Improved Multifunctional MIMO Cognitive Radio System for Integrated Interweave-Underlay Operations

This article presents the design of an integrated system involving multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) and cognitive radio (CR) technologies for sub-6 GHz applications. Two types of CR techniques, i.e., interweave and underlay CR, have been discussed in this article. The design model has a four-port multifunctional MIMO antenna system involving lumped elements for three selectable operation choices. Based on the switching conditions, the MIMO antenna system can operate as a wideband antenna (for sensing purpose), or narrowband frequency tunable antenna (for communicating purpose in interweave CR), or a wideband antenna with frequency tunable band notch (for communicating purpose in underlay CR). The sensing frequency range is 2.45–5.3 GHz. The interweave CR communicating antenna frequency tuning range is 3.6–4.2 GHz. To cover the entire desired spectrum range, i.e., from 2.5 to 4.2 GHz, another four-port narrowband MIMO antenna system with resonance frequency tuning from 2.5–3.6 is designed on the other/backside of the substrate. In the underlay CR communicating antenna, the stopband frequency tuning range is 3.1–3.85 GHz. The complete structure is having dimensions of 110
$\times $
70
$\times $
1.52 mm
³
. The measurements are performed, and good matching is found between simulated and measured results.