Highly isolated pin-loaded millimeter wave MIMO antenna array system for IoT-based smart environments

The Internet of Things (IoT) based wireless devices are mainly designed for rapid indoor millimeter-wave (mmW) communication systems. These systems often require high gain mmW antennas within a wideband MIMO framework. This work presents a high performance quad element pin-loaded multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array for mmW communications that can be utilized within IoT-enabled smart environment. The novelty of these antenna elements lies in the incorporation of unique flower-shaped slots and shorting pins in each patch of a two-element antenna array. Moreover, a four-port MIMO antenna system is created by arranging the two element arrays in an orthogonal configuration. By employing this pattern diversity technique and incorporating shorting pins in each individual element, the adverse mutual coupling effects between adjacent elements are effectively mitigated. Experimental validation of the MIMO array prototype confirms the minimum isolation of 34 dB and high port isolation of 72 dB over the operating bandwidth from 26.31–30.25 GHz (3.96 GHz). Notably, these features together with lower correlation values and higher diversity gain, make it a good choice for mmW-based IoT devices in smart environments.