Journal of Communications and Information Networks, Vol.3, No.1, Mar. 2018
DOI: 10.1007/s41650-018-0002-9 Research paper
A Broadband ±45
◦
Dual-Polarized Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output Antenna for 5G Base Stations
with Extra Decoupling Elements
Qi Wu, Peiyu Liang, Xiaoming Chen
Abstract—A dual-polarized multiple-input multiple-
output (MIMO)antenna is proposed for 5G base stations.
Each antenna element consists of two orthogonally placed
fan-shaped dipole elements and ±45
◦
dual-polarized feed-
ing structures are used to achieve broadband operation.
The resonant frequency of the array element is from
3.3 to 4.2 GHz, which covers the mainstream spectrum
allocations of 5G mobile networks. H-shaped coupling
elements are used to improve the isolation between the
neighboring antenna elements and the mutual coupling is
reduced by over 4 dB. The envelope correlation of a 2 × 2
array is provided for verification.
Keywords—base station, broad band, dual-polarized,
5th generation mobile networks, MIMO antenna, mutual
coupling
I. INTRODUCTION
5
th generation (5G) mobile communication has broad po-
tential applications owing to its enhanced capabilities in
terms of high data rate, high reliability and low latency. Rel-
evant technologies, such as the Internet of things (IoT)
[1]
, ar-
tificial intelligence (AI)
[2]
, cloud computing
[3]
, and big data
analytics
[4]
under rapid development may change the daily life
of everyone in the world. 5G wireless systems capable of bet-
ter supporting the above technologies are expected to be ready
for commercial operation around 2020.
In 2016, the European Commission (EC) announced its
spectrum plan for 5G trials covering the bands from 3.4 to
3.8 GHz; the 3.8-4.2 GHz bands are reserved for future ap-
plications. In 2017, China’s Ministry of Industry and Infor-
mation Technology (MIIT) officially declared that 3.3-3.4 (in-
door only), 3.4 -3.6 and 4.8-5 GHz bands are allocated for 5G
Manuscript received Dec. 23, 2017; accepted Feb. 07, 2018.
Q. Wu, P. Y. Liang. School of Electronics and Information Engineering,
Beihang University (BUAA), Beijing 100191, China.
X. M. Chen. School of Electronic Information Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong
University, Xi’an 710049, China.
service, and the 3.6-4.2 GHz bands are considered for future
5G allocation
[5]
. As shown in Fig. 1, the available frequency
spectra for most countries or regions are mostly within the fre-
quency bands from 3.3 to 4.2 GHz. The so-called sub-5-GHz
bands are very important for 5G trails and future deployment.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to cover this band for the pro-
posed base station antenna.
Because of the existence of rich multipath deployment and
scattering propagation in typical mobile channels, the receiv-
ing signals usually yield an elliptical polarization. To miti-
gate multipath fading and to increase channel capacity, a dual-
polarized antenna array can be used for 5G base stations. In
addition, compared with 0
◦
and 90
◦
dual-polarized antenna
arrays, antennas with ±45
◦
polarization can have a higher ef-
ficiency because the two antenna masts can be used to receive
data simultaneously
[6]
.
With regard to the feeding structures, a Y-shaped feeding
line has been developed for a dual-polarized array and the
array achieves a wide impedance bandwidth from 1.7 to 2.7
GHz with standing wave ratio (SWR) less than 1.5. The isola-
tion between the two orthogonal ports is larger than 25 dB
[7]
.
Another ±45
◦
dual-polarized array with two crossed bowtie
elements has been designed for the same long term evolu-
tion (LTE) bands, and the antenna element has a wide half-
power beamwidth of about 65
◦[8]
. To enhance the impedance
bandwidth, additional loops are embedded into a loop dual-
polarized antenna and a new resonant mode is generated, as
discussed in Ref. [9]. A dual-dipole dual-polarized structure
has also been proposed that has a broad bandwidth of 51%
(1.61-2.71 GHz) and high isolation of larger than 30 dB
[10]
.
However, the above designs focus on LTE applications only.
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, espe-
cially a massive one, is an enabler for 5G mobile communi-
cation. To achieve the optimum MIMO performance, several
parameters such as the bandwidth, gain, isolation, and cross-
polarization levels are necessary to evaluate the antenna ele-
ment. A side-view profile of the element is also important for
aesthetical reasons. Many decent designs have been reported
in recent years to meet these requirements.