A study of fundamental limitations of small antennas: MIMO approach

In this area of high performance systems and sophistication, the antenna size is shrinking drastically. This paper reviews the fundamental limitations in electrically instigated small antennas and their implications on multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems. An optimum performance of the antenna can be obtained by considering three main factors. (1) maximum gain for given frequency (2) minimum Q factor (3) maximum ratio of G/Q. It is essential to understand the basic concepts of these small antennas to counter the limitations for next generational systems. In this paper works of three prominent scientists like Wheeler, Hansen and Chu have been studied to understand these limitations. This study can be further expanded to accumulate various space time diverse MIMO systems specified in long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) standards. The impact of limitations of small antennas can be very significant on the performance of the given node.