access icon free Capacity-enhancement in MIMO systems using biomimetic electrically small antenna arrays

The authors investigate the performance of multi-input–multi-output (MIMO) communications systems that exploit biomimetic antenna arrays (BMAAs) with electrically small-aperture dimensions. By exploiting the mutual coupling between closely spaced radiating elements and extracting the maximum available power from all excitation modes of the array, BMAAs can significantly outperform conventional antenna arrays with similar aperture sizes. As a proof of concept demonstration, they examine the use of two-element BMAAs consisting of two monopole antennas with variable element spacing in an MIMO system. The capacity of MIMO systems using such BMAAs is compared with those that use conventional antenna arrays with the same element types and spacing. Their simulation results demonstrate that using BMAAs can offer considerable capacity enhancements in an MIMO system. To experimentally verify these results, a prototype of a two-element BMAA operating at 615 MHz with element spacing of and a regular array prototype with similar antenna elements and dimensions are fabricated and characterised. The performance of MIMO systems using these two antennas is modelled using numerical channel modelling using the measured antenna responses. These results are found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

Inspec keywords: antenna radiation patterns; monopole antenna arrays; numerical analysis; MIMO communication; channel capacity

Other keywords: mutual coupling; λ/4 monopole antennas; measured antenna responses; maximum available power extraction; excitation modes; multiinput-multioutput communications systems; electrically small-aperture dimensions; capacity enhancements; two-element BMAA; variable element spacing; MIMO communication systems; numerical channel modelling; biomimetic electrically small antenna arrays; capacity-enhancement; regular array prototype; closely spaced radiating elements

Subjects: Antenna arrays; Other numerical methods; Radio links and equipment

http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/iet-map.2018.5185
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content/journals/10.1049/iet-map.2018.5185
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