Mutual Coupling Reduction of Two PIFAs With a T-Shape Slot Impedance Transformer for MIMO Mobile Terminals

An efficient technique is introduced to reduce mutual coupling between two closely spaced PIFAs for MIMO mobile terminals. The proposed mutual coupling reduction method is based on a T-shape slot impedance transformer and can be applied to both single-band and dual-band PIFAs. For the proposed single-band dual PIFAs, the 10 dB impedance bandwidth covers the 2.4 GHz WLAN band (2.4-2.48 GHz), and within the WLAN band an isolation of over 20 dB is achieved. Moreover, the dual-band version covers both the WLAN band and the WiMAX band of 3.4-3.6 GHz, with isolations of over 19.2 dB and 22.8 dB, respectively. The efficiency, gain and radiation patterns of the two-PIFA prototypes are verified in measurements. Due to very low pattern correlation and very good matching and isolation characteristics, the capacity performances are mainly limited by radiation efficiency. The single-band and dual-band PIFAs are also studied with respect to their locations on the ground plane. An eight-fold increase in the bandwidth of one PIFA is achieved, when the single-band PIFAs are positioned at one corner of the ground plane, with the bandwidth of the other PIFA and the good isolation unchanged.