Dual Polarized Wideband Vivaldi 4x4 Subarray

Antenna Aperture for 5G Massive MIMO Panels

with Simultaneous Multiple Beams
Hao-Lung Chu, Ghanshyam Mishra and Satish K. Sharma
Antenna and Microwave Lab (AML)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182-1309, USA
Email: hlchris0809@gmail.com, ghanshyam1606@gmail.com, and ssharma@mail.sdsu.edu

Abstract— In this paper, a wideband dual linear polarized
Vivaldi 4x4 sub-array antenna aperture with low mutual coupling
is analyzed for its impedance matching and radiation performance.
This antenna also provides good polarization isolation to support
simultaneous transmit and receive communications as desired in
5G communications. This array can be used as a base station panel
for the Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) array. In
addition, Keysight SystemVue tool has been used to generate digital
beamforming (DBF) approach based simultaneous multiple beams.
antennas is shown in Fig. 1. It is designed on the 0.8mm thick
Roger TMM 10 substrate with relative permittibity (r) of 9.2
and loss tangent of 0.0022. Proposed antenna consists of
microstrip feed line, slot line transition, and radiating structure.
Radiating structure is exponential tapered and radiates along
the edge to the direction of the notch.

Keywords—5G, Dual Linear Polarization, Vivaldi Array

Antenna, Multiple beams, Massive MIMO.

I. INTRODUCTION
Since now-a-days wireless communication bands are
getting over-crowded, it is necessary to find the techniques to
increase the data throughput. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has announced the upcoming frequency
spectrums for the 5G. In 5G communication, hand-held
electronic devices cannot only benefit several times faster
speed of internet throughput than the LTE 4G, but also have
low latency which can be utilized in various communication
applications. Massive MIMO will play an important role when
the number of users would be transmitting and receiving
simultaneously resulting in high data throughput [1]. Vivaldi
antennas show inherent wide-bandwidth with consistent end-
fire radiation patterns. In [2], a cavity backed dual slant
polarized printed dipole massive MIMO 4x4 array antenna for
base station panel was designed, fabricated, and implemented
for beam steering and multiple beam generation. In this paper,
we present Vivaldi antenna based dual polarized base station
panel design. In additon, simultaneous multiple beams are
generated using Keysight System Vue tool.
II. RADIATING ELEMENT GEOMETRY
Vivaldi antennas are known for wideband antenna
characteristic with end-fire radiation patterns [3]. Using high
permittivity substrate one can make antenna size smaller. The
geometrical configuration of the dual linear polarized
Vivaldi
(a) (b)
Figure. 1. Geometry of the dual linear polarized Vivaldi Antennas, (a) front
view and (b) back view.
The radiating structure has been designed by employing the
expontential equation which is given as [3]:
X = C1e RZ + C2
X 2 − X1 X 1e RZ2 − X 2 e RZ1
Where C1 = RZ , and C2 = .
e 2 − e RZ1 e RZ2 − e RZ1
R is the opening rate of exponential curve, P1 (X1, Z1) is the
start point and P2 (X2, Z2) is the end point. The optimized
design parameters are given as L = 25.15mm, D = 1.5mm, W =
28mm, H = 0.8mm, Lf = 10.56mm, WL = 0.82mm, L1 =
6.65mm, L2 = 3.2mm, S = 5mm,  = 80°. Full wave analysis is
performed using Ansys HFSS v18.5.
III. SIMULATION OF SUB-ARRAY ANTENNA
Fig. 2 shows a 4x4 dual linear polarization sub-array with
inter-element spacing of (dx = dy) 0.576 at 6 GHz. Radiators
are backed by finite size ground plane for better unidirectional
radiation patterns. Choosing center elements (X22, X23, X32, X33
and Y22, Y23, Y32, Y33) and the reference elements (X11 and
Y11) symmetrically can limit to characterization of the selected
elements only [2] for accessing the performance. The reflection

‹,(((
coefficient is shown in Fig. 3. For 5 GHz to 7.5GHz range, Sii
and Sjj are below -10dB for almost all the radiating elements.
To avoid radiating element to radiating element interference,
low mutual coupling effect between any two antenna ports is
necessary. Mutual coupling is below -20dB for 5 GHz to 7.5
GHz range, which provides proper isolation.
Figure. 2. Simulated dual linear polarization wideband Vivaldi 4x4 sub-array
antenna structure.
Figure. 3. Simulated reflection coefficient magnitudes of the X- and Y-
polarization reference and center radiating elements.
(a)
(b)
Figure. 4. Simulated 2D Patterns while exciting the central single element
(X22, X23, X32, X33 & Y22, Y23, Y32, Y33) at a time (while rest of them
are matched terminated) at 6 GHz with polarization (a) -X and (b) -Y.
Simulated 2D radiation patterns at 6 GHz of the center
radiating elements (X22, X23, X32, X33 & Y22, Y23, Y32, Y33), one
at a time while the rest of radiating elements are matched
terminated, are shown in Fig. 4. The peak gain is over 6dBi and
the peak cross-polarization level is below 16dB. At 6 GHz, it
can offer close to 20dB cross-polarization separation which is
acceptable for a massive MIMO antenna system.
IV. MULTIPLE BEAM STUDY
Keysight SystemVue software is used to generate digital
beamforming implementable multiple beams [5]. Taylor
distribution is chosen to decrease sidelobe level to 20dB. In
Fig. 5, simulated four multiple beams for a polarizations at 6
GHz are shown. During the conference, additional results for
multiple beam generation and its implementation will be
discussed.
(a) (b)
Fig. 5. Four beams based on simulated patterns are generated. (a) Excited X
elements (b) excited Y elements.
V. FABRACATION AND MEASUREMENT
The proposed antenna is fabricated and its photograph is
shown is Fig. 6. Measurements for both S-parameter and
radiation patterns have been performed and will provide during
the conference.
Fig.6. Fabricated prototype of the dual polarization 4x4 sub-array antenna.
REFERENCES
[1] T. Marzetta, “Massive MIMO: An introduction,” Bell Labs Tech. J., vol.
20, pp. 11–22, Mar. 2015.
[2] M. Komandla, G. Mishra, and S. K. Sharma, “Investigations on Dual
Slant Polarized Cavity Backed Massive MIMO Antenna Panel with
Beamforming”, IEEE Trans Antennas Propagation, Vol. 65, Dec 2017.
[3] C. A. Balanis, “Antenna Engineering Handbook”, Wiley, 2008.
[4] K. Jha, and S. K. Sharma, “Combination of Frequency Agile and Quasi-
Elliptical Planar Monopole Antennas in MIMO Implementations for
Handheld Devices”, IEEE Antennas Propagation Magazine, Feb 2018.
[5] Keysight Technologies, SystemVue 2016.08, W1720 Phased Array
Beamforming Kit.