Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP)

Compact Bandwidth-Optimized Two Element

MIMO Antenna System for 2.5 2.7 GHz Band
V. Ssorin, A. Artemenko, A. Sevastyanov, R. Maslennikov
Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod
Gagarin avenue 23, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
vladimir.ssorin@wcc.unn.ru
Abstract This paper presents design of a compact two element
planar MIMO antenna system for a USB dongle operating in the
2.5-2.7 GHz frequency band. The proposed MIMO antenna
system consists of two meander line monopoles and uses a
decoupling technique based on a direct connection of the antenna
elements to improve the antenna system diversity. In order to
provide the required MIMO antenna system bandwidth, the
optimization of the connection line parameters was performed.
The designed MIMO antenna has the compact size of
10 mm20 mm (that is 6 and 12 times lower in corresponding
dimension than the operating wave length), more than 200 MHz
bandwidth for the return loss S11 and the insertion loss S21
simultaneously, and exhibits pattern diversity when different
antenna elements are excited. Also the designed antenna has
planar structure (standard FR4 PCB technology) and, therefore,
low production cost. The performed analysis of the envelope
correlation coefficient shows excellent MIMO antenna system
characteristics. Experimental measurements of the fabricated
antenna system prove the simulation results.

I. INTRODUCTION
Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology [1] is
one of the most effective ways for increasing reliability and
channel capacity of modern wireless communication systems.
By definition, antennas of MIMO communication systems
include multiple elements and require high isolation between
the radiators. However, integration of multiple antennas
closely in a small and compact device with maintenance of
good isolation between the antenna elements is rather
complicated since the antenna elements couple strongly to
each other and also to the common ground plane by sharing
the surface currents on it.
Hence, special diversity techniques for the antenna
elements have been developed for effective MIMO antenna
systems design [2]. The most widely used diversity techniques
are based either on different orthogonal polarizations of the
antenna elements or spatial diversity with a distance between
the antenna elements greater than half of the operational
wavelength. However, these diversity techniques are not
always effective especially when the available antenna system
area is very compact (for example in USB dongle devices).
One of the most promising approaches for development of
a compact MIMO antenna system is the diversity technique
based on a direct connection of the antenna elements [3, 4]. A
direct connection of the antenna elements allows the current
induced from one antenna element to flow to the other antenna
element through the connection and not to the load. The
proposed in [3] MIMO antenna system for the 2.52.7 GHz

frequency band with the diversity technique based on direct

connection of antenna elements has a 3D structure, and
implies that the antenna system should be separately soldered
to the PCB board. A 3D structure of the antenna is not costeffective and can lead to the performance degradation due to
soldering misalignments in the manufacturing process. The
work [4] describes a planar dual-band antenna system for the
Long Term Evolution communication systems in 700 MHz /
2.5-2.7 GHz. The designed in [4] antenna system uses the
diversity technique based on direct connection of antenna
elements for providing a high port-to-port isolation in the
frequency band around 700 MHz while the diversity in the
2.52.7 GHz band is achieved by the conventional spatial
diversity with large antenna elements separation.
A known drawback of the diversity technique based on a
direct connection of the antenna elements is the antenna
bandwidth shrinkage. For instance, the results presented in [4]
show that the achieved MIMO antenna bandwidth at the 700
MHz band is very narrow (about 2.5% at the -7.4 dB return
loss level). Thus, the bandwidth optimization is strongly
required for the antennas operating in wider frequency bands
like, for example, in the 2.52.7 GHz band (more than 8% of
the relative bandwidth) used in different mobile wireless
communication systems.
This work aims to design a planar two element MIMO
antenna system with the diversity technique based on a direct
connection of the antenna elements for application in the USB
dongle operating in the 2.52.7 GHz frequency band. The
bandwidth optimization is performed by variation of the
connection line parameters.
II. SINGLE ANTENNA ELEMENT
This section describes design of a single antenna element
used further in the MIMO antenna system development. The
total USB dongle PCB area is typically about 60 mm20 mm
where the antenna area is limited to 10 mm20 mm that is
0.08500.170, where 0 is the wavelength in free space at the
central frequency 2.6 GHz. This antenna area size is about 10
times smaller than it is required for the conventional spatial
diversity technique with 0/2 antenna elements separation.
Since the considered USB dongle has a large ground plane
of 50 mm20 mm for integration of the IC devices and there
is the very strict requirement to the antenna area size, a planar
meander line monopole antenna element is the most suitable
choice for the MIMO antenna system. The meander line
configuration of the monopole allows reducing the occupied

319

space of the antenna element to less than 0.10 in each

dimension.
The design of the single meander line monopole was
performed using 3D electromagnetic simulator CST
Microwave Studio. The simulation model of the designed
single meander line monopole is shown in Fig. 1. The MIMO
antenna system is printed on a widely used inexpensive FR4
(r = 4.6) PCB material. The total thickness of the PCB board
for the considered MIMO antenna system is 1.56 mm. The
PCB structure consists of four metal layers, where the
thickness of the dielectric layer between the first two metal
layers, used for the implementation of the microstrip line with
50 characteristic impedance, is 0.2 mm (the width of the
microstrip line is equal to 0.3 mm). The meander line antenna
occupies 0.0800.060 where the meander line width is equal
to 0.5 mm.
Simulation results show that the radiation bandwidth of the
single monopole is 500 MHz with the central frequency of
2.6 GHz at the -7.4 dB return loss level (corresponds to 2.5:1
VSWR).

radiation bandwidth frequency since the connection line has a

finite electrical length and, therefore, increases the electrical
length of the antenna elements.
The simulation model of the designed two element MIMO
antenna system is shown in Fig. 2. The width of the
connection line is 0.25 mm. In order to adjust the resonant
bandwidth of the return loss and the insertion loss to the
required frequency, the matching circuit comprised of lumped
inductances in serial connection to each of the antenna
elements is introduced into the antenna structure.

Fig. 2 Simulation model of the MIMO antenna system

It was observed that the bandwidth of the return loss

significantly decreases comparing to the single monopole
antenna element (from 500 MHz to less than 200 MHz) when
the diversity technique was initially implemented. However,
the bandwidth shrinkage depends on the connection line
parameters. Hence, the optimization of the two element
MIMO antenna system structure should be performed in order
to provide the maximum achievable bandwidth.
Fig. 1 Simulation model of the meander line monopole

III. TWO ELEMENT MIMO ANTENNA SYSTEM

Next, two identical designed monopole antenna elements
were placed near each other to form a MIMO antenna system.
The total occupied area of the antenna system is less than
10 mm20 mm. The distance between two meander line
monopoles was set to 6 mm that is about 0.050. The isolation
between antenna elements without the use of the diversity
techniques was only -2.5 dB that is unacceptable for the
effective MIMO performance.
In order to provide good MIMO characteristics, the two
monopole antennas were connected to each other by a
connection line in low impedance connection points of the
monopoles. The main concept of the diversity technique based
on a direct connection of the antenna elements is that the
current induced from one antenna element flows through the
connection to the other antenna element and does not pass
through the load. Thus, both antennas form the radiation
pattern with some dedicated direction of main radiation. When
another antenna element is excited the radiation pattern of the
MIMO antenna system has an opposite direction of main
radiation. It provides the pattern diversity when different
antenna elements are excited and, thus, high port-to-port
isolation can be achieved.
High port-to-port isolation is provided in some resonant
frequency that was found to slightly lower than the central

IV. BANDWIDTH OPTIMIZATION

The bandwidth optimization can be performed by variation
of the connection line parameters: length, width, and
connection point position (see Fig. 2). Preliminary
optimization revealed that the maximum impact on the
antenna bandwidth has the connection line length. Thus, in the
final optimization process, the length of the connection line
was varied while the width and the connection points
positions were fixed after the preliminary optimization. The
variation range of the connection line length (namely L
parameter in Fig. 2) for the optimization was chosen from 1 to
6 mm. During the optimization of the connection line length,
the resonant frequency of S21 and S11 were kept equal to 2.6
GHz. This was done by adjusting of the meander line length
and the matching circuit inductance values. It was found
during the optimization process that with the connection line
length increase, the insertion loss resonant frequency shifts to
the lower band, while the return loss resonant frequency
without the matching network remains almost the same.
Hence, the difference between the resonances for S21 and S11
also increases that leads to wider insertion loss bandwidth.
However, the matching circuit should shift the return loss
resonance on larger frequency distance that causes larger
return loss bandwidth shrinkage. Hence, the optimal value of
the connection line length that corresponds to the equal
bandwidths of S21 and S11 can be found.

320

Table I shows the return loss (S11, S22) and the insertion
loss (S12, S21) bandwidths around the central frequency of 2.6
GHz for different connection line lengths. The bandwidths
were estimated at the -7.4 dB level of S11 and S22 and at the 8 dB level of S12 and S21.
TABLE I
S11 AND S21 BANDWIDTHS FOR D IFFERENT L

S11 and S22

bandwidth, MHz
226
221
216
209
196
184

L value, mm
1
2
3
4
5
6

S12 and S21

bandwidth, MHz
130
146
173
207
425
435

Fig. 4 Photo of the fabricated MIMO antenna system with assembled cables

The results presented in Table I show that the return loss

bandwidth decreases and the insertion loss bandwidth
increases with increasing the connection line length. Also it is
observed that the optimum value of the connection line length
L, which corresponds to the equal values of the S21 and S11
bandwidths of about 210 MHz, is equal to 4 mm. For all other
values of the connection line length, either the return or the
insertion loss bandwidths are smaller than 210 MHz. The
simulated S-parameters for the optimized structure of the
MIMO antenna system are shown in Fig. 3.
S-parameters
0
S11
S21
-5

dB

-10

-15

-20

-25
2.4

2.45

2.5

2.55

2.6

2.65

2.7

2.75

2.8

Frequency, GHz

Fig. 3 Simulated S-parameters for the optimized structure of the MIMO

antenna system

V. MEASUREMENT RESULTS
The MIMO antenna system with the optimal connection
line parameters was fabricated and tested. A photo of the
fabricated MIMO antenna system is shown in Fig. 4. As
shown in Fig. 4, two pieces of the coaxial cable with the SMA
connector at each end have been soldered directly to each
antenna port in order to feed the antenna elements.

However, for small antennas measurements, the coaxial

feed cable that is connected to the measurement equipment
influences the measurement results [5]. It is well known that
the impact of the feed cable during measurements can be
reduced if the cables are connected to an E-field minimum of
the antenna [6]. In the considered design of the MIMO
antenna system, the cables are soldered to the microstrip lines
which feed the antenna elements in their E-field minima and,
therefore, the induced currents in the outside of the cable
shields are minimized. This was proved by a simple test of
grounding the coaxial cables by human hands and without
observing significant variation in the measured results.
Antenna return loss (S11 and S22) and isolation (S21 and S12)
characteristics have been measured using Agilent ENA 5071B
network analyser with a two port calibration procedure.
However, this standard calibration procedure can not be
implemented to de-embed the impact of the SMA connectors
and the coaxial cables soldered to the antenna ports. Hence,
the de-embedding of the cables and SMA connectors was
performed using the created equivalent schematic model of
the SMA cables with connectors. The created model was
proved with experimental measurements of the open-ended
coaxial cables with the SMA connectors. After that, the
simulated S-parameters of the cables and connectors model in
50 environment were de-embedded from the experimental
results in order to extract characteristics of the MIMO antenna
system only.
The measured and simulated S-parameters for the
optimized MIMO antenna system are shown in Fig. 5. Good
correspondence between the measurement and simulation
results is observed. The measurement results indicate that the
fabricated MIMO antenna system has the 280 MHz bandwidth
at the -7.4 dB level of the return loss S11 with the 2.58 GHz
central frequency, and the 325 MHz bandwidth for the
insertion loss S21 at the -8 dB level.

321

-5

dB

-10

-15

S11 Meas
S21 Meas
S11 Sim
S21 Sim

-20

-25
2.4

2.45

2.5

2.55

2.6

2.65

2.7

2.75

Fig. 7 Spherical coordinates system

2.8

Frequency, GHz

Elevation Cut: = 0 (Abs value)

90

Fig. 5 S-parameters for the optimized structure of the MIMO antenna system

Port 1
Port 2

120

60
0

*
S11* S12 S21
S22
2

-5
150

30
-10
-15

Gain, dB

Along with the S-parameters, another widely used approach

for characterization and evaluation of the MIMO antenna
system performance is the analysis of the envelope correlation
coefficient. The envelope correlation coefficient can be
calculated from the scattering parameters [7] as follows:

180

2
210

330

(1 ( S11 S21 ))(1 ( S 22 S12 ))

240

The envelope correlation coefficient of less that 0.25 is

preferred for acceptable data capacity according to many
studies (see, for example, [7]).
Measured and simulated results for the envelope correlation
coefficient are shown in Fig. 6. It may be seen that the
measured and simulated envelope correlation coefficients are
lower than 0.25 across the required bandwidth of 2.52.7 GHz.

300
270

(a)
o

Elevation Cut: = 90 (Abs value)

90

Port 1
Port 2

120

60
0
-5

150

30
-10
-15

Meas
Sim

Gain, dB

Envelope correlation coefficient

0.25

0.2

180

210

0.15

330

240

0.1

300
270

(b)

0.05
o

Azimuth Cut: = 90 (Abs value)

0
2.4

90 0
2.45

2.5

2.55

2.6

2.65

2.7

2.75

120

2.8

Port 1
Port 2

60
-5

Frequency, GHz

-10

150

Fig. 6 Envelope correlation coefficient

322

-15

Gain, dB

In order to prove the pattern diversity radiation pattern

measurements of the designed MIMO antenna system have
been performed in an anechoic chamber using Agilent
network analyser N5230A.
Three different orthogonal planes (for elevation angles
= 0 and = 90 and for azimuth angle = 90) were
considered for estimation of radiation characteristics of the
designed antenna system. The used spherical coordinates
system relative to the MIMO antenna system is shown in
Fig. 7.

30

180

210

330

240

300
270

(c)
Fig. 8 Radiation pattern cuts (measurements)

Fig. 8 presents measured absolute values of the radiation

pattern cuts for each antenna port in all the three planes at
2.6 GHz. During the measurements, one of the two ports was
excited, while another was terminated with the 50 matching
load. Thus, two different radiation patterns were obtained
one for each of the ports.
The measurement results show that the designed MIMO
antenna system has pattern diversity at both azimuth cut =
90 (Fig. 8c) and elevation cut = 0 (Fig. 8a) that proves the
effectiveness of the diversity technique based on a direct
connection of the antenna elements. At the elevation cut =
90 (Fig. 8b) almost an omnidirectional radiation pattern is
observed as it was expected since the antenna elements are
placed symmetrically to this cut plane. The maximum
measured gain of the MIMO antenna system at the 2.6 GHz
frequency is 1.5 dBi.
The measurements results prove sufficient port-to-port
isolation in the required bandwidth and confirm pattern
diversity of the designed compact MIMO antenna system.
Hence, the proposed MIMO antenna system can be effectively
used in different wireless communication systems with
improved channel capacity operating in the 2.5-2.7 GHz
frequency band.

bandwidth of the individual antenna element. In order to

improve the radiation bandwidth to the required 200 MHz,
optimization of the connection line parameters was performed.
The connection line parameters were found to achieve the
bandwidth of 200 MHz for the return loss S11 and the insertion
loss S21 simultaneously.
The antenna prototype was implemented in the low cost
FR4 PCB technology that is typically used for USB dongles
design.
The performed simulation and experimental investigations
of the S-parameters, envelope correlation coefficient, and
radiation patterns proved sufficient port-to-port isolation in
the wide bandwidth of 2.5-2.7 GHz and confirmed pattern
diversity of the designed compact MIMO antenna system. The
designed MIMO antenna system can be used in different
2.5-2.7 GHz wireless communication devices where a high
data rate and support for MIMO transmission is required.
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[1]

[2]
[3]

VI. CONCLUSION
In this work, design of a compact two element planar
MIMO antenna system operating in the 2.5-2.7 GHz
frequency band was presented. The proposed MIMO antenna
system consists of two meander monopoles and occupies the
space of 10 mm20 mm that is 6 and 12 times lower in the
corresponding dimension than the operating wave length.
High port-to-port isolation in the designed MIMO antenna
system is achieved by the implementation of the diversity
technique based on a direct connection of the antenna
elements.
The used diversity technique shrank the radiation
bandwidth of the MIMO antenna system relative to the

[4]

[5]
[6]

[7]

323

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