High-Isolation 5G Repeater Antenna Using a Novel DGS and an EBG

Repeaters have been widely used to improve communication quality and extend the coverage areas of wireless communication systems. However, mutual coupling between the Tx and Rx antennas significantly deteriorates the performance of repeater systems. This work presents a high-isolation repeater antenna operating in a frequency range of 3.6–3.7 GHz in a 5G communication system. Perpendicularly arranged microstrip patch antennas are used because this arrangement can lead to greater isolation than a parallel arrangement. However, the perpendicular arrangement results in radiation pattern distortion due to the ground mode. A novel defected ground structure (DGS) is developed to suppress the ground mode and simultaneously reduce the mutual coupling between the Tx and Rx antennas. An electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) is additionally employed to further increase isolation. The measurement results of a fabricated repeater antenna show no radiation pattern deformation and an isolation improvement of 28 dB over the repeater antenna without the DGS and EBG.