MIMO Antenna Using Hybrid Electric and Magnetic Coupling for Isolation Enhancement

This paper presents a multiple-input and multiple-output antenna using a wideband decoupling structure for enhancing isolation. The decoupling structure is formed by a split ring, which consists of an inductive line and a capacitive gap to realize magnetic and electric coupling, respectively. By introducing the electric coupling in addition to the magnetic coupling, more degrees of freedom are obtained and the original coupling between antennas can be canceled out within a wide frequency band. Meanwhile, the performance of each antenna element is maintained, such as impedance bandwidth and radiation characteristics. Theoretical analysis and experimental verification are carried out. When the decoupling structure is placed between these two monopole antennas with edge-to-edge space of only 5 mm (0.04 λ
₀
at 2.5 GHz), more than 20 dB isolation is realized over the bandwidth of 2.3-2.9 GHz (24%) with S
₁₁
and S
₂₂
less than -10 dB. Moreover, the isolation levels reach more than 30 dB over the frequency band of 2.3-2.8 GHz. Compared with the previous related works using decoupling networks and neutralization line techniques, the proposed decoupling structure can provide higher isolation of over 30 dB in a wider bandwidth.