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fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2517188, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters

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Multiband MIMO Antenna for GSM, DCS and

LTE Indoor Applications
Yingying Yang, Qingxin Chu, Senior Member, IEEE, and Chunxu Mao

and realize high data rate transmission without the additional

Abstract—A novel and compact planar multiband spectrum or power consumption.
multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) antenna is presented. Recently, many MIMO antennas for LTE mobile handsets
The proposed antenna is composed of two symmetrical radiating have been reported. A 3D Inverted-F-Antenna associated to a
elements connected by neutralizing line to cancel the reactive
coupling. The radiating element is designed for different
parasitic element operating in the LTE 700 MHz and LTE
frequencies operating in GSM 900 MHz, DCS 1800 MHz, LTE-E 2.5-2.7 GHz bands was used for MIMO operation [5]. A MIMO
2300 MHz and LTE-D 2600 MHz, which is consisting of a folded antenna with a T-shape parasitic element for mobile handsets
monopole and a beveled rectangular metal patch. The presented was proposed for the most LTE, WiMAX and WLAN bands
antenna is fed by using 50 Ω coplanar waveguide (CPW) corresponding to 1.79–3.77 GHz [6]. These MIMO antenna
transmission lines. Four slits are etched into the ground plane for designs are mainly discussed on LTE frequencies for mobile
reducing the mutual coupling. The measured results show that the
proposed antenna has good impedance matching, isolation, peak
handsets use. However, there are two very important aspects
gain and radiation patterns. The radiation efficiency and diversity that deserve attention greatly in the Chinese daily life. On the
gain (DG) in the servicing frequencies are pretty well. In the one hand, plenty of users will continue using 2G for voice
Ericsson indoor experiment, three kinds of antenna feed system communication. The MIMO antenna for wireless
are discussed. The proposed antenna shows good performance in communications is required to have a multiple bandwidth to
Long Term Evolution (LTE) reference signal receiving power cover the GSM, DCS and LTE bands. On the other hand, it is
(RSRP), download speed and upload speed.
said that about 70% of the user demands and mobile flow for
Index Terms—Multiband, multiple-input–multiple-output high-speed data services occur in indoor environments [3]. In
(MIMO) antenna, Long Term Evolution (LTE), indoor, antenna indoor applications, the compact planar and easily fabricated
feed system. MIMO antenna is obviously a good candidate. Unfortunately,
discussions on compact planar multiband MIMO antenna for
I. INTRODUCTION GSM, DCS and LTE applications are scant, especially in the

T HE Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the next generation real indoor experimental environment.
mobile communication standard expected to provide high Based on the background of the researches above, in this
data rate [1], which is set to occupy frequency range from 400 letter, a compact planar multiband MIMO antenna with two
MHz to 4 GHz [2]. For most of countries in the world, LTE-E symmetrical radiating elements is presented for
2300 (2300 MHz-2400 MHz) and LTE-D 2600 (2570 GSM/DCS/LTE systems. The radiating element consisted of a
MHz-2640 MHz) bands are the uppermost frequencies, folded monopole and a beveled rectangular metal patch, can
especially in some Asia countries. China started LTE network produce multiple resonant modes at 900 MHz (890-960 MHz),
construction from the end of 2011 and operated commercial 1800 MHz (1710-1880 MHz), 2300 MHz (2320-2370 MHz)
LTE mobile communications services in December 2013 [3]. and 2600 MHz (2575-2635 MHz). The proposed antenna yields
So far, there are more than 1 million LTE base stations for an impedance bandwidth of above frequencies with |S11|< -10
outdoor and indoor applications in China. As a key component dB. To reduce mutual coupling, a neutralizing line linking the
of the LTE wireless system, the multiple-input–multiple-output two radiating elements is used to cancel the reactive coupling
(MIMO) antenna has attracted significant research power in the between elements [7]. Moreover, by etching four slits and two
recent years for its well-known advantages of increasing small rectangles into the ground plane, the proposed antenna is
transmission capacity and reducing multipath fading [4]. capable of having good isolation of |S21|< -30 dB in the all
MIMO antenna, especially in the LTE base stations and mobile service frequencies. Investigation on the neutralizing line and
handsets, can be used to advance the speed of data exchanging four slits was performed by the electromagnetic software
Ansoft HFSS 12. Furthermore, the diversity performance
evaluated by radiation efficiency and diversity gain (DG) has
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (61171029 and 61471172) and the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter
also been studied. At the end of this letter, based on the
Wave (K201406). Ericsson real indoor experiment, three kinds of antenna feed
Yingying Yang and Qingxin Chu are with College of Electronic and system were studied and tested. It is found that the proposed
Information Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou,
China 510641 (e-mail: 13922201214@139.com). Chunxu Mao is with School
antenna shows good characteristics in LTE reference signal
of Electronic and Digital Arts, University of Kent, Canterbury, U. K. CT2 7NT receiving power (RSRP), download speed and upload speed.
(e-mail: cm688@kent.ac.uk)

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(a) (b) Fig. 2. Measured and simulated |S11| of the proposed MIMO antenna.

(c) (d) Fig. 3. Simulated |S21| of MIMO antennas with different decoupling
Fig. 1. Geometries of the proposed multiband MIMO antenna. (a) Front view. configurations.
(b) Rear view. (c) Detailed view. (d) Fabricated antennas.

II. ANTENNA DESIGN AND RESULTS

A. MIMO Antenna Configuration
Fig. 1(a) shows the geometry and configuration of the
proposed antenna. It was fabricated on a 60×80×0.8 mm3 FR4
epoxy substrate with dielectric constant εr =4.4 and loss tangent
tanδ=0.02. The antenna consists of two symmetrical radiating
elements. The coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines of
50 Ω feed the radiating elements connected by a 1 mm wide
shorting line. The shorting line takes the role of neutralizing the Fig. 4. Measured and simulated |S21| of the proposed MIMO antenna.
currents from two elements to increase their isolation. As observed. It is found that the input impedance of the fabricated
shown in Fig. 1(b), four 30 mm long slits and two 2×12 mm2 antenna is well matched as the bandwidth covers the GSM 900
rectangles are cut from the backside of the ground plane for MHz, DCS 1800 MHz, LTE-E 2300 MHz and going beyond
reducing the mutual coupling and slightly improving the the LTE-D 2600 MHz with |S11|< -10 dB.
impedance matching. In Fig. 1(c), the left folded monopole of To analyze the working mechanism of the neutralizing line
the radiating element provides the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and and four slits, Fig. 3 shows the simulated |S21| of MIMO
2300 MHz resonant path, while the right beveled rectangular antennas with different decoupling configurations. It can be
metal patch is the 2600 MHz resonant path. Hence, the overall observed that the isolation is deteriorated seriously in the
operating frequency bands of each radiating element are operating bands, when MIMO antenna without neutralizing
achieved as GSM 900 MHz, DCS 1800 MHz, LTE-E 2300 line and four slits. The isolation is greatly improved in the DCS
MHz and LTE-D 2600 MHz. Fig. 1(d) shows the photograph of 1800 MHz and LTE-E 2300 MHz bands when MIMO antenna
the proposed antennas. with neutralizing line. Moreover, the coupling can be further
B. Simulation and Experimental Results decreased in the GSM 900 MHz and LTE-D 2600 MHz bands
when MIMO antenna with four slits etched into the back
The measurements were carried out with a network analyzer
ground plane. Fig. 4 presents the measured and simulated |S21|
Agilent N5230A (10 MHz-50 GHz). Fig. 2 shows the
of the proposed MIMO antenna with both neutralizing line and
characteristics of the measured and simulated input reflection
four slits. The isolation |S21|< -30 dB is in the service
coefficient |S11| of the proposed antenna, and a relative good
frequencies covering GSM, DCS, LTE-E and LTE-D bands.
agreement in between simulation and measurement can be

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Fig. 5. Measured peak gains of the proposed MIMO antenna. Fig. 9. Diversity gains of the proposed MIMO antenna.
efficiencies are 85% to 95% high in the operating frequency
bands. When one port is excited and the other port is terminated
by a 50 Ω load, the measured radiation patterns of the antenna
on y-z plane and x-y plane for four different frequencies 900,
1800, 2300 and 2600 MHz are shown in Figs. 7 and 8,
respectively. It can be observed that the antenna exhibits quasi
omnidirectional on y-z plane as expected. On x-y plane, the
radiation patterns remain roughly a figure “8” shape leading to
a bidirectional pattern. In the actual measurement, especially at
the higher frequency 2600 MHz, a few leakage currents may
distribute along the external conductor of the SMA connector
and may deteriorate the radiation patterns. Diversity gain (DG)
Fig. 6. Simulated radiation efficiency of the proposed MIMO antenna.
is defined as the difference between the combined signal from
all the antennas of the diversity system and the signal from a
single antenna, which can evaluate the diversity performance of
MIMO antenna [8]. In a simple word, DG is higher, the
improvement in diversity performance is better. As shown in
Fig. 9, the DG of the proposed antenna is calculated when using
a selection combiner of 10.2 dB in the ideal case, and it is
observed that the diversity gains are pretty well in the operating
frequency bands.

III. ANTENNA TEST IN LTE INDOOR ENVIRONMENT

(a) (b)
Fig. 7. Measured radiation patterns of the proposed MIMO antenna on y-z Generally, a LTE indoor base station includes a Building
plane at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz. (a) Port 1 was Baseband Unit (BBU), Remote Radio Unit (RRU), antenna
excited. (b) Port 2 was excited. feed system and GPS antenna. BBU is connected RRU by fiber
and the feeder links the antenna and RRU. In this letter, the
LTE indoor network test environment at LTE-E 2300 MHz
frequency was constructed by using Ericsson equipments BBU
DUS4102 and RRU S62B40A. Signal receiving power (RSRP),
download speed and upload speed are the three most important
indexes to evaluate the operating performances of MIMO
antenna in the LTE application.
In Fig. 10, there are three kinds of antenna feed systems
connected with RRU. The first one is including a single antenna
and a 50 Ω load, as shown in Fig. 10 (a). This type just has only
(a) (b)
one communication channel, because the base station sends and
Fig. 8. Measured radiation patterns of the proposed MIMO antenna on x-y
plane at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz. (a) Port 1 was receives signals from the single antenna and which can be
excited. (b) Port 2 was excited. called as “Single path”. The second type is depicted in Fig. 10
The measured antenna peak gains are shown in Fig. 5. The (b). There are two single antennas ended with RRU, which
antenna gains are 3.0-4.0 dBi in the multiple frequency bands. composes two channels and can be called as “Double paths”.
The radiation efficiencies, described the ratio of total radiated To decrease the coupling and avoid self-excitation interference,
power to net power accepted by the antenna at its terminals, are the two single antennas are usually more than 1.2 meters apart
depicted in Fig. 6. As observed, the radiation in the test. The last type is shown in Fig. 10 (c). RRU is linked

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“Double paths” (types 2 and 3) are better than that of “Single

path” (type 1). For two types of “Double paths”, the test values
of the proposed antenna (type 3) are slightly inferior to the
values of type 2. However, the type 3 not only has fewer
antennas but also saves the space for its compact and high
(a) integration. Obviously, as the important part of the antenna feed
system, the proposed MIMO antenna is more suitable for the
real LTE indoor network application. Fig. 11 shows the real
LTE indoor base station environment using the Ericsson
equipments and the proposed MIMO antenna.

(b) IV. CONCLUSION

A novel compact MIMO antenna for multiband indoor
applications has been proposed in this letter. Using the folded
monopole and the beveled rectangular metal patch as the
antenna element, the characteristic of multiple bands is realized.
High isolation |S21|< -30 dB in the operating bands is achieved
by using neutralizing line and cutting four slits in the back
(c)
Fig. 10. LTE indoor base station with different antenna feed system in test ground plane. The results of s-parameters, peak gains and
environment. (a) Single antenna and 50 Ω load. (b) Two single antennas. (c) radiation patterns are presented. The diversity performance
The proposed MIMO antenna. evaluated by radiation efficiency and diversity gain has also
been studied. Furthermore, to test the performance of the
proposed MIMO antenna in the real LTE indoor application,
the LTE base stations with three kinds of antenna feed systems
are constructed. The proposed antenna is a good potential
candidate for GSM, DCS and LTE indoor applications.

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there are also “Double paths” to process the signals.
The test values of RSRP, download speed and upload speed
for these three kinds of antenna feed systems are compared in
Table I. It is found that, as expected, the performances of

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