Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications

ISSN: 0920-5071 (Print) 1569-3937 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tewa20

Dual band omnidirectional millimeter wave

antenna for 5G communications

Md Nazmul Hasan, Shahid Bashir & Son Chu

To cite this article: Md Nazmul Hasan, Shahid Bashir & Son Chu (2019): Dual band
omnidirectional millimeter wave antenna for 5G communications, Journal of Electromagnetic Waves
and Applications, DOI: 10.1080/09205071.2019.1617790

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09205071.2019.1617790

Published online: 15 May 2019.

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JOURNAL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND APPLICATIONS
https://doi.org/10.1080/09205071.2019.1617790

Dual band omnidirectional millimeter wave antenna for 5G

communications
Md Nazmul Hasan a , Shahid Bashirb and Son Chuc
a School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea;
b Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, Peshawar,
Pakistan; c Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

A planar dual band millimeter wave printed monopole antenna and a Received 26 November 2018
2 × 2 MIMO antenna are presented for 28/38 GHz future 5G wireless Accepted 3 May 2019
communications. The shape of the radiating element of the pro- KEYWORDS
posed antenna is derived from a 28 GHz rectangular monopole. The Millimeter wave antenna; 5G
radiating element isproducing a second resonance at 38 laterally antenna; microstrip antenna;
slimmed in a hemispherical manner to intensify the surface current monopole antenna; MIMO
density along the hemispherical contour, producing a second reso- antenna
nance at 38 GHz. The measured impedance bandwidth confirms its
dual band characteristics, covering 26.65–29.2 and 36.95–39.05 GHz
where |S11 | ≤ −10 dB. The measured radiation patterns are omnidi-
rectional, with a peak gain value of 1.27 and 1.83 dBi at 28 and 38 GHz,
respectively. Moreover, diversity performance of the proposed MIMO
antenna is evaluated in terms of MIMO performance metrics. such as
envelope correlation coefficient, diversity gain, isolation and channel
loss capacity.

1. Introduction
The year 2020 is reckoned to mark the commercial launch of 5G worldwide [1]. However, in
February 2018 South Korea successfully deployed 5G service operating at 28 GHz in a major
international event – PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, manifesting the practical
viability of millimeter wave (mm-wave) 5G communications [2]. Two spectra, namely sub
6 GHz band and mm-wave bands such as 28, 38, 60, and 70 GHz are regarded as potential
candidates for 5G [3,4]. The sub 6 GHz band being occupied already, mm-wave 5G bands are
deemed desirable in terms of available bandwidth. Although atmospheric absorption and
signal propagation loss are higher in mm-wave, several researches report the pragmatic
potential of mm-wave frequencies for 5G applications [4–14].
Antenna design in mm-wave frequencies varies in many ways from conventional
microwave antenna design. Current research has a strong understanding of microwave
antenna design. However, mm-wave antenna design poses a new set of challenges to
the antenna community. Intrinsic to all vias there exist parasitic inductance and capaci-
tance which increase as the design frequency goes higher, which may worsen significantly

CONTACT Md Nazmul Hasan mnazmulh@ieee.org

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

2 M. N. HASAN ET AL.

at mm-wave frequencies that degrades the overall performance of the antenna if not
properly designed [15–17]. This inherent parasitic reactive elements of vias cause dis-
continuities in the signal lines, leading to unwanted reflections, insertion loss, signal
integrity problem, stray radiation and several other challenging electromagnetic reliabil-
ity (EMR) issues at mm-wave frequencies [18,19]. On the contrary, SIW based 5G antennas
exploit the vias, and excellent performances have been reported based on SIW [10,11].
But sometimes vias may pose design challenges and via-free planar antennas at mm-
wave frequencies are desirable for straightforward integration on host devices. Moreover,
multi-band capability is a desirable trait of futuristic 5G antennas to avoid the overhead
of using separate antennas for individual bands on host device under space-constraint
circumstances.
Several single band planar mm-wave antennas are reported in [4–7]. Dual band planar
mm-wave antennas are reported in [8–10]. The dual band mm-wave antenna reported in
[8] achieves a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 3% (28 GHz) and 1.9% (38 GHz) which is nar-
row for practical mm-wave 5G spectrum. An ideal switching concept for reconfigurable dual
band operation, reported in [9], is not suitable for practical implementation. The dual band
mm-wave antenna in [10] suffers from narrow bandwidth. Although many works achieve
wideband mm-wave operation by the use of several layers of substrate and the plurality
of vias, such design approaches not only increase the threat of parasitic via inductance
and capacitance effect but also complicate seamless integration on host devices [11–13].
Recently a tri-band (28/38/48 GHz) mm-wave antenna is reported for the use in 5G mobile
base stations [14].
This paper presents a dual band mm-wave monopole antenna and its 2 × 2 MIMO
version with via-free planar geometry which can cover sufficiently wide bandwidth for
practical 5G applications. The proposed antennas are designed and analyzed in HFSS. To
validate the concept, the antennas are fabricated and measured. Being compact, with a
size of 14 × 12 × 0.38 mm3 (1.84λg × 1.58λg × 0.05λg , where λg = guided wavelength at
the lowest frequency of operation), the proposed monopole antenna can be seamlessly
integrated on portable devices operating at 28/38 GHz intended for device-to-device (D2D)
applications for futuristic 5G wireless systems.

2. Antenna design
2.1. Geometry of the proposed antenna
The proposed antenna consists of a radiator which is tapered along its center in a semi-
circular manner as shown in Figure 1(a). The radiating element is fed by a 50  microstrip
line. A partial ground plane with a notch is used as shown in Figure 1(b). The antenna is
designed on a Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with a thickness of 0.38 mm, a relative
permittivity of 2.2, and a loss tangent of 0.0009. The thickness of the copper layer on the
substrate is 1.4 mil. A 2.92 mm end-launcher SMK connector attached to the microstrip
feed line has been taken into account during the design and optimization of the proposed
antenna in HFSS. In order to insert the supporting screws of the 2.92 mm end-launcher,
two holes are drilled in the substrate and ground plane. The supporting base plate of the
end-launcher is firmly attached to the ground plane of the antenna. The 3D view of the
proposed antenna revealing different layers are depicted in Figure 1(c). The final optimized
 JOURNAL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND APPLICATIONS 3

Figure 1. Proposed mmwave 5G monopole antenna (a) top view, (b) bottom view and (c) 3D view with
a 2.92 mm end-launcher revealing different layers.

parameters are W = 12 mm, L = 14 mm, m = 5.92 mm, n = 3.88 mm, T = 0.9 mm, p =
0.35 mm, q = 1.5 mm, r = 1.9 mm, S = 1 mm, u = 0.9 mm, v = 0.6 mm, G = 6.66 mm.
The radiating element of the proposed antenna is the outcome of lateral tapering of
a rectangular monopole in a hemispherical manner (radius r). Such modification is intro-
duced to generate the targeted dual-band operation of which the details are described in
the next sub-section. A semi-elliptical protrusion with a radius of q along the major axis, and
a radius of s along the minor axis are added at the center top edge of the radiator. Two more
small semi-circular protrusions, as shown in Figure 1(a), with a radius of p are also added in
the corner top edge of the radiator. These protrusions improve impedance matching at
both 28 and 38 GHz band.

2.2. Dual band operation

A conventional rectangular monopole antenna is the simplest geometrical shape for a
printed radiating element. Printed monopole antennas can be modeled as a cavity [20,21].
In a cavity model, resonance modes in rectangular patch antennas are related in fixed ratios
[22]. Geometrical shape modification of the monopolar rectangular patch would disturb
this ratio, leading to the possibility of tuning the resonance frequencies. By exploiting this
phenomenon, the proposed dual-band operation is inspired. A rectangular monopole, as
shown in the inset image of Figure 2(a), is designed at approximately 28 GHz and frequency
sweep is extended farther beyond 28 GHz in HFSS to find out its next higher order reso-
nance. Apart from its fundamental resonance frequency at approximately 28 GHz, as shown
in Figure 2(a), the next higher order resonance of the rectangular monopole is found to lie
around 40 GHz. Lateral compressions (radius r) are thereafter introduced in the rectangular
monopole to shift the resonances at the desired bands of operation. It is also observed from
simulations that the best impedance matching at 28 and 38 GHz is obtained, as shown in
Figure 2(b), when the lateral compression is the highest, corresponding to a value of radius,
r = 1.9 mm.
The shift of resonances is also attributed to the altered surface current density owing
to the geometrical modifications. The radiation from an antenna at a particular frequency
originates from that part of the radiating element where oscillating fields accumulate the
4 M. N. HASAN ET AL.

Figure 2. (a) Return loss of the rectangular monopole before and after shape modifications and (b)
effect of the radius of lateral compression.

Figure 3. Surface current density of the proposed antenna (a) at fundamental resonance (28 GHz) and
(b) at second resonance (38 GHz).

charge particles maximally, giving rise to oscillating surface currents. By introducing lat-
eral compressions (radius r) around the center, the surface current density at the first
resonance is forced to intensify along the highly compressed path a towards the center
and path b as illustrated in Figure 3(a). On the other hand, the modified geometry of the
radiator forces the surface currents in the second resonance to flow significantly along
the entire hemispherical contour cd and the lower portion e of the radiating element as
shown in Figure 3(b). This overall alteration in the surface current paths of the proposed
antenna results in the shift of the first and second resonances compared to the rectangular
monopole as shown in Figure 2(a).
Optimizations of the antenna dimensions are further conducted to tune the resonances
at two desired bands, namely 28 and 38 GHz. Circular protrusions added on the upper edge
of the radiator contribute to the impedance matching at the desired bands of operation as
shown in Figure 4(a). Apart from it, other critical parameters contributing to the tuning of
resonance frequencies at 28 GHz and 38 GHz are the length of the ground plane (G), the
height (u) and width (v) of the ground plane notch. The length of the ground plane has a
profound effect, as shown in Figure 4(b), on input impedance owing to the capacitive effect
between the lower radiating edge of the radiator and the ground plane. The rectangular
 JOURNAL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND APPLICATIONS 5

Figure 4. Effect of (a) the protrusions and (b) the length of the ground plane on the input impedance
of the proposed antenna.

Figure 5. Effect of the ground notch in input impedance of the proposed antenna: (a) the height of the
notch and (b) the width of the notch.

notch with a dimension of u × v in the ground plane further adds a secondary capacitive
effect that can be used to tune the resonances as shown in Figure 5(a) and (b).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Measurement results
The return loss of the proposed antenna was measured by Agilent E8364B vector network
analyzer (VNA). The measured 10 dB return loss bandwidths are 9.1% (26.65–29.2 GHz) and
5.52% (36.95–39.05 GHz) as shown in Figure 6(a). The measured gains at 28 and 38 GHz
are 1.27 and 1.83 dBi, respectively as shown in Figure 6(b). The proposed antenna has a
measured efficiency of 78% (28 GHz) and 76% (38 GHz) as shown in Figure 6(c). Far-field
radiation patterns were measured in a mm-wave anechoic chamber at 28 and 38 GHz.
The measured H-plane (xz-plane) and E-plane (yz-plane) radiation patterns at 28 GHz and
38 GHz are compared with the simulated results in Figure 7(a) and (b), respectively. The
proposed antenna maintains reasonably stable omnidirectional radiation patterns at both
28 and 38 GHz, with cross-polarization levels below −22 and −15 dB in respective bands.
Figure 8(a) shows the measurement setup of the proposed antenna in the anechoic cham-
ber. A fabricated prototype of the proposed antenna is shown in Figure 8(b).
6 M. N. HASAN ET AL.

Figure 6. Measurement results of the proposed antenna: (a) |S11 |, (b) realized gain, and (c) efficiency.

Figure 7. Radiation patterns (a) at 28 GHz and (b) at 38 GHz.

Figure 8. The proposed antenna (a) in an anechoic chamber (zoomed photo in the inset) and (b)
fabricated prototype.
 JOURNAL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND APPLICATIONS 7

Table 1. Comparison of the proposed antenna with other planar mm-wave antennas in the literature.
Spectrum Bandwidth Via free
Reference (GHz) Size (mm3 ) (GHz) Efficiency (%) design
15.6 × 13 × 0.254
[4] 38 34.1–38.9 66.8 Yes
3.07λg × 2.56λg × 0.05λg
27.8 × 10.2 × 3.5
[5] 28 28–31 Not given Yes
4.77λg × 1.75λg × 0.6λg
30 × 15 × 0.254
[6] 38 36.3–40.9 90 Yes
6.29λg × 3.14λg × 0.53λg
30 × 19.9 × 0.79
[7] 28 26.9–29.0 Not given Yes
3.93λg × 2.6λg × 0.1λg
6.8 × 6.8 × 0.254 27.575–28.425
[8] 28/38 84/91 Yes
0.93λg × 0.93λg × 0.035λg 37.625–38.375
11 × 9 × 0.135 24–34
[9] 28/38 82/78 Yes
1.57λg × 1.29λg × 0.02λg 35–38.5
15.4 × 8 × 0.508 37.09–37.91
[10] 38/48 Not given No
2.83λg × 1.47λg × 0.093λg 47.13–48.47
14.4 × 14.4 × 2.5
[11] 60/70 57–71 90 No
4.05λg × 4.05λg × 0.704λg
14.4 × 14.4 × 1
[12] 60/70 53–71 85 No
6.18λg × 6.18λg × 0.43λg
17.7 × 10 × 0.508
[13] 40/50 40–50 Not given No
3.5λg × 1.98λg × 1λg
25.5–29.5
34.8 × 34.8 × 0.508
[14] 28/38/48 35.5–39.9 79/80/83 Yes
4.39λg × 4.39λg × 0.064λg
45–49
14 × 12 × 0.38 26.65–29.2
This work 28/38 78/76 Yes
1.84λg × 1.58λg × 0.05λg 36.95–39.05

3.2. Performance comparisons

Table 1 compares the proposed antenna with other planar mm-wave antennas intended for
future 5G applications published in literature. The proposed antenna offers a reasonable
combination of the most sought-after desired antenna traits such as multi-band opera-
tion, compactness, and ease of integration. All these traits are expected in modern portable
devices targeting the futuristic mm-wave 5G wireless communication.

4. 5G MIMO antenna
Based on the monopole antenna proposed in the previous sections, a 2 × 2 MIMO antenna
is proposed by exploiting polarization diversity, placing the monopole elements orthogo-
nally with a distance of d, as shown in Figure 9(a). Since the elements are linearly polarized,
placing them in orthogonal fashion would facilitate polarization diversity, which is a widely
used technique in dual-polarized MIMO antennas [23–26]. The proposed MIMO antenna
is designed on the same Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with a thickness of 0.38 mm,
a relative permittivity of 2.2, and a loss tangent of 0.0009. The final optimized parame-
ters are Wm = 26 mm, Lm = 14 mm, and d = 4.78 mm. A fabricated prototype is shown
in Figure 9(b). The 2.92 mm SMK connector of the right element seems to be very near to
the left radiating element. It can be avoided by placing the left element towards the upper
corner along the indicated arrow marked by CL in Figure 9(b).
The proposed 5G MIMO antenna performance is evaluated by several important diversity
metrics. The measured isolation of the proposed MIMO antenna is below 20 dB as shown
in Figure 10(a). The envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) is calculated using the formula
8 M. N. HASAN ET AL.

Figure 9. The proposed 5G 2 × 2 MIMO antenna: (a) geometrical model in HFSS and (b) a fabricated
prototype.

Figure 10. The proposed 2 × 2 5G MIMO antenna results: (a) isolation and (b) ECC.

Figure 11. The proposed 2 × 2 5G MIMO antenna results: (a) diversity gain and (b) channel capacity
loss.

in [27]. The measured ECC is below 0.001 within specified bands, see Figure 10(b), which
is below the threshold value (0.3). The diversity gain (DG) is mathematically related to ECC
(ρe ) by (1). The measured DG achieves the highest possible value of 10 dB at both 28 and
38 GHz as shown in Figure 11(a). Another crucial diversity parameter is channel capacity loss
(CCL) which can be defined by (2) [28]. The measured CCL, shown in Figure 11(b), is below
the standard threshold value of 0.4 bps/Hz for both 28 and 38 GHz, which ensures reliability
of the MIMO channel :

DG = 10 1 − ρe (1)
Closs = −log2 det(ψ R ) (2)
 JOURNAL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND APPLICATIONS 9

where ψ R is the receiving antenna correlation matrix defined by (3) [28].

 
α α12
(ψ R ) = 11 (3)
α21 α22

where αii = 1 − (|Sii |2 + |Sij |2 ) and αij = S∗ii Sij + S∗ji Sij , for i,j = 1 or 2.

5. Conclusion
A planar omnidirectional antenna and a 2 × 2 MIMO antenna operating at 28 and 38 GHz
are designed and tested. Dual band operation is achieved by geometrical modifications of
the radiating element. The proposed antenna has fractional bandwidths of 9.1% (28 GHz)
and 5.52% (38 GHz). For the compactness and ease of fabrication, the proposed antennas
can be housed seamlessly in portable 5G devices.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Md Nazmul Hasan has completed his MS Electrical and Computer Engineering from Sungkyunkwan
University, South Korea in 2019.
Shahid Bashir has completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Loughborough University, UK.
Son Chu is pursuing his DPhil. in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford,
UK.

ORCID
Md Nazmul Hasan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4037-1140

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