Planar UWB MIMO Antenna With Pattern Diversity and Isolation Improvement for Mobile Platform Based on the Theory of Characteristic Modes

This communication presents a planar ultra-wideband multi-input multi-output antenna with pattern diversity and isolation improvement based on the theory of characteristic modes. The proposed antenna (for new-generation wireless mobile terminals) consists of two ultra-wideband antenna elements—a compact quarter loop and a circular planar monopole located on the opposite edges of a rectangular ground plane. These two antenna elements are able to excite different modes in the ground plane and thus realize the desired diverse radiation patterns and high isolation without any additional decoupling structures. The experimental results show that both antenna elements are ultra-wideband with impedance bandwidths (return losses more than 6 dB for the quarter-loop antenna and more than 10 dB for the circular planar monopole antenna) of 130% (2–9.5 GHz). The isolation is over 20 dB with a peak value of 50 dB. The realized gains are above 1.5 dBi. The total efficiencies are above 70%. The envelope correlation coefficient is less than 0.03 assuming that the antenna operates in an isotropic channel.