A Low-Cost Compact Dual-Polarized Patch Antenna Array for 5G Massive MIMO Base Station

• Published in: IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 1381 - 1385
• Main Authors: Yan, Tian-Yu, Ding, Xin-Hao, Yang, Jun-Yao, Chen, Jian-Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.04.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 5G mobile communication; Antenna arrays; Antennas; Bandwidth; Base station; Base stations; compact patch antenna; Correlation coefficients; Dual polarization (waves); dual-polarized; Low cost; massive multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO); Metal sheets; Microstrip antenna arrays; Microstrip antennas; MIMO; MIMO communication; Parasitic elements (antennas); Patch antennas; Polarization; Substrates; Vertical loads
• ISSN: 1536-1225; 1548-5757
• DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2024.3356531

In this letter, a low-cost and compact ±45° dual-polarized patch antenna array suitable for 5G massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) base station is proposed. The antenna unit comprises a microstrip patch and a parasitic patch in a stacked configuration. The two patches can be directly connected by four metallic sheets using surface-mounted technology, and these sheets are formed by bending branches achieved from grooving the upper parasitic patch. The loading of vertical metal baffles at the upper patch can shrink the antenna planar size and broaden the beamwidth simultaneously. The upper patch with bent branches can be formed in a piece by sheet metal technology, while the lower patch is printed on the substrate along with the feed network of the antenna array. A 1 × 3 antenna array with a unit size of 0.343 λ L × 0.343 λ L × 0.071 λ L ( λ L is the wavelength at 3.28 GHz) is fabricated and measured. It attains a bandwidth of 20.3% (3.28-4.02 GHz) with | S 11 | < −15 dB and | S 21 | < −17 dB. The measured realized gain is 11.2 ± 0.3 dBi. The half-power beamwidth is 74 ± 5°, and the cross-polarization is below −24 dB. The measured envelop correlation coefficient is lower than 0.007.