International Journal of Gain enhancement for MIMO antenna using

Microwave and Wireless

Technologies metamaterial structure
cambridge.org/mrf Nguyen Ngoc Lan and Vu Van Yem
School of Electronics and Telecommunications, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract
Research Paper In this paper, a multiple input multiple output antenna which operates at 5.8 GHz for wireless
Cite this article: Nguyen NL, Vu VY (2019). local area network applications is proposed. The proposed antenna is composed of two sets of
Gain enhancement for MIMO antenna using four elements antenna array (2 × 2) on the top and a novel metamaterial structure on the
metamaterial structure. International Journal ground plane. Here, the ground plane, which includes a lattice of 2 × 5 unit cells of metama-
of Microwave and Wireless Technologies 1–12. terial structure, is utilized in order to improve parameters of the antenna. Thanks to the pro-
https://doi.org/10.1017/S175907871900059X
posed metamaterial structure, not only gain and bandwidth of antenna are enhanced, but also
Received: 12 September 2018 mutual coupling is reduced. The final design, with an overall size of 137 × 77 × 3.048 mm3,
Revised: 16 April 2019 resulted in a |S11| <−10 dB bandwidth of 1.78 GHz and a peak gain of 9.2 dBi. In addition,
Accepted: 17 April 2019 the isolation is higher than 18 dB although the close separation from edge to edge of the two
Key words:
antennas is only 2 mm and radiation efficiency of 73% at the operating frequency band. All is
Array antenna; metamaterial antenna; MIMO simulated based on CST Studio software and the simulated S-parameter results of the antenna
antenna; mutual coupling are in good agreement with measurement results.
Author for correspondence:
Nguyen Ngoc Lan, E-mail: [email protected]

Introduction
In recent years, the rapid development of the wireless local area networks (WLAN) has opened
a new age, where the demand for high data rates and high reliability is extremely urgent.
Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication technology has received much atten-
tion from researchers in the world thanks to its advantages, for example high data rate, high
reliability, and high spectral efficiency. MIMO technology has been considered the best solu-
tion for most of the problems in wireless communication [1]. However, due to space limita-
tion, the separation between antenna elements in MIMO systems is often small, leading to
considerably large mutual coupling between them. Mutual coupling between elements in
the array not only affects the antenna efficiency but also influences the correlation [2]. The
phenomenon of mutual coupling is considered as a bottleneck in the MIMO systems, and
therefore, it is an urgent issue that needs to be solved. The easiest way to cancel mutual coup-
ling is to increase the physical distance between elements. However, this leads to an increase in
their occupied space. Therefore, this is not an optimized method. Currently, one of the most
used solutions to improve mutual coupling for antenna is utilizing metamaterial structure
thanks to its unique electromagnetic characteristics [3].
From other aspects, microstrip patch antennas are the best choice in many existing and
future wireless communication systems [4–6] because of its advantages such as small size,
lightweight, easy fabrication, and low cost. However, they mainly suffer from performance lim-
itations, for example narrow bandwidth, low gain, and low efficiency. Therefore, the improve-
ment of the parameters for antenna is necessary. Different solutions have been adopted to
improve the antenna parameters, for instance, gain enhancement including reflective surface
[7], metamaterial [8]; bandwidth enhancement consisting multiple substrate [9], defected
ground structure (DGS) [10], and so on. Each method is based on its own principle. While
the method of reflective surface enhances gain based on reflection principle to reduce side
lobe and back lobe, utilizing metamaterial improves gain by current re-distribution.
Similarly, an increase of thickness of substrate and creation of consecutive cavity resonators
are rules to enhance bandwidth for antenna by using multiple substrate and DGS, respectively.
Many works have been conducted to improve parameters for antenna such as: using meander
line resonators [11], electromagnetic band gap [12], metamaterial [13], DGS [14]. However,
the mutual coupling in these papers is still large. For example, the isolation between elements
in an array is only 16 dB in [11]. Similarly, although the gain of the antenna is quite high, the
isolation is not good (−15 dB) [12]. This issue also appears in papers of [13, 14]. With these
© Cambridge University Press and the isolations, antennas cannot operate well. Moreover, in other documents [15, 16], the para-
European Microwave Association 2019 meters including gain and bandwidth of antennas are not enough to satisfy for applications.
This shows that the simultaneous improvement of antenna parameters is not easy.
For this reason, this paper proposes a new metamaterial structure with a simple configur-
ation, compact size, and planar in order to improve parameters for the antenna. The proposed
structure is applied for a MIMO antenna including two sets of four elements (2 × 2). It is

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 2 Nguyen Ngoc Lan and Vu Van Yem

Fig. 1. The model of the metamaterial structure: (a) the proposed structure, (b) the compensation structure.

observed that the antenna operates at 5.8 GHz with the band- simulation results (the impedance (z), the refractive index (n),
width of 1.78 GHz. In addition, the MIMO antenna is constructed the dielectric constant (ε), and the permeability (μ)) are illustrated
with close separation of 2 mm from edge to edge thanks to a novel in Fig. 3.
metamaterial structure, the mutual coupling between elements are From Fig. 3, we can see that μ and ϵ are simultaneously nega-
under −18 dB. Besides, the antenna provides a high gain tive in a frequency range from 4.5 to 7 GHz. This shows that the
(9.2 dBi). The antenna has been characterized numerically using proposed structure is metamaterial and it supports a frequency
the CST Studio Suite and verified by measurements. range of 5.8 GHz.

The proposed antenna array

Design of array antenna
The proposed metamaterial structure
The structure and model of the proposed antenna are shown in
Firstly, the model of the proposed metamaterial structure and its Fig. 4. Initially, a single array is realized for operating at a fre-
equivalent circuit are shown in Fig. 1. This idea is started from the quency band of 5.8 GHz. The antenna consists of an array
structure of OE2 in [17] and [18]. By the development in the antenna on top in the first substrate, second substrate, and ground
shape of structure, the paper obtained a new configuration as layer with metamaterial structure on the bottom. The selected
shown in Fig. 1. Besides, to increase the value of L and C, this dielectric material is Roger4350B with parameters: h =
paper utilizes folded microstrip lines and this leads to reduce 1.524 mm, εr = 3.66, and tan δ = 0.0037. To increase gain for
the frequency for the antenna. This is also one of the methods antenna, this paper uses two patches and they are placed next
to minimize the size for the antenna. The radius of the proposed to each other with the closest distance between them is 0.5 mm.
structure is 8.5 mm while the size of the substrate is 18 × 20 × The array includes four elements and three T-junction power
3.048 mm3. dividers. In this case, the power divider is considered as a three-
Here, the equivalent circuits are generated based on the rule: port network with one input and two outputs. Moreover, these are
the gaps between two microstrip lines make equivalent capaci- equal dividers, and therefore, the powers at port 2 and 3 are half
tance C while the inductances are introduced by microstrip the one of port 1. This means that the parameters of S21and S31
lines. The proposed structure is planar. It is, therefore, easy for are −3 dB. In addition, to match impedance for power dividers,
fabrication and design. Using both the compensation structure transformers of λ/4 are used. Then, the impedances of transfor-
and the proposed structure help to make various about capaci- mers and transmission lines are given:
tances (C) and inductances (L). This leads to an ease in optimiza-
tion to reach the better parameters for the antenna. 








Z= Z0 · Zin , (1)
In order to confirm the proposed structure is metamaterial, the
paper sets up a simulation including a microstrip transmission
line of 50 Ω and the proposed structure on ground based on a 120p 1
substrate of Roger4350B with a thickness of 1.524 mm, εr = Z0 = √


· wf w  . (2)
1r + 1.393 + 0.677ln
f
+ 1.444
3.66, and tan δ = 0.0037. The proposed structure is designed for h h
WLAN application at the central frequency of 5.8 GHz. By utiliz-
ing for the formulas in [19], we can calculate the dielectric con-
stant and the permeability from S-parameters. The model of the Figure 5 illustrates the model and S-parameters of the power
simulation and its S-parameters are shown in Fig. 2 while the divider. In Fig. 5, we can see that the power divider has large

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 International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies 3

Fig. 2. The model for simulation set-up of the proposed structure.

Fig. 3. The results of the simulation set-up.

bandwidth (from 4 to 7.5 GHz) and low return-loss (−47.5 dB).

In addition, the values of S21 and S31 are −3.2 dB. in which, εr and ε0 are the permittivity of substrate and space,
Here, the distance between elements is approximately 27 mm. respectively, A is an area of plate (L × W), h is the height of sub-
The dimension of an element is 8 × 11 mm2, while the overall size strate, w and l are the width and length of the ribbon, respectively,
of the array is 70 × 72 × 3.048 mm3. Table 1 shows the parameters and t is the meta thickness.
of the proposed array antenna while Table 2 illustrates the para- If the elements are parallel, then the total capacitor and
meters of the power divider. inductor can be calculated as follows:
To enhance gain for antenna, the paper uses metamaterial
structure on the ground plane. The equivalent circuit of each

n
cell is indicated in Fig. 1. Here, the capacitor and inductor are Ctotal = Ci , (5)
given by [20]: i=1

Ci = 1r 10 × (A/h), (3)

   1 1 1 1
l w+t = + + ··· , (6)
L(nH/mm) = 0.2 ln + 1.193 + 0.2235 , (4) Ltotal L1 L2 Ln
w+t l

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 4 Nguyen Ngoc Lan and Vu Van Yem

Fig. 4. The model of the proposed array: (a) the structure of the proposed array, (b) front view, (c) back view (dark color for metal and light color for substrate).

Fig. 5. The model and the parameters of the power divider.

Table 1. Some parameters of the proposed antenna Table 2. Some parameters of the power divider

Parameters Value (mm) Parameters Value (mm) Parameters lλ/4 wf w100 w70 lf

W 72 L 70 Value (mm) 9.5 3.45 0.84 1.85 8.5

wp 8 lp 11
d_e 27 c1 2
c2 2.6 ds1 16.7

ds2 23.3 r 10 Ltotal = Li . (8)

i=1

while the elements are series: Finally, the resonant frequency is given by

1 1 1 1 1
= + + ··· , (7) fre = √










. (9)
Ctotal C1 C2 Cn 2pf Ltotal Ctotal

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 International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies 5

Fig. 6. The model of the MIMO array antenna: (a) top view, (b) bottom view.

Table 3. The parameters of the proposed MIMO antenna.

and 20 mm, respectively. The distances between cells are approxi-
mately 27.4 and 19.7 mm, respectively. The parameters of the pro-
Parameter W L d_a dr1 dr2 r posed MIMO antenna are given in Table 3.
Value (mm) 137 77 2 19.7 27.4 12
Results and discussions
Simulation results
Based on the above formulas, the final dimensions of the meta- Single array antenna
material structure as shown in Table 1 are optimized by CST Figures 7 and 8 show the reflection coefficient, gain, efficiency,
Studio software. Moreover, the two branches of patches are also and the radiation patterns of the single array antenna,
used to improve gain for antenna. respectively.
Besides, an indispensable component in the array antenna is From Figs 7 and 8, we can see that the bandwidth of the single
power dividers. To match impedance for them, the quarter-wave antenna is approximately 330 MHz while the gain reaches
transformers are used, then, the width of the transmission line is 8.24 dBi. Here, the return loss of the antenna at the frequency
given by the expression: 5.8 GHz is −24 dB. This indicates that the impedance matching
  of the antenna is quite good. In addition, the efficiency of the
60 8h wf antenna gets 79%. Moreover, the antenna has a high directivity
Z0 = √


· ln + ifw/h , 1, (10)
1r wf 4h (10.45 dBi) and the low side lobe level (−8.1 dB). It can be seen
that that the angular width (3 dB) is only 36.6°.
or using expression (2) if w/h > 1.
MIMO array antenna
To illustrate the effect of the proposed metamaterial structure on
Design of MIMO array antenna
the parameters of antenna, this paper simulates in some cases:
The model of the MIMO array antenna is illustrated in Fig. 6. one substrate layer, two substrate layers, and two substrate layers
Using Roger4350B substrate with a height of 1.524 mm, εr = with metamaterial structure.
3.66, and δ = 0.0037, the MIMO antenna gets a patch dimension Firstly, Fig. 9 shows the difference in the reflection coefficient
of 8 × 12 mm2 and overall size of 137 × 77 × 3.048 mm3. The in three cases. It is observed from this figure that there is a dra-
MIMO array antenna has a symmetric structure including two matical variance in the bandwidth of antenna in the cases
arrays placing side by side with the closest distance of d_a = where the bandwidth is the smallest when the antenna uses one
2 mm from edge to edge of the two antennas. The proposed substrate layer (140 MHz). This is reasonable because the antenna
antenna includes two arrays, in which each array consists of does not use any method to enhance the bandwidth. Therefore,
four elements (2 × 2). the bandwidth is only one resonant mode. There is a slight
To improve gain and bandwidth for antenna, metamaterial improvement in the bandwidth of antenna in the case of the
structure is loaded on the ground plane. We know that the num- antenna using two substrate layers and this improvement is
ber of cells does not affect the resonant frequency of the antenna. enhanced from an increase of the substrate height. However, the
However, this influences parameters of the antenna. Therefore, we bandwidth of antenna is still one resonant mode. As a result,
have to choose the right number of cells so that the parameters of the bandwidth is only 250 MHz. When antenna uses two sub-
the antenna are the best. In addition, if the number of cells is too strate layers with metamaterial structure, there is a significant
large, the complexity and the time for each task will be increas- improvement in the bandwidth of antenna. The bandwidth is
able. For this reason, the selected number of cells is 10. Here, not only enhanced from the increase of the substrate, but also
the radius of the hexagon and the width of the square are 12 from the use of metamaterial structure on the ground plane

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 6 Nguyen Ngoc Lan and Vu Van Yem

Fig. 7. (a) The reflection coefficient, (b) the gain and efficiency of the single array antenna.

Fig. 8. The radiation pattern of the proposed array antenna: (a) 3D, (b) xy and
xz planes.

Fig. 9. The difference in the bandwidth of antenna in three cases: one substrate, two
substrates, two substrates with MTM. Fig. 10. The difference in the gain of the antenna in three cases: one substrate, two
substrates, two substrates with MTM.

through created consecutive cavity resonators. In this case, the

bandwidth includes three consecutive resonant modes. (9.2 dBi) while in another case, the gain values of the antenna are
Therefore, the bandwidth of antenna reaches 1.78 GHz. only 7.22 and 7 dBi, respectively. It is clear that the gain of the
Using metamaterial structure on the ground plane not only antenna is significantly improved through current re-distribution.
improves bandwidth, but also enhances gain for antenna through We know that radiation of the microstrip antenna is determined
current re-distribution. This is indicated in Fig. 10. from the field distribution between the patch metallization and
From Fig. 10, we can see that the gain of the antenna with two ground plane. In other words, the radiation can be described in
substrate layers with metamaterial structure is the highest pick terms of the surface current distribution on the patch metallization

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 International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies 7

Fig. 11. The difference in the radiation pattern in three cases: (a) one substrate, (b) two substrates, and (c) two substrates with metamaterial.

Fig. 12. The simulated results of the proposed MIMO antenna: (a) S-parameters, (b) xy and xz planes, 3D radiation.

[21]. Based on the principle of gain enhancement for antenna using antenna is enhanced when we re-distribute current in order that
metamaterial structure is found in [22], and using the proposed more and more currents at where the phase shift is 0 (constructive
metamaterial structure causes current re-distribution in antenna interference) whereas in other places, there is a limitation (decon-
and this leads to interference between waves. This opens an oppor- structive interference). Then, not only the gain is improved, but
tunity to gain enhancement for the antenna. Here, the gain of the also the directivity is still enhanced.

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 8 Nguyen Ngoc Lan and Vu Van Yem

Fig. 13. The normalized 5.8 GHz radiation pattern of the proposed antenna: (a) Port 1, (b) Port 2.

Fig. 14. The gain and efficiency of the proposed antenna. Fig. 15. The ECC of the proposed MIMO array antenna.

Figure 11 shows the difference in the radiation pattern of the These are shown through the values of the main lobe magnitude
antenna in three cases. that are 5.67 and 7.24 dB, respectively, and the side lobe levels are
It is clear that the difference in the radiation pattern between −2.5 and −6.7 dB. When the antenna uses two substrates and
cases is clear. In two cases of one and two substrates, the directiv- metamaterial structure, the parameters of antenna such as the
ity of the antenna is very low while the side lobe level is high. main lobe magnitude and the directivity are 9.18 and 10.45 dBi.

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 International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies 9

Fig. 16. The prototypes of the proposed MIMO antenna: (a) single array antenna, (b) MIMO array antenna.

Fig. 17. Measurement results of the S-parameters: (a) single array antenna, (b) MIMO array antenna.

These show that using metamaterial structure to improve gain ECC is defined as follows [23, 24]:
and bandwidth for antenna is the right method.
∗ ∗ 2
Figure 12 and Fig. 13 illustrate the simulated S-parameters, |S11 S12 + S21 S22 |
radiation pattern, and the normalized 5.8 GHz radiation pattern re = , (11)
(1 − |S11 |2 − |S21 |2 )(1 − |S22 |2 − |S12 |2 )
of the proposed antenna while Fig. 14 shows the gain and effi-
ciency of the proposed antenna. From Fig. 12, we can see that
the bandwidth of the proposed antenna is 1.8 GHz (at −10 dB) and the ECC also can be calculated using the radiation pattern
corresponding to the bandwidths in the percentage of approxi- as [24]:
mately 31%. In addition, the isolation of the antenna is
<−17 dB. Moreover, the gain of the antenna reaches 9.2 dBi  
 4p[F1 (u, w) · F2 (u, w)dV]2
while the efficiency is 73.14% (Fig. 14). Besides, another import- ECC = re =   . (12)
ant parameter in the MIMO system to determine diversity per- 4p|F1 (u, w)|2 dV 4p|F2 (u, w)|2 dV
formance is the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC). Here,

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 10 Nguyen Ngoc Lan and Vu Van Yem

2.64 × 1.48 × 0.058

My work

30.6
5.8

9.2
18
73

1.88 × 0.54 × 0.003

[31]

5.8
7.8

5.3
34
x
Fig. 18. The measurement results of gain for the proposed antennas.

0.49 × 0.49 × 0.015

[30]
Figure 15 shows the ECC of the proposed array antennas.
From this figure, the proposed antenna has the simulated ECC

15.4

1.41
5.7
5.2

70
lower than 0.02 for a wide frequency range. This is suitable for
application with a minimum acceptable ECC of 0.5 [25].

0.27 × 0.147 × 0.013

Measurement results

[29]
To verify the performance of the proposed MIMO array antenna
for WLAN application, the prototypes of the MIMO array

2.45
14.2

1.26
antenna, as shown in Fig. 16, were fabricated on Roger4350B sub-

15
78
strate material with a permittivity of 3.66 and the thickness of
1.524 mm. The dimensions of antennas are 70 × 72 × 3.048 mm3
and 137 × 77 × 3.048 mm3, respectively. Figure 17 shows the

0.93 × 0.47 × 0.09

measurement results of S-parameters of the single array antenna
and MIMO array antennas. It can be seen that the bandwidths
[28]

of the single array antenna and MIMO array antenna are 350
and 1780 MHz, respectively. Besides, the mutual coupling of the
3.5
8.8

4.3
12
73

antenna is lesser than −18 dB.

Figure 18 illustrates the measurement results of the gain of the
proposed antenna. Here, the measurement results of gain of
MIMO antenna and single array are 8.9 and 7.8 dBi while these
0.99 × 0.99 × 0.182

values for simulation are 9.2 and 8.2 dBi, respectively. The results
in this work have also been compared with the other works as
[27]

shown in Table 4. Although the size of the proposed antenna is

larger than the sizes in the references, the antennas in the refer-
Table 4. The comparison between references and this work

2.6
7.7
14

7
x

ences are single antenna instead of antenna array as the proposed

paper. Therefore, this is acceptable. In addition, as can be seen
that although the antenna in [26] has the large percentage of
bandwidth (23.9%), the gain is only 5.5 dBi and the isolation of
0.68 × 0.68 × 0.0064

the antenna is only 17 dB. In other work [27], the gain and band-
width percentage of the antennas are 7 dBi and 7.7%, respectively.
[26]

Moreover, the isolation of the antenna in [27] is not good (14 dB).
This also appears in [28] when the mutual coupling between
23.9
2.6

5.5
17

antenna is very high (−12 dB). Besides, the bandwidth percentage

x

and gain of this antenna are 8.8% and 4.3 dBi, respectively.
Similarly, the antenna in [29] and [30], the isolation between
antenna is only 15 dB, while the gains of antennas are very low
Frequency (GHz)
Bandwidth (%)

(lesser than 2 dBi).

Efficiency (%)
Isolation (dB)
References

Meanwhile, the work in [31], the antenna includes two sets of

Gain (dBi)
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3

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 International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies 11

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 12 Nguyen Ngoc Lan and Vu Van Yem

Nguyen Ngoc Lan received Master degree from the Vu Van Yem received Ph.D. degree from the
School of Electronics and Telecommunications, Department of Electronics and Communications,
Hanoi University of Science and Technology, in TELECOM ParisTech, France, in 2005. From
2014. From 2015 to 2018, she was a Ph.D. 2006 to 2007, he was a postdoctoral researcher at
student at the School of Electronics and the Department of Hyper-Frequency, the Institute
Telecommunications, Hanoi University of of Electronics and Microelectronics and Nano tech-
Science and Technology, Vietnam. Her research nology (IEMN), France. He has been qualified as an
interests are microstrip antenna, mutual coup- associate professor since 2009. He is the head of pre-
ling, MIMO antennas, array antennas, reconfig- sident’s office as well as head of RF & Microwave
urable antennas, polarization antennas, metamaterial, metasurface. Lab, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam. His research interests
are microwave engineering, antenna, chaos-based digital communications as well as
advanced wireless communication and localization.

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