Int. J. Electron. Commun.

(AE) 70 (2016) 873879

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Electronics and

Communications (AE)
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aeue

Regular Paper

A compact 4-channel microstrip MIMO antenna with reduced mutual

coupling
Chandan Kumar Ghosh
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Dr. B. C. Roy Engineering College, Durgapur 713206, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 30 January 2015
Accepted 29 March 2016

Keywords:
Rectangular microstrip antenna
MIMO
Inverted U-shaped resonator
Line resonator and mutual coupling

a b s t r a c t
A compact 4-channel multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) microstrip antenna integrated with
inverted U-shaped microstrip resonators and line resonators is presented at 5.25 GHz frequency band
(WLAN band). Microstrip resonators have been introduced for reduction of mutual coupling between
the closely spaced antenna elements. A distance of 0.5k is kept between adjacent patch elements, in order
to achieve compactness of the MIMO structure. The simulation results show that the introduction of
resonators of electrical length 2kg (kg = guided wave length) between antenna elements leads to suppression of mutual coupling by 44 dB at resonance frequency between the horizontal antenna elements. If
line resonators of optimized length 22.1 mm (0.8kg) are introduced, then each of them suppresses the
mutual coupling between the vertical elements by more than 35 dB at resonance. The length, width
and distance between two arms of the inverted U-shaped resonator have been optimized to achieve
minimum mutual coupling. The antenna with a compact structure based on the design has a peak gain
of 10.54 dBi and a band width of 250 MHz. The antennas have been fabricated, measured and a good
agreement between simulation and measured results are observed.
2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The design of MIMO antennas in the form of arrays is a vital
study in todays wireless communication system for achieving high
data rate and to counteract the effect of fading during signal propagation through various environments. In the case of long distance
communication, signal fading is a common feature for a single-in
putsingle-output (SISO) antenna system. At times the received
signal drops below the mean signal level which ultimately leads
to communication being lost. In order to receive the required signal
strength, the power level needs to be increased which further
invites interference with other channels. To increase the power
level, some active devices are used which also introduces some
non-linear behavior into the channels. MIMO antenna system
using spatial diversity reception or transmission increases the
probability of reception, spectral efficiency and reliability as compared to single-antenna communication systems [1,2]. In a multipath rich wireless channel, deploying multiple antennas at both
transmitter and receiver ends achieves a higher data rate without
increasing the total transmission power or bandwidth [35]. The
capacity of the channel grows linearly with the number of
antennas. The channel capacity of a MIMO system is given by

E-mail address: mcet_ckg@yahoo.com

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aeue.2016.03.018
1434-8411/ 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

C = B log2 (1 + mtnr SNR), where B = band width, SNR = signal-tonoise ratio, mt = number of transmit antenna and nr = number of
receiving antenna. Thus, MIMO antenna system is a very interesting study and is widely applicable to increase the range and reliability of Wi-Fi LAN, Bluetooth, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants),
DCS (Digital Communication System), WLAN and UMTs. It also
plays a significant role in the implementation of next generation
wireless equipment. In spite of these advantages, the MIMO
antenna system suffers from a serious problem caused by strong
mutual coupling between antenna elements which causes signal
interference between them and a higher value of mutual coupling
lowers the antenna efficiency [6].
The problem caused by mutual coupling between antenna
elements is difficult to solve using baseband algorithm and signal
processing [7]. Recently, many studies have been carried out to
suppress the mutual coupling between antenna elements. These
studies are mostly based on software approaches like baseband
algorithm or DSP but their embodiment is difficult. Thus an effective solution to such problems involves the use of hardware including antennas in place of algorithms. There are a few studies on
mutual coupling in antenna systems; such as, antenna integrated
with microstrip line resonator [8], antenna using inverted
U-shaped microstrip resonator [9], antenna with parasitic
elements [10], etc. In [8], it is seen that mutual coupling has been

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C.K. Ghosh / Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 70 (2016) 873879

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of (a) patch element and (b) resonator of electrical length
2kg (dimensions are in mm).

Fig. 4. 2-Channel MIMO antenna integrated with resonator.

Fig. 2. Geometry of the 2-element MIMO structure integrated with resonator.

Fig. 5. Measured S11 and S21 for antenna-1 with resonator at 5.25 GHz.

and mutual coupling has been suppressed by around 16 dB at

resonant frequency. However, this too suffers from back radiation.
This paper investigates a rectangular shaped antenna integrated
with four microstrip resonators for mutual coupling suppression.
The key contribution of this paper is the antenna design with
low mutual coupling among each antenna element with consideration for independent channel operation in MIMO system. The
simulated and measured results of the designed antenna confirm
the accuracy of the proposed design. The characteristics analyses
of the antenna have been done numerically using IE3D EM simulator and its measurements carried out with the help of Agilent make
N5230A network analyzer and fully automated anechoic chamber.
Fig. 3. Simulated S11 and S21 with and without resonator.

2. 2-Channel MIMO antenna

suppressed by 35 dB between two E-shaped antenna elements.
Similarly, a mutual coupling of 17 dB in [9], and 25 dB in [10]
has been suppressed. There are more studies on considering the
mutual coupling in antenna systems like antenna with boxy metallic wall [11], antenna using absorber [12], etc. These 3-dimensional
structures are used for suppressing the mutual coupling, which
leads to more complex and big structures. Some of the most
referred methods in the literature for printed antennas are using
defected ground structures (DGS) [13,14] and electromagnetic
band-gap (EBG) [15,16] structures. These structures offer high back
radiation which invites pattern degradation.
In [17], mutual coupling has been reduced considerably at the
cost of some complicated structure at the ground plane but suffers
from radiation pattern degradation owing to back radiation. In
[18], a simple U-section has been used between two planar microstrip antennas with a separation of 0.6k (center to center distance)

Rectangular shaped microstrip patch antenna has been

designed at the center frequency of 5.25 GHz and accordingly the
characteristic parameters like length and width are obtained from
standard formulae [19]. The schematic diagram of the microstrip
radiator and the inverted U-shaped resonator is shown in Fig. 1.
FR4 substrate of thickness 1.58 mm, loss tangent of 0.02 and
dielectric constant of 4.4 have been considered for this design.
Here the resonator has been designed in such a way that it
involves in the coupling at the resonant frequency of the patch
elements. The dimensions of the resonator have been optimized
precisely by the process of simulation. The direct mutual coupling
between patch elements can be canceled out by properly adding an
extra indirect coupling path [20]. A proper design aims at creating
an indirect signal coming via the extra coupling path that opposes
the signal going directly from element to element. If the two

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C.K. Ghosh / Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 70 (2016) 873879

-10

-10

-20

-20

-30

|S11|,|S21|dB

|S11|,|S21|dB

Fig. 6. Simulated current distribution of 2-channel MIMO, (a) with resonator and (b) without resonator at 5.25 GHz.

-40
S11_L=23.5

S21_L=23.5

S21_L=22.5

S21_L=22.0

S21_L=23.0

-50
-60
4.4

4.6

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

-30
S11_W=1
-40

S21_W=1
S21_W=1.5

-50

S21_W=0.5

-60

Frequency(GHz)

4.4
Fig. 7. Variation of S21 by decreasing L in mm of the resonator.

4.6

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency(GHz)
Fig. 10. Variation of S21 by varying W in mm of the resonator.

|S11|,|S21|dB

-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
4.4

4.6

S11_resonator

S21_d=8.7

S21_d=8.5

S21_d=8.3

S21_d=8.1

S21_d=7.9

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency(GHz)
Fig. 8. Variation of S21 by decreasing d in mm of the resonator.

|S11|,|S21|dB

-10
-20
Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of 4-element MIMO antenna structure (dimensions are
in mm).

-30
S21_d=10.7
S11_d=10.7
S21_d=10.9
S21_d=11.1
S21_d=11.3
S21_d=11.5

-40
-50
-60
4.4

4.6

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency(GHz)
Fig. 9. Variation of S21 by increasing d in mm of the resonator.

amplitudes are comparable, the two signals add up destructively,

and the result is the reduction of mutual coupling. Through simulation, maximum reduction of mutual coupling between adjacent
patches is achieved when the resonator length is approximately
equal to nkg (where n = integer) for W = 1 mm. Here, the peripheral
length of the inverted U-shaped resonator is (23.5 + 23.5 + 8.7)
mm = 55.7 mm. This length is approximately equal to 2kg. To
accommodate in between the area of the two patches, the shape

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C.K. Ghosh / Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 70 (2016) 873879

|S-Parameters|dB

-5
-10
-15
-20
-25

S11/S22_resonator

-30

S33/S44_resonator

-35
4.4

4.6

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency(GHz)
Fig. 12. Simulated S11/S22/S33/S44 of the patch elements with resonators.

of the resonator chosen resembles that of an inverted-U. The

geometry of the 2-element MIMO structure integrated with
resonator is shown in Fig. 2.
The simulated return loss and the mutual coupling of the
antenna structure with and without resonator are shown in the
Fig. 3.
The 2-channel MIMO structure has been fabricated (Fig. 4),
measured and the results are shown in Fig. 5.
From Fig. 3, it is observed that the mutual coupling is suppressed by 44 dB at the resonant frequency. The measured results
conform to the simulated ones. From Fig. 5, it is observed that the
suppression of mutual coupling varies from 10 dB to 50 dB
within the specified bandwidth ( 10 dB) when the resonator is
inserted between the antenna elements.
This concept has been applied to a larger structure and accordingly a 4-element MIMO integrated with resonators has been
designed and analyzed.
The simulated current distributions of the 2-channel MIMO
with and without resonator are shown in Fig. 6.
Any microstrip section has its own resonant frequency. In this
work, inverted-U and I-section microstrip lines have been used
as the parasitic elements which offer anti-resonance at 5.25 GHz.
From current distributions, the anti-resonance characteristics of
the microstrip sections are clearly observed.
From current distribution characteristics of Fig. 6, it is observed
that the direction of current vectors through a resonator is such

(a)

Fig. 14. Simulated 2D radiation pattern of antenna-1 with and without resonators
at 5.25 GHz.

that they cancel each other at 5.25 GHz. As a result the resonator
itself does not radiate and reduces the mutual coupling at the
designed frequency. The dimensions of the resonator have been
optimized and a study of S-parameters has been shown in Fig. 7
by varying the length (L) of the resonator.
From Fig. 7, it is observed that when the length of the resonator
decreases, the parameter S21 moves toward higher frequencies
with larger VSWRs.
Similarly Figs. 8 and 9 show the S-parameter study of Fig. 2 by
varying the length d of the resonator. Figs. 8 and 9 show that the
mutual coupling increases as length d of the resonator increases
or decreases from its optimized value. In Fig. 10, the S21 parameter
study is shown by increasing and decreasing the width (W) of the
resonator. It is clearly observed that the mutual coupling increases
as we go on increasing or decreasing the width of the resonator
from its optimized value (W = 1 mm).
3. 4-Channel MIMO antenna
The schematic diagram of 4-element MIMO antenna structure
integrated with an inverted U-shaped resonator and line
resonators of length 0.8kg (optimized dimension) is shown in Fig. 11.
The simulated return loss characteristics of Fig. 11 with
resonators are shown in Fig. 12.
It is observed from Fig. 12 that there is no significant change in
return loss characteristics with the insertion of resonators. The

(b)

Fig. 13. Simulated current distribution of the 4-channel MIMO with resonators, (a) antenna-1 is excited and (b) antenna-4 is excited.

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C.K. Ghosh / Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 70 (2016) 873879

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 15. Fabricated antenna with resonators, (a) front view, (b) back view and (c) front view without resonators.

-10

-20

-20

|S13| dB

|S-Parameters|dB

-10

-30
-40

S11
S33
S43
S42
S21_no reso

-50
-60
-70
5

5.1

S22
S44
S31
S21

-30
-40
S13_ l = 22.1 mm
-50

S13_ l= 22.5 mm
S13_ l = 23 mm

5.2

5.3

-60

5.4

4.6

Frequency(GHz)

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 16. Simulated S-parameters of 4-element MIMO antenna with resonators at

5.25 GHz.

Fig. 18. Variation of S13 by increasing the length (l) of the line resonator.

-10
-20

-20

|S13| dB

|S-Parameters|dB

-10

-30
-40
-50
-60

S11

S22

S33

S44

S21

S24

S31

S43

-30
-40

S13_ l= 22.1 mm
S13_ l = 21.0 mm

-50

S13 _ l= 20.0 mm

-70

-60
5

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

4.6

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency(GHz)

Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 17. Measured S-parameters of 4-element MIMO antenna with resonators at

5.25 GHz.

Fig. 19. Variation of S13 by decreasing the length (l) of the line resonator.

simulated current distribution of the 4-channel MIMO structure

with resonators is shown in Fig. 13.
From current distribution characteristics, it is observed that
the directions of current vector through resonators are such that
they cancel each other at 5.25 GHz resulting in suppression of
mutual coupling at the designed frequency. 2D radiation pattern
view (co-pol. and cross-pol.) of proposed antenna structure with
and without resonator is shown in Fig. 14. There is no significant
change in co-polar radiation patterns with and without resonators. The cross-polar radiation is suppressed by 4 dBi when
the resonators are integrated in the antenna structure. Here,

elevation pattern gain of 10 dBi is observed in the antenna-1.

The 4-channel MIMO with and without resonator have been fabricated and measured. The fabricated antenna structures are
shown in Fig. 15 and the simulated S-parameters of 4-element
MIMO with resonators at 5.25 GHz are shown in Fig. 16.
Measured S-parameters of the proposed antenna structure are
also shown in Fig. 17.
From Figs. 16 and 17, it is observed that there is some mismatch
in the S-parameter characteristics between simulation and
measured results. This may be due to the error that occurred
during fabrication of the antenna.

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C.K. Ghosh / Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 70 (2016) 873879

-10
-20

|S13| dB

-30
S13 _ a = 1.0 mm

-40

S13 _ a = 1.2 mm

-50

S13 _ a = 1.4 mm

-60
4.6

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency (GHz
Fig. 20. Variation of S13 by increasing the width (a) of the line resonator.

-10
Fig. 23. Total field gain vs frequency plot of the proposed antenna.

|S13| dB

-20

The antenna gain vs frequency (simulated) plot is shown in

Fig. 23. From this plot, the gain of the antenna at 5.25 GHz is
observed to be 10.54 dBi.

-30
-40

S13 _ a = 1.0 mm

-50

S13 _ a = 0.8 mm

4. Conclusion

S13_ a = 0.6 mm
-60
4.6

4.8

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 21. Variation of S13 by decreasing the width (a) of the line resonator.

0
330

30
-10
-20

300

60

This article presents a novel structure which suppresses the

mutual coupling between the adjacent patches. Inverted
U-shaped resonator of electrical length 2kg and line resonators of
length 0.8kg are proposed as a technique of suppressing mutual
coupling. To verify the idea, rectangular patches integrated with
and without resonators have been experimentally examined.
Furthermore, it has been checked that the inclusion of resonators
causing suppression in mutual coupling does not affect other characteristics of the antenna. Thus, the proposed concept can be used
for achieving improved mutual coupling which is a major limitation in compact MIMO structure. The proposed design reduces
mutual coupling by more than 44 dB between horizontal antenna
elements and 35 dB between vertical elements.

-30

References

-40
-50

270

90

co-pol_simulated
co-pol_measured
cross-pol_simulated
cross-pol_measured

240

210

120

150
180

Fig. 22. Measured radiation patterns (normalized plot) of proposed antenna at

5.25 GHz.

For more clarification, some plots (Fig. 1821) are added which
represent effects of dimension and position of the line resonators
on related S-parameters.
Figs. 18 and 19 show that S13 increases as the length of the line
resonator increases or decreases from the optimized length
(l = 22.1 mm). Similarly, the same results are seen (Figs. 20 and
21) as we go on increasing or decreasing the width of the line
resonator from the optimized value (a = 1.0 mm)
The experimental results of the radiation pattern (normalized
plot) of the proposed antenna are shown in Fig. 22.

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