A CPW-Fed Antenna Array with MIMO and Phased Array Operations for Sub-6-GHz 5G Smartphones

Abstract

A co-planar waveguide (CPW)-fed MIMO antenna design with compact resonators and suitable features is introduced for smartphone applications. Two rows of antennas are mounted on two different sides of the mainboard to arrange an 8×8 MIMO configuration. The antenna elements of the introduced MIMO design have been etched onto the same layer as the ground plane. The antenna element contains a T-ring CPW-fed resonator operating at the frequency range of 3.2-4.2 GHz of sub 6 GHz 5G cellular communications. The designed array occupies a relatively small area of the board. Its critical properties are studied in detail. Due to the arrangement of the CPW-fed resonators, the proposed design is able to operate as two sets of beam-steerable arrays with high-gain radiation. It has been determined that the optimal S-parameters, patterns, efficiency, and gain are all achievable with the planned MIMO array design and meet the needs of future 5G handheld smartphones.