Metasurface-Based Single-Layer Wideband Circularly Polarized MIMO Antenna for 5G Millimeter-Wave Systems

This paper presents a metasurface-based single-layer low-profile circularly polarized (CP) antenna with the wideband operation and its multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration for fifth-generation (5G) communication systems. The antenna consists of a truncated corner patch and a metasurface (MS) of a 2 × 2 periodic square metallic plates. The distinguishing feature of this design is that all the radiating elements (radiator and MS) are printed on the single-layer of the dielectric substrate, which ensures the low-profile and low-cost features of the antenna while maintaining high gain and wideband characteristics. The wideband CP radiations are realized by exploiting surface-waves along the MS and its radiation mechanism is explained in detail. The single-layer antenna geometry has an overall compact size of 1.0λ
₀
× 1.0λ
₀
× 0.04λ
₀
. Simulated and measured results show that the single-layer metasurface antenna has a wide 10 dB impedance bandwidth of 23.4 % (24.5 - 31 GHz) (23.4 %) and overlapping 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 16.8 % (25 - 29.6 GHz). The antenna also offers stable radiation patterns with a high radiation efficiency (>95%) and a flat gain of 11 dBic. Moreover, a 4-port (2 × 2) MIMO antenna is designed using the proposed design by placing each element perpendicular to each other. Without a dedicated decoupling structure, the MIMO antenna shows an excellent diversity performance in terms of isolation between antenna elements, envelope correlation coefficient, and channel capacity loss. Most importantly, the operational bandwidth of the antenna covers the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band (25 - 29.5 GHz) assigned for 5G communication. These features of the proposed antenna system make it a suitable candidate for 5G smart devices and sensors.