Antenna Design
R. Shirmohamadi; M. Bod; G. Dadashzadeh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antennas have been of interest in wireless communications in recent years. In these systems, many antennas are placed next to each other. The most important issue in the design of MIMO antennas is mutual coupling. Many methods have been proposed ...
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Background and Objectives: Multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antennas have been of interest in wireless communications in recent years. In these systems, many antennas are placed next to each other. The most important issue in the design of MIMO antennas is mutual coupling. Many methods have been proposed to reduce the mutual coupling of MIMO antennas. Many of these methods require an additional substrate on top or bottom of the antenna. In the reduction of mutual couplings electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structures are preferred because they are coplanar with the antenna and can be compactly designed. In this paper, to reduce mutual coupling in MIMO antennas, a novel compact EBG structure based on the genetic algorithm optimization is proposed.Methods: The method proposed in this paper to design an optimal EBG structure is to use a genetic algorithm (GA). In this method, an EBG unit cell is designed by a binary code, and then the 7×2 EBG structure of the unit cell is placed between two antenna elements with λ/2 distance. The optimization algorithm tries to find the best unit cell to reduce the mutual coupling between two elements. After 70 generations in the genetic algorithm, the GA determines a compact structure of EBG elements which reduces mutual coupling significantly.Results: Two-element patch antennas with and without the proposed EBG structure are fabricated and the mutual couplings between array elements are measured at 5.68GHz in both cases. It is shown that the proposed compact EBG structure reduced the isolation of the two antennas by 27 dB. This decrease in mutual coupling is much higher than in the previous papers. The proposed EBG has little effect on other antenna radiation parameters such as S11 and radiation patterns.Conclusion: In general, in this paper, a compact and coplanar EBG structure is proposed to significantly reduce the mutual coupling in MIMO antennas. The method presented in this paper can be used for other MIMO antenna configurations at other frequencies and the proposed method will create a completely optimal structure to reduce mutual coupling.
Antenna Design
M. Bod; F. Geran
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Self-supported rear-radiating feeds have been widely used as reflector antenna feeds for mini terrestrial and satellite links. While in most terrestrial and satellite links a dual-polarized antenna for send and receive applications are required, all of the reported works regarding ...
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Background and Objectives: Self-supported rear-radiating feeds have been widely used as reflector antenna feeds for mini terrestrial and satellite links. While in most terrestrial and satellite links a dual-polarized antenna for send and receive applications are required, all of the reported works regarding this topic are presenting a single polarized self-supported reflector antenna. In this paper, a dual-polarized hat feed reflector antenna with a low sidelobe and low cross-polarization level is presented. Methods: The proposed antenna consists of an orthogonal mode transducer (OMT), a 60 cm ring focus reflector, and a rear radiating waveguide feed known as the hat feed. 21 parameters of hat feed structure are selected and optimized with a genetic algorithm (GA). A predefined ring focus curve is used as a reflector in the optimization procedure. Dual polarization for send and receive applications is also obtained by an OMT at the rear side of the reflector antenna.Results: A prototype of the proposed hat feed reflector antenna is fabricated and the measurement results are compared with simulation ones. The proposed antenna has return loss better than 15 dB at both polarizations in the 17.7~19.7 GHz frequency range. The 60cm reflector antenna has 40dBi gain which means that the proposed antenna has about 70% radiation efficiency. About 20dB sidelobe level and more than 40 dB cross-polarization have also been realized in the measurement patterns of the proposed antenna. Conclusion: A dual-polarized hat feed reflector antenna with excellent radiation efficiency, high sidelobe, and low cross-polarization level is proposed. The proposed antenna can be a good candidate for high-frequency terrestrial and satellite communications.
