Dual-Band 10-Element MIMO Array for 5G Smartphones in Sub-6 GHz

The dramatic growth of mobile users, IoT-based applications, and astounding channel capacity requirements to connect trillions of devices are some huge challenges of the previous mobile generations, 5G turned up the key solution. Although the 5G MIMO can boost channel capacity and spectrum efficiency, it is very challenging to integrate multiple antennas into a mobile phone with limited space. Therefore, we presented a multi-band 10-elements array antenna operating at the LTE (long term evolution) 42, 43, and 46 frequency spectrum (sub-6 GHz band) for MIMO applications in fourth/fifth generation (4G/5G) modern mobile phones in this paper. A simple T-shaped slot antenna is designed to acquire 10-element MIMO antenna implementation in LTE 42/43 and 46 bands. The presented antenna array is integrated using a low-priced FR-4 substrate which is typically used for 5.7- 6-inch smartphones and possesses dimensions of 150mm × 80mm × 0.8mm. The simulated results show superb impedance matching and isolation between ports (> -12 dB), radiation efficiency (>70 %), and Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC< 0.05) over the operational frequency. Consequently, the designed MIMO antenna array is effectively favorable for the 5G MIMO smartphone to enhance data output and the spectrum efficiency.