High-gain four ports array antenna utilizing AMC structure for 5G communication

In this work, a 1 × 4 quad-port MIMO antenna array is introduced for use in 5G networks. The antenna is a single-slot, which is formed of a rectangular slot on one side and a microstrip line on the opposite side. The array antenna is formed of four rectangular slots, which are connected to a 1 × 4 power divider feeding network. The substrate material used for the antenna element is a Rogers Ro4003C with a permittivity of 3.38, tan δ = 0.002, and a height of 0.203 mm. The antenna elements are perpendicular to each other, without the need for extra decoupling structures. The gain of the array antenna is significantly increased by utilizing an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) positioned at the base of the antenna array. The antenna array with and without AMC is fabricated and tested to extract the S-parameters, MIMO parameters, radiation patterns, and peak gain to validate the simulated outcomes. The MIMO antenna without AMC is tested for reflection coefficient from 27 GHz to 31 GHz, isolation between ports ≥30, and antenna gain of 8 dBi. Meanwhile, the MIMO antenna with AMC has been evaluated with antenna gain that fluctuates between 10 dBi to 12.5 dBi, isolation between ports ≥20, and a reflection coefficient of 26 GHz–31 GHz. A high degree of matching has been achieved between the simulated and tested outcomes of the MIMO indicators, such as channel capacity loss (CCL), diversity gain (DG), and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC). The simulation results show the antenna’s operational capability within 5G networks.