IEEE International Conference On Recent Trends In Electronics Information Communication Technology, May 20-21, 2016, India

A MIMO Antenna : Study on Reducing Mutual

Coupling and Improving Isolation
Pratima Nirmal, A.B.Nandgaonka, Sanjay L. Nalbalwa

Abstract— MIMO antenna has gained lot of attention for
research today due to various advantages such as increase in
capacity, low signal loss and less multipath fading. Although it
has many benefits, the main challenge lies in the design of
MIMO Antenna i.e to reduce the mutual coupling between the
antenna element and to provide high isolation. To reduce the
mutual coupling and for improving the isolation, various
techniques are employed such as Defected Ground Structure
such as slits, slot, spiral square structure, EBG structure, U
shaped parasitic element, stubs, neutralization line, parasitic
elements, etc. The mutual coupling of more than 20 dB is
obtained by employing all these technique. The main focus of this
paper is to present and compare the different technique to reduce
the mutual coupling and increase the isolation for various
frequency bands.
Keywords— MIMO Antenna, EBG Structure, Defected Ground
Structure (DGS), Parasitic elements, Mutual Coupling.
I. INTRODUCTION
Fig.1: MIMO system
The MIMO antenna as the name indicates consists of multiple
antennas at transmitter and receiver side. MIMO antenna
system is denoted as MxN where M = Number of transmitting
antenna, N =Number of receiving antenna as shown in the
Fig.1. MIMO systems make use of spatial multiplexing to
transmit data efficiently. Spatial multiplexing allows
transmitting different streams of data simultaneously using
multiple antennas. The advantage of this method is that the
data rate can be increased without requiring more spectrums.
MIMO systems also make use of diversity to improve the
quality of signal. It exploits various forms of diversity such as
space diversity, polarization diversity and pattern diversity.
In order to achieve these benefits, we must design MIMO
antenna with compact size, low mutual coupling, greater
isolation and ground plane modifications.
The performance of MIMO systems depends on cross-
correlation coefficients between received signals by different
antenna elements and mutual coupling of antenna element [2].
Thus, in MIMO antenna design, an important objective is to
minimize the correlation coefficient between antenna elements
in order to increase the system capacity. Ideally the corelation
coefficent should be less than 0.5 dB for an good MIMO
antenna. Conventionally, the correlation coefficient can be
reduced by increasing the distances between antenna elements
but eventually it will increase the size of the antenna. Besides
these, mutual coupling should be less among the antenna
elements. The mutual coupling is higher for antenna elements
which is spaced less than 0.5λ. The presence of mutual
coupling degrades the radiation pattern, increases the cochanel
intereference and changes the input characteristic of the
antenna. The antenna element should be highly isolated from
each other to achieve better performance of MIMO Antenna.
The various techniques has to be incorporated between
the MIMO antenna element such as defected ground structure,
electromagnetic band gap structure, parasitic element,
neutralization line, metamaterial, etc to reduce the mutual
interference between the antenna elements and to improve the
isolation between the elements. The size, shape, position and
dimension of these isolation structures have to be optimized to
have huge amount of mutual coupling reduction. The
following section shows the study of various mutual coupling
techniques and a comparison between these different
technique is done.
II. RELATED WORK
This section deals with various method proposed by different
author to reduce the mutual coupling in antenna system
A. Microstrip antenna with EBG structure for array
applications:

Pratima Normal, Department Of Electronics and Telecommunication

Engineering, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere,
Raigad, India (pratima.nirmal@gmail.com )
Fig.2: Microstrip antenna array with EBG
A.B.Nandgaonkar, Department Of Electronics and Telecommunication
Engineering, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere,
and comparison is made between these techniques. This
Raigad, India (abnandgaonkar@yahoo.com) section also discussed the benefits and drawback of these
methods.
Sanjay L. Nalbalwa, Department Of Electronics and Telecommunication Electromagnetic band gap structures are periodic
Engineering, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere,
Raigad, India (nalbalwar_sanjayan@yahoo.com )
structures which is also known as photonic band gap structure
is widely used for reducing the Mutual coupling [3]. It has two

978-1-5090-0774-5/16/$31.00 © 2016 IEEE

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 IEEE International Conference On Recent Trends In Electronics Information Communication Technology, May 20-21, 2016, India
features: (a) to suppress the surface wave (b) in phase
reflection coefficient [3].. These characteristics of EBG have
advantage of improving radiation pattern and gain of the
antenna [3]. The author initially studied the band gap
characteristic of mushroom type EBG for supression of
surface wave and the E and H mutual coupling of microstrip
antenna array separately [3]. Then they placed EBG structure
in between the microstrip array to reduce the mutual coupling
among the antenna elements [3]. The EBG structure is
simulated by using FDTD simulation method [3]. The
simulated and measured results are in good comparison with
each other. The antenna is made to resonant at 5.86 GHz with
8 dB mutual coupling reduction as compared to antenna
without EBG .The disadvantage of EBG is its complexity in
design and they occupy a comparatively large area.
B. PIFA MIMO Antenna with slitted pattern in
ground plane to improve mutual coupling:
Fig.3: Geometry of PIFA antenna with slitted ground structure
A PIFA MIMO Antenna with center to center spacing of
0.116λo has been designed by authors at resonating frequency
2.31 GHz [4]. The authors has introduced the pair of slits of
equal length in ground plane to reduce the isolation. The slits
introduced in the ground plane perturbed the current
distribution of the ground plane and it blocks the current to
propagate from one element to other antenna element [4].
These slit act as inductance and capacitance which act as a
band stop filter at desired resonating frequency of antenna.
Moreover this technique can be extend to three or more
antenna, monopole antenna or more than two radiating
patches. The isolation of more than 20 dB is achieved by using
this technique. Moreover structure is easy to fabricate and
have low cost [4].
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C. Compact dual band patch array antenna for
MIMO system:
Fig.4: 1x2 linear array antenna
The researcher has design U slotted rectangular array
antenna on duroid substrate for dual band frequency operation
for WLAN and LTE applications at 5 GHz and 3.5 GHz
respectively having mutual coupling of less than 15 dB across
the frequency bands [5]. Due to U shaped slot created in
radiating patches, there is increase in equivalent surface
current length [5]. The gain is more than 7 dBi over dual band
frequency operation with efficiency of more than 80%. The
antenna is simulated using ADS software and is compared
with the measured fabricated results [5] .
D. Mutual Coupling reduction in arrays using High
impedance surface:
Fig.5: Array configaturion in E and H plane integrated with High impedance
surface
Electromagnetic band gap structure are also known as high
impedance surface can be inserted between the antenna array
to reduce mutual coupling between the antenna [6]. The author
had studied the high impedance surface such as mushroom
type EBG and fork type EBG structure for its band gap
characteristics at 10 GHz frequency [6]. It has zero phase
reflection coefficients resulting into high impedance structure.
These EBG structure can be represent by an LC filter where
inductance arises due to current flowing through via and
capacitance arises due to gap between the EBG patches [6].
∆⍵ 1
𝐵𝐵. 𝑊𝑊 = = �𝐿𝐿/𝐶𝐶 …….(1)
⍵ 𝜂𝜂
where ⍵ =
1
√𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿
and η = 120 п is the free space impedance.
Further E and H coupling of microstrip antenna array has been
studied for surface wave propagation . Then one coloumn of
EBG patches is inserted between E coupled and H coupled
microstrip array as shown in fig.4 to reduce the mutual
coupling. The S21 without EBG is -53 dB and by employing
 IEEE International Conference On Recent Trends In Electronics Information Communication Technology, May 20-21, 2016, India
mushroom EBG structure and fork shape EBG structure :S21
reduces to -64 dB and -84 dB at reasonant frequency of 10
GHz is reported [6].
E. Reduction of mutual coupling in microstrip patch antenna
using rectangular defected ground structure:
Fig.6: Geometry of antenna array structure
A rectangular DGS consisting up of pair of rectangular
slits of length L and width W is etched in the ground plane to
reduce the mutual coupling of 16.5 dB among the closely
spaced micro strip patch antenna at resonant frequency 9.2
GHz has been reported by the authors [7]. The designed
antenna is fabricated on FR-4 substrate having thickness of
1.59 mm and is fed by 50 Ω microstrip line on ground plane of
63.5 mm x 40 mm [7].These slits act as filtering structure and
poseses rejection band at 9.2 GHz [7].. The parametric study
such as dimension , spacing , length and width, number of slit
is done to have maximum amount of isolation among the
microstrip antennas [7]. The maximum no of slit optimized is
three. By increasing the number of slit there is huge
interaction between the slits and the antenna which degrade
the S-parameter.
F. Reduction of mutual coupling in microstrip patch antenna
using U shaped microstrip section :
Fig.7: Antenna structure with U shaped microstrip
Section
The mutual coupling is reduced by simply placing a U
shaped microstrip patch antenna is proposed [8]. The U
shaped microstrip section is placed between suspended
microstrip patch antenna having height of 8 mm between
superstrate and the ground plane [8]. The gain of greater than
8 dBi is found for the desired frequency. Since suspended
antenna is used, the mutual coupling can occur in two ways:
(a) direct near field coupling (b) coupling through surface
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wave between air and superstrate. So the near field coupling
can be reduced by placing an extra clement which will
induce an opposite current to direct coupling current leading to
cancellation of current and hence improved isolation between
antenna is achieved [8]. The two microstrip antenna is placed
at 0.6 λ apart from each other having S21 of about -30 dB at
reasonnat frequency 2.44 GHz [8].
G. Compact MIMO antenna For UWB applications:
Fig.8: Geometry of proposed antenna
The two square monopole mimo antenna having good
isolation are placed perpendicular to each other for UWB
application has been reported [9]. Two stubs are added in the
ground plane to increase the isolation and the impedance
bandwidth of the antenn [9].. Besides, a short strip is used for
connecting the both monopole ground together. The length
and position of the stub is optimized to have wide isolation
across the frequency band [9].. The entire structure is placed
on 26 x 40 mm2 ground structure leading to compact size of
antenna. The microsrtip antenna is fed by 50Ω microstrip line.
The mutual coupling of more than -15 dB and envelope
correlation of less than 0.2 dB is obtained across the 3.1- 10.6
GHz frequency band [9].
H. Mutual coupling reduction Using EBG structure:
Fig.9: Study of Mutual coupling in Arperture Coupled Microstrip patch
Antenna
The aperture couple feed microstrip antenna with
mushroom type EBG Structure to reduce the mutual coupling
has been studied and purposed [10]. The designed antenna
 IEEE International Conference On Recent Trends In Electronics Information Communication Technology, May 20-21, 2016, India
resaonant at frequency of 10.5 GHz. The upper superstrate has
pemitivity of 4.4 and lower substrate having permitivity of
10.2 is used to feed the mircrostrip line [10]. The increase in
bandwidth is obtained due to high thickness of substrate. The
one antenna is fixed and other antenna is moved from point A
to G i.e from E plane to H plane in order to study the mutual
coupling between the two antennas [10].
The dispersion diagram of EBG structure which is placed
between the microstrip fed antenna is analyzed using FDTD
method for surface wave supression effects for the desired
working band of antenna. Then row of EBG is incorporated
between antennas to reduce the mutual coupling among the
antennas by 16.4 dB [10].
I. Closely spaced MIcrostrip MIMO antenna with slot to
improve isolation :
Fig.10: MIMO antenna with single slot in ground plane
An simple method to reduce the mutual coupling at 5.8
GHz for WLAN applications with the help of single slot is
proposed by the researchers. The microstrip antenna is placed
at a distance of 0.33 λ0 from each other is fabricated on the
substrate of having permittivity 2.65 and loss tangent 0.0015
[11]. The ground plane dimension is of size of 0.85 λ0 × 0.55
λ0 . The length and width of antenna is equal to 15.5 mm.
The dimension and position of the slot is optimized and
parametric study has been done to have good amount of
isolation [11].
The proposed design is simulated using IE3D software.
The proposed method has a good amount of isolation of
around 45 dB as compared to the other antenna.
J. Triband E Shaped MIMO antena :
Initially E shaped monopole antenna is designed for single
resonance at frequency 2.4 GHz for MIMO applications [12].
Then two slots is placed within E shaped monopole to create
an extra two resonance at 5.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz respectively.
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Fig.11: E shaped MIMO antenna (a) placed orthogonally
(b) placed parallely
By placing two slots it create an extra U shaped current
path which leads to an extra resonance [12]. E shaped patch
without slot, one slot and two slot has been studied for
different frequency band of operation. The two array of such
printed E shaped monopole antenna in five different
configuration has been analyzed to lower the mutual coupling
[12]. Further envelope correlation coefficient and radiation
pattern of antenna is measured to show the effect of mutual
coupling. The spacing between MIMO antenna is set to
10mm. It has been observed that the antenna element when
placed orthogonal to each other have low mutual coupling as
compared to antenna element when placed perpendicular to
each other [12]. The proposed antenna is simulated using
HFSS software.
III. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents the detailed study and comparison of
various techniques to reduce the mutual coupling in MIMO
antenna which is proposed by the different authors. The
various method to reduce the mutual coupling such as
Mushroom type EBG, sliited groundplane, Rectangular DGS,
U shaped parasitic element, protruding stubs, etc has been
studied.
These each method described above has its own
advantages and disadvantages in term of complexity, cost,
fabrication technique and mode of operation. The researcher
had also tried to improve capacity of system, bit error rate,
gain, and diversity of the MIMO antenna system. Further the
stated MIMO antenna can be used for single, dual and
multiband applications. There is more scope of doing research
in printed MIMO antennas with compact size and multibands
for various applications.
 IEEE International Conference On Recent Trends In Electronics Information Communication Technology, May 20-21, 2016, India

TABLE I: COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT METHOD TO REDUCE MUTUAL COUPLING

Radiation
Mutual
Technique to improve Band of ECC Surface current Complexity pattern
Ref. coupling
Isolation operation measured Distribution shown to deisgn Deteriotaion
(S21) dB

3 Mushroom Type EBG -24.6 dB Single NO NO Difficult NO

4 Slitted pattern in ground plane -20 dB Single NO YES Simple YES

-18 dB
5 Space diversity Dual NO YES Simple NO

Mushroom type EBG -68 dB

6 Single NO NO Difficult NO
Fork type EBG -84 dB

7 Rectangular DGS -32 dB Single NO YES Simple YES

8 U shaped Microstrip section -31 dB Single NO NO Simple NO

9 Two Protruding stubs -38 dB UWB YES YES Simple YES

Row of Mushroom type EBG
10 -48 dB Single NO NO Difficult NO
structure

11 Slot -45 dB Single NO YES Simple YES

12 Orthogonally placed -42 dB Triple YES YES Simple NO

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