Metamaterial-enhanced four-port MIMO antenna for 5G communications at 28/38 GHz

Abstract

This work presents a novel compact four-port multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO) antenna enhanced with metamaterial unit cells for 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications at 28 and 38 GHz. Compact MIMO antennas at mmWave bands often suffer from high mutual coupling, which degrades isolation and diversity performance. To address this, the proposed design integrates metamaterial loading around each radiating element to effectively suppress coupling, enhance isolation, and improve overall efficiency. The antenna, measuring 27×27×0.8 mm³, is implemented on a flexible FR4_epoxy substrate (εr=4.4), enabling compatibility with portable and embedded devices. Full-wave simulations performed in both ANSYS high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS) and computer simulation technology (CST) studio suite confirm the effectiveness of the approach, achieving an exceptionally low envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) (0.0001), a fivefold reduction in channel capacity loss (CCL), and a wide impedance bandwidth of 25.90–34.93 GHz with |S11| below −10 dB in both operating bands. The design also exhibits stable directional gain and low sidelobes. Compared with recent compact MIMO antennas reported in the literature, the proposed configuration offers significantly improved isolation, bandwidth, and mechanical flexibility. These features make it a strong candidate for integration into high-capacity 5G modules, portable terminals, and compact internet of things (IoT) communication systems.