Compact Antenna For MIMO LTE Mobile Phone Applications

By Gopinath Gampala and C.J. Reddy, EM Software & Systems (USA) Inc., and Oliver Stäbler and Thomas Hager, AWE Communications GmbH

Long-term evolution (LTE) is one of the 4th generation (4G) mobile communication technologies developed at different frequencies ranging from 400 MHz to 4 GHz with bandwidths up to 20 MHz.1 LTE technology facilitates multiple antennas performing both transmit and receive operations, (such as multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) to
support high data rate applications. However, integrating several antennas onto a printed circuit board (PCB) becomes progressively more difficult as each new generation of handsets experience miniaturization (that is thin, slim shapes). The closely-spaced antennas produce high mutual coupling, which opposes the relatively low correlation between the received signals as required for effective MIMO performance. High port-to-port isolation is required to achieve the low correlation between closely spaced antennas.

Reprinted with permission of MICROWAVE JOURNAL® from the March 2012 issue.
©2012 Horizon House Publications, Inc.