Wearable metamaterial dual-polarized high isolation UWB MIMO Vivaldi antenna for 5G and satellite communications

Alhawari, A. R.H., Saeidi, T., Almawgani, A. H. M., Hindi, A. T., Alghamdi, H., Alsuwian, T., Awwad, S. A.B. and Imran, M. A. (2021) Wearable metamaterial dual-polarized high isolation UWB MIMO Vivaldi antenna for 5G and satellite communications. Micromachines, 12(12), 1559. (doi: 10.3390/mi12121559)

Abstract

A low-profile Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna showing dual polarization, low mutual coupling, and acceptable diversity gain is presented by this paper. The antenna introduces the requirements of fifth generation (5G) and the satellite communications. A horizontally (4.8–31 GHz) and vertically polarized (7.6–37 GHz) modified antipodal Vivaldi antennas are simulated, fabricated, and integrated, and then their characteristics are examined. An ultra-wideband (UWB) at working bandwidths of 3.7–3.85 GHz and 5–40 GHz are achieved. Low mutual coupling of less than −22 dB is achieved after loading the antenna with cross-curves, staircase meander line, and integration of the metamaterial elements. The antennas are designed on a denim textile substrate with = 1.4 and h= 0.5 mm. A conductive textile called ShieldIt is utilized as conductor with conductivity of 1.8 × 10⁴. After optimizing the proposed UWB-MIMO antenna’s characteristics, it is increased to four elements positioned at the four corners of a denim textile substrate to be employed as a UWB-MIMO antenna for handset communications, 5G, Ka and Ku band, and satellite communications (X-band). The proposed eight port UWB-MIMO antenna has a maximum gain of 10.7 dBi, 98% radiation efficiency, less than 0.01 ECC, and acceptable diversity gain. Afterwards, the eight-ports antenna performance is examined on a simulated real voxel hand and chest. Then, it is evaluated and compared on physical hand and chest of body. Evidently, the simulated and measured results show good agreement between them. The proposed UWB-MIMO antenna offers a compact and flexible design, which is suitably wearable for 5G and satellite communications applications.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The project was funded by Najran University, research grant number NU/‐/SERC/10/656.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Imran, Professor Muhammad
• Authors: Alhawari, A. R.H., Saeidi, T., Almawgani, A. H. M., Hindi, A. T., Alghamdi, H., Alsuwian, T., Awwad, S. A.B., and Imran, M. A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Autonomous Systems and Connectivity
• Journal Name: Micromachines
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2072-666X
• ISSN (Online): 2072-666X
• Published Online: 14 December 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Micromachines 12(12):1559
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License