down to less than 30%. The measured 2-D radiation patterns

10 100

80

Radiation Efficiency [%]

5

60
Gain [dB]

0
40

−5
20

−10 0
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.22: Gain and Efficiency against Frequency for the Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO An-
tenna

in X-Y, Y-Z and X-Z direction of the proposed UWB MIMO antenna at different frequencies
are illustrated in Fig. 6.23 (a) 5.5 GHz (b) 6.9 GHz (c) 5.5 GHz (d) 6.9 GHz (e) 15 GHz (f)
21.5 GHz, respectively. The radiation patterns of the antenna are obtained by exciting the port

1 and terminating the port 2. From Fig 6.23[(a)-(b)] it is clear that for the lower frequencies
of the UWB band radiation pattern are stable. It is observed from the Fig 6.23[(c)-(d)] that
for both the notched band frequencies the antenna shows an unstable radiation patterns in all
the planes. The radiation at higher frequencies is due to the higher-order modes which are
responsible for splitting of the radiation lobe as shown in Fig 6.23[(e)-(f)].

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Figure 6.23: Radiation Patterns for the Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO Antenna at (a) 3.5 GHz
(b) 8 GHz (c) 5.5 GHz (d) 6.9 GHz (e) 15 GHz (f) 21.5 GHz

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6.3.4 Diversity Performance

For a loss less MIMO antenna, the ECC can be calculated using the method proposed in [189]
for band-notched UWB MIMO antenna.

∗ S + S ∗ S |2
|S11 12 21 22
ECC = (6.8)
(1 − |S11| − |S21 | )(1 − |S22|2 − |S12 |2 )
2 2

0.05 10.1

0.04 10

Diversity Gain
0.03 Measured ECC
ECC

Simulated ECC
Simulated Diversity Gain
0.02 Measured Diversity Gain 9.8

0.01

0 9.6
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.24: Envelope Correlation Coefficient and Diversity Gain of the Proposed Band-notched UWB
MIMO Antenna

The ECC and diversity gain curves for the band-notched UWB MIMO antenna are plotted
in Fig. 6.24. It shows that the simulated ECC is below 0.03 in the entire UWB band from
3.1 - 35, which is low enough to ensure good diversity performance of the presented MIMO

antenna. The diversity gain of the proposed UWB MIMO antenna can be calculated using
[190]
q
DG = 10 1 − |ECC|2 (6.9)

The diversity gain of the antenna is above 9.9 dB for the entire band as shown in the Fig. 6.24.

The adjacent elements of the MIMO antenna system effect each other performance when

they operate simultaneously. It will affect the overall operating bandwidth and efficiency of the
antenna. Thus, depending on the S-parameters alone will not be enough to predict the actual

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 −10

−20 Measured
Simulated

−30

TARC [dB]
−40

−50

−60

−70

−80
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.25: Calculated TARC against Frequency for the Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO An-
tenna

system behavior. A new metric that is denoted as the total active reflection coefficient (TARC)
has been introduced to take this effect into account. The TARC provides a more meaningful
and complete characterization measure of MIMO efficiency because it contains the effect of

mutual coupling. TARC can be defined as square root of the ratio of total reflected power
to the total incident power and it apparent return loss of the overall MIMO antenna system.
TARC for 2×2 antenna array can be directly calculated from the scattering matrix using the
following equation [192]

p
(S11 + S12 )2 + (S21 + S22 )2
TARC = √ (6.10)
2

For a MIMO communication system the value TARC should be <0 dB. The measured and
simulated values of TARC are shown in Fig 6.25. It is observed from the Fig. that the value
of TARC for the proposed antenna is less than 10 dB for entire band.

MEG(mean effective gain) is defined as the ratio between the mean received power of

antennas over the random route and the total mean incident power. When each monopole
receives the same quantity of power, the MEG ratio of the two monopoles is equal to one,

98
which means that no performance deterioration is expected due to some power imbalance.

For a good diversity performance and channel characteristics, the ratio of MEG of the two
antenna elements should full-fill the criteria as given in the following equation [191]. Here, i
and j denote the antenna elements 1 and 2, respectively.

MEGi
< 3dB (6.11)
MEG j

1.4

1.2

1
MEGi/MEGj [dB]

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.26: Ratio of MEG against Frequency for the Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO Antenna

From Fig 6.26, it is observed that for the proposed MIMO antenna the ratio of MEG for
the entire UWB band lies in between the aforementioned limit, with a maximum value of 1.3
dB at 6 GHz and 14 GHz.

Fig 6.27 shows the channel capacity degradation of band-notched UWB MIMO antenna
as a function of correlation coefficient given by the equation [193]

ρ
C = n × log2 (1 + (1 − |ECC|2)) (6.12)
n

ρ
where n is the signal-to-noise ratio per receive branch and ECC is the correlation coefficient
of the antenna 1 and 2. The Fig shows that the MIMO capacity remains almost constant for

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 70

60

Channel Capacity [bit/s/Hz]

50

40

30 n=10
n=2

20

10
0 0.05 0.1 0.15
Correlation Coefficient

Figure 6.27: Simulated Channel Capacity against Envelop Correlation Coefficient of the Band-notched
UWB MIMO Antenna

the achieved correlation coefficient.

6.3.5 Study of Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO Antenna in Different Orientation

The S-parameters of the proposed antenna is also analysed by placing the two antenna el-
ements in three different orientations. In Fig. 6.28(a) shows the first arrangement of two
antenna elements in which the second antenna element is the mirror image of first antenna

element in x-axis that is flipped 90 degree in anti clockwise direction. For the second arrange-
ment the two antenna elements are placed orthogonal to each other as shown in Fig. 6.28(b).
In Fig. 6.28(c) the MIMO antenna is designed by placing the two antenna element opposite
to each other. In this arrangement the second antenna element is designed as the mirror image
of the first antenna element in y-axis. For all the orientation the ground plane is designed

according to the radiator of the antenna.

Fig. 6.29 shows the S11 parameter for the different orientation of the proposed antenna.
From the Fig we can see that the S11 for the different orientations show the UWB performance

with dual band notched characteristics. Although, for all the three orientations there is some
impedance mismatching at the lower frequencies. But, with some modification in the antenna

100
Figure 6.28: Orientation of Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO Antenna in Three Different Place-
ments

design impedance mismatching at the lower frequencies can be reduced. It is clear from

the above study that the proposed antenna can be used in MIMO applications with different
orientations according to need of the application such as for the corners, the MIMO antenna
in which two antenna elements are placed orthogonally can be used. Fig. 6.30 shows the S21
parameter for the three different orientations of the proposed antenna. From the Fig. it is clear

that S21 is less than -15 dB for all the three orientations of the antenna, which confirms that
mutual coupling between the two antenna elements is less for all the three arrangements.

101
 0

−10

−20
S11 [dB]

−30
Orientation 1
Orientation 2
−40 Orientation 3

−50

−60
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.29: Simulated S11 Parameter of the Proposed Band-notched UWB MIMO Antenna for Differ-
ent Orientation

−10

−20
[dB]

−30
21

−40
S

−50 Orientation 1
Orientation 2
−60 Orientation 3

−70
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 35
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 6.30: Simulated S21 Parameter of the Band-notched UWB MIMO Antenna for Different Orien-
tation

102
6.4 SUMMARY

A very compact triangular shaped UWB MIMO antenna with dual band notched character-
istics is proposed in this paper. To provide the high isolation the two radiator are placed in
opposite direction and a funnel shaped ground is used. Parametrisation is done to analysed

the effect of two J-shaped slits on creating the notched band. Parameters such as gain, effi-
ciency, and radiation patterns confirm the notch operation of the antenna. Fabricated antenna
shows a good agreement between measured and simulated results with a wide bandwidth of
22 GHz, from 3.0 to 25 GHz for the UWB MIMO antenna and 31.9 GHz, from 3.1 to 35
GHz, with two band notched band from 4.1-5.8 and 6.3-7.2 GHz for the band-notched UWB

MIMO antenna. The diversity performance is obtained by calculating parameters like ECC,
diversity gain, MEG and TARC which shows a good diversity performance of the proposed
antenna. The very low mutual coupling (<-24 dB), indicates that the proposed antenna system
is a good candidate for UWB-MIMO communication systems. In the next chapter, conclusion

of the work described in the thesis and the future scope of the work is discussed.

103