This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/LAWP.2015.2423318, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
Isolation Enhancement of a Very Compact
UWB-MIMO Slot Antenna with Two Defected
Ground Structures
Chao-Ming Luo, Jing-Song Hong, Member, IEEE and Lin-Lin Zhong
Abstract—A very compact ultra-wideband (UWB)
multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with high
isolation is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna,
consisting of two UWB slot antennas, has a very compact size of 22
×26 mm2, which is smaller than most of UWB antennas only with
single antenna element. A T- shaped slot is etched on the ground
to improve the impedance matching characteristic in the
low-frequency and reduce the mutual coupling for the frequencies
≥4 GHz. By etching a line slot to cancel out original coupling,
isolation enhancement at the 3–4 GHz band is achieved. The
antenna possesses a low mutual coupling of less than –18 dB over
the operating band from 3.1–10.6 GHz. The performance of this
antenna both by simulation and by experiment indicates that the
proposed antenna is a good candidate for UWB applications.
Index Terms—High isolation, miniaturization, multiple-input
multiple-output (MIMO) antenna, ultra-wideband (UWB)
antenna.
I. INTRODUCTION
U LTRA-WIDEBAND (UWB) technology has become one of
the most promising technologies for its inherent
advantages, such as high-speed transmission rate, high security,
low cost, and low power consumption [1]. However, in order to
mitigate its interference to other systems, the Federal
Communication Commission (FCC) officially assigned an
unlicensed 3.1-10.6 GHz bandwidth with a very low radiated
power level (less than -41.3 dBm/MHz) for commercial
applications of UWB systems [2]. Therefore, the problem of
signal fading in multipath environments is quite serious for
UWB system, which will deteriorate performance of UWB
system. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology
that utilizes multiple antennas at both the transmitter and
receiver has been adopted to improve the communication
quality and increase the system capacity [3-4]. Thus, MIMO
technology can be used as an efficient technology to solve the
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No.61172115 and No.60872029), the High-Tech Research and
Development Program of China (No.2008AA01Z206), the Aeronautics
Foundation of China (No.20100180003), Project 9140A07030513DZ02098,
and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(No.ZYGX2009J037).
Chao-Ming Luo, Jing-Song Hong, and Lin-Lin Zhong are with the School of
Physical Electronics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of
China, Chengdu China (e-mail: 461339852@163.com).
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1
multipath-fading problem in UWB systems.
Some MIMO antennas for UWB applications were
proposed in the past few years [5]-[9]. In order to achieve the
best performance of the MIMO systems, high isolation is
accomplished by orthogonally feeding [5]-[7], introducing
defected ground structure (DGS) to suppress surface wave
[7]-[8], using directional antenna elements [8], adding
protruding ground stub or parasitic element as reflective
component [5,6,9], and adopting a neutralization line to cancel
out the original coupling [10]. All of the decoupling methods
can reduce the mutual coupling to -15 dB or less. To integrate
multiple antennas at the user terminals that are becoming
smaller and thinner each day, the design of a very compact
UWB-MIMO antenna covering the whole operating frequency
band is one of the most essential requirements. However,
reducing the size of a MIMO antenna usually brings about
reduced operating bandwidth and strong coupling between
antenna elements. Moreover, most decoupling structures bring
occupation of too large space, which are not suitable for a very
small MIMO antenna.
In this paper, a very compact MIMO antenna with high
isolation is presented for UWB systems. The antenna measures
only 22×26 mm2. In order to improve isolation of such a
compact MIMO antenna, two defected ground structures are
utilized. The T- shaped slot etched on the ground has two
functions, extending the current path, which can reduce the first
resonant frequency of the antenna, and suppressing surface
currents, enhancing isolation at the band of 4-10.6 GHz. To
reduce the coupling at the band of 3–4 GHz, a line slot is used
to bring new coupling to cancel out the original coupling, which
works as a novel neutralization line and has a very small
occupied space. Compared to the traditional neutralization line
technology, which is connected at radiation patch or feeding
line to produce an additional current path between two antenna
elements, the DGS has less effect on original antenna
impedance because the additional current path is realized by
etching a coupling slot on the ground.
II. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION
Fig. 1 shows the geometry of the proposed UWB-MIMO
antenna. It is printed on the FR4 substrate with compact size of
22×26 mm2 , thickness of 0.8 mm, and relative dielectric
constant of 4.4. The top layer consists of two 50Ω microstrip
lines and the bottom layer is a metal ground with a T-shaped
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/LAWP.2015.2423318, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
2

slot, a line slot and two stepped slots. A microstrip line and a without open-ended slot
0 with open-ended slot(Ls=6.3mm)
stepped slot compose a UWB antenna element and the two with open-ended slot(Ls=8.3mm)
antenna elements are symmetrically arrayed. To improve the
-10
impedance matching characteristic and reduce the mutual

S11(dB)
coupling, a T- shaped slot and a line slot are used on the ground.
-20
More details will be discussed in the following.
-30

-40
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Frequency(GHz)

(a) (b)
Fig. 2. (a) Configurations and (b) S11 of UWB antennas with and without the
open-ended slot.

Fig. 1. Structure of the proposed UWB-MIMO antenna.
The optimized dimensions are derived using the
commercial software Ansoft HFSS. The design parameters
optimized for the antenna were eventually determined with
W=2 mm, L=15 mm, A1=3.2 mm, A2=7.5 mm, B1=5 mm,
L1=12 mm, wl=0.2 mm, T1=7.5 mm, T2=7.4 mm, T3=2 mm,
D=8.5 mm, S=3.2 mm.
III. ANTENNA DESIGN
The proposed antenna was designed step by step. Two
configurations of UWB antenna element and four different
UWB-MIMO antennas will be investigated in this section. The
desirable performance in terms of broadband impedance
bandwidth and high isolation are achieved by adopting the
T-Shaped slot and the line slot.
A. UWB antenna element
As shown in Fig. 2(a), the stepped slot antenna which is
similar to that in [11] is adopted as an element of the proposed
MIMO antenna. By tuning the parameters of the stepped slot
and the position of the feed line, broadband impedance
bandwidth can be easily achieved, which is due to the gradual
change structure. However, like the antenna in [11], the -10 dB
impedance bandwidth is only from 3.8 to 10.6 GHz, which does
not cover the entire UWB band (3.1 to 10.6 GHz). In order to
B. T-Shaped Slot
Fig. 3(a) shows the MIMO antenna A, which is implemented
by combining two UWB antennas simply. The two antenna
elements are using a common ground plane with compact size
of 22×26 mm2. For such a small antenna, the ground plane is a
part of the antenna radiator. Its size has a close relationship with
the impedance matching and radiation of the antenna. The
ground surface currents and near-field lead to a strong mutual
coupling between two elements. To achieve better isolation, a
rectangular slot cut from the ground plane is adopted in MIMO
antenna B as show in Fig. 3(b). The simulated results of two
antennas are shown in Fig. 3(c). Compared to antenna A, which
has poor reflection coefficient and isolation, S21 of antenna B in
the frequency bands of 4 to 8 GHz has a significant reduction,
representing an isolation increased. Besides, the impedance
matching characteristic in the corresponding frequency bands is
improved. That is because the cutting can change the
distribution of ground surface currents and extend the distance
between the two feed ports.
(a) (b)
0
-10
S-Parameters (dB)

improve the impedance matching characteristic in the low

frequency, an open-ended slot is etched on the back of the feed. -20
The simulated S11 of the stepped slot antenna with and without
-30 S11 of antenna A
the open-ended slot is illustrated in Fig. 2(b). As observed, the
S11 of antenna B
open-ended slot makes the first resonant frequency of the -40 S12 of antenna A
antenna becomes lower. Moreover, the simulated S11 for S12 of antenna B
different the length of the open-ended slot (Ls) indicates the Ls -50
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
mainly affects the lowest operating frequency fmin. With Ls
Frequency(GHz)
increasing from 6.3mm to 8.3mm, fmin changes from 3.5 to
3.1GHz. That is because the increased slot changed the current (c)
distribution and extended the current path effectively. The Fig. 3. Configuration of (a) antenna A, (b) antenna B and (c) S-parameters of
antenna A and antenna B.
longer path of the open-ended slot was extended, the lower the
first resonant frequency could be obtained. The longer was the As mentioned earlier, the first resonant frequency of the
extended path of the open-ended slot, the lower could be the antenna can be reduced by adding an open-ended slot on the
first resonant frequency.

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
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3

back of the feed, and the mutual coupling can be weakened by (Agilent 8719A) was utilized to measure and verify the antenna
cutting a rectangular slot between two antenna elements. Thus, performance. When the return loss was measured, one of the
combining the two structures, a T- shaped slot is adopted in ports is excited, while the other is terminated with a 50Ω load.
MIMO antenna C as show in Fig. 4(a). The S-parameters for The measured and simulated S-parameters are in good
antenna A(with a conventional ground plane) and antenna agreement as shown in Fig.7. The -10 dB bandwidth was
C(with T- shaped slot) are given in Fig. 4(b). It can be observed measured as 3.1 to 10.6GHz, covering the entire UWB
that the antenna C has wider operating frequency band and frequency band. In addition, the measured isolation between
higher isolation. The first resonant frequency was reduced by the two ports is better than 18 dB in the frequency range. The
the top part of the T- shaped slot, and high isolation at middle performance in terms of impedance bandwidth and isolation
frequency band was achieved by the bottom part. As a result, satisfied the design requirement. Comparing the size and
both impedance matching characteristic and isolation between performance of the proposed antenna to some other
the two ports are improved. UWB-MIMO antennas, as reported previously in Table I, it is
seen that this antenna guarantees an entire UWB bandwidth
C. Line slot
with high isolation and has the smallest dimensions.
Observing Fig. 4(b), we can find that the isolation is larger
than 20 dB for the frequencies ≥4 GHz, and that is because the
T- shaped slot extended the distance between the two feed ports.
To reduce the mutual coupling for the band of 3–4 GHz, a line
slot etched on the ground plane with width 0.2 mm is applied in
the antenna D as shown in Fig. 5(a). Antenna D is the proposed
compact UWB-MIMO antenna with high isolation.
The line slot improves the isolation at the band of 3-4 GHz
and has little effect to the return loss. It can be proved by the
comparison of results shown in Fig. 5(b). Current distributions Fig. 6. Current distributions on MIMO antenna C and D at 3.5GHz.
at 3.5 GHz for the MIMO antenna C and the proposed MIMO
0
antenna D are displayed in Fig.6. For antenna D, the coupled
currents distributing on the non-excited antenna element is -10

S-parameters(dB)
smaller comparing to antenna C. That is because the line slot -20
produces an additional coupling current path for the coupling
currents, and the current path can cancel out a part of original -30 Simulated S11
Simulated S12
coupling currents from the excited port to the non-excited port. -40 Measured S11
Measured S12
0 -50
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
-10 Frequency(GHz)

-20
(a) (b)
S-parameters

Fig. 7. (a) Prototype and (b) S-parameters of the proposed antenna.

-30 S11 of antenna A
S11 of antenna C TABLE I
dB ）

-40 S12 of antenna A COMPARISONS OF THIS AND SOME OTHER UWB-MIMO ANTENNAS.
（

S12 of antenna C
-50
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Bandwidth
Size(mm) Isolation(dB)
Frequecy(GHz) (GHz)
(a) (b) Reference [5] 3.1-10.6 26×40 ＞15
Fig. 4. (a) Configuration of antenna C, (b) S-parameters of antenna A and Reference [6] 2.8-11 58×58 ＞14
antenna C. Reference [7] 3.1-10.6 32×32 ＞15
Reference [8] 3.1-10.6 60×40 ＞20
0
Reference [9] 3.1-10.6 55×13.5 ＞17.2
Reference [10] 3.1-10.6 30×40 ＞15
-10 ＞18
S-parameters(dB)

This paper 3.1-10.6 22×26

-20

-30 S
1 of antenna C
1 In order to verify the capability of proposed antenna for
S
2 of antenna C
1
-40 S
1 of antenna D
1
MIMO application, it is necessary to achieve a low envelope
S
2 of antenna D
1 correlation coefficient (ECC). The envelope correlation
-50 coefficient is a measure that describes how much the
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Frequency(GHz) communication channels are isolated or correlated with each
(a) (b) other. It can be calculated using the follow formula [6]:
Fig. 5. (a)Configuration of antenna D, (b) S-parameters of antenna C and 2
antenna D.
*
S11 S12 + S 21
*
S 22 (1)
ECC =
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS (1 − ( S 11
2
+ S 21
2
)) (1 − ( S 22
2
+ S12
2
))
The proposed antenna has been successfully simulated, An envelope correlation coefficient value of 0.5 has been set
fabricated, and measured. A microwave network analyzer as an acceptable value for diversity conditions [12]. The

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/LAWP.2015.2423318, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
4

proposed UWB-MIMO configuration gives the envelope UWB frequency band.

correlation coefficient below 0.004 over the complete UWB
frequency band. V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a compact UWB-MIMO antenna has been
proposed. By implementing the proposed T shaped slot and a
line slot, the performances in terms of impedance bandwidth
and isolation can be enhanced significantly. Analysis results
show that the proposed MIMO antenna guarantees an entire
UWB bandwidth with high isolation and keeps omnidirectional
radiation performance successfully. The performances of the
proposed antenna prove it is a good candidate to overcome
multipath fading propagation problem in various portable
UWB systems.

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[3] G. J. Foschini, “On limits of wireless communications in a fading
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0.7 compact ultrawideband MIMO antenna with WLAN Band-rejected

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2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Feb. 2011.
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antenna.

Fig. 8 illustrates the measured E-plane (XZ) and H-plane

(YZ) radiation patterns at 4, 6 and 9 GHz. Nearly good
omnidirectional patterns have been observed in the H-plane
(YZ-plane). This implies that a large and uniform coverage for
UWB system operation can be attained with our design. In
addition, the measured peak gain and simulated radiation
efficiency at different frequencies are plotted in Fig. 9. As can
be seen, the peak gain is generally flat over the operating band
and has an average value of 3.8 dBi. It is also observed that the
efficiency of the antenna is very high (about 0.9) in the most of

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