A New CPW-Fed Diversity Antenna for MIMO 5G Smartphones

In this study, a new coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed diversity antenna design is introduced for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) smartphone applications. The diversity antenna is composed of a double-fed CPW-fed antenna with a pair of modified T-ring radiators. The antenna is designed to cover the frequency spectrum of commercial sub-6 GHz 5G communication (3.4-3.8 and 3.8-4.2 GHz). It also provides high isolation, better than -16 dB, without an additional decoupling structure. It offers good potential to be deployed in future smartphones. Therefore, the characteristics and performance of an 8-port 5G smartphone antenna were investigated using four pairs of the proposed diversity antennas. Due to the compact size and also the placement of the elements, the presented CPW-fed smartphone antenna array design occupies a very small part of the smartphone board. Its operation band spans from 3.4 to 4.4 GHz. The simulated results agree well with measured results, and the performance of the smartphone antenna design in the presence of a user is given in this paper as well. The proposed MIMO design provides not only sufficient radiation coverage supporting different sides of the mainboard but also polarization diversity.