This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been

fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LSENS.2018.2822598, IEEE Sensors
Letters

Volume 2(3) (2017)

Microwave/millimeter wave sensors _____________________________________________

Compact Frequency-Reconfigurable MIMO Antenna for Microwave Sensing

Applications in WLAN and WiMAX Frequency Bands

Soumen Pandit1*, Akhilesh Mohan2**, and Priyadip Ray1**

1
G S Sanyal School of Telecommunications, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, WB 721302, India
2
Dept. of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, WB 721302, India
* Student Member, IEEE
** Member, IEEE

(Dates will be inserted by IEEE; “published” is the date the accepted preprint is posted on IEEE Xplore®; “current version” is the date the typeset version
is posted on Xplore®).

Abstract— In this letter, a compact frequency-reconfigurable multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) slot antenna is
presented for microwave sensing applications in S- and C-bands. The antenna-based sensor, which consists of four PIN
diodes is switchable electronically between WLAN and WiMAX frequency bands, i.e., 2.4-2.48, 3.4-3.6, and 5.3-5.9 GHz
with a frequency ratio of 2.5:1. A novel C-shaped meander line resonator (MLR) is incorporated to the antenna for
obtaining high isolation between the antenna elements and low envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), which results in
improved performance of the microwave sensor. The antenna has been fabricated with low-cost FR4 substrate using
MITS FP-21T Precision machine and four PIN diodes. The measured isolation greater than 25 dB and ECC less than
0.08 have been noticed over the three frequency bands. The peak realized gains of the antenna are 1.06, 1.02, and 2.46
dBi at 2.45, 3.5, and 5.7 GHz, respectively.

Index Terms— Frequency-reconfigurable, microwave/millimeter wave sensors, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), PIN diode.

[7], PIN diodes [8]-[9], etc. Reconfigurable antennas for single- or

I. INTRODUCTION
With the advancement of modern wireless communication
systems, antenna based sensor technology has been improved for
applications in remote sensing, imaging, dielectric sensing, radar
systems, satellite communications, medical areas, wireless systems,
RFID tags [1] etc. Patch antennas are reported to work as temperature
[2] and soil moisture sensors [3]. Recently, multiple-input multiple-
output (MIMO) antennas are used for microwave sensing applications
in WLAN, WiMAX, and cellular network frequency bands. MIMO
technology has been integrated into WLAN and WiMAX networks to
obtain high data rates as per IEEE 802.11n/ac, and IEEE 802.16m
standards. WLAN operates in both the 2.4-2.48 GHz and 5.3-5.9 GHz
frequency bands, while WiMAX communication occurs in the 3.4-3.6
GHz frequency band. Instead of a triple-band antenna, a compact
frequency-reconfigurable antenna can be used to operate at different
frequency bands depending upon the applications at different time
slots. Thus, there is a huge demand of compact frequency-
reconfigurable MIMO antennas to accomplish the antenna
requirements of IEEE 802.11n/ac (WLAN) and IEEE 802.16m
(WiMAX) standards simultaneously.
For embedding MIMO antennas inside portable electronics devices,
the MIMO antennas should be compact in size with low mutual
coupling between antenna elements. The mutual coupling between
antenna elements of MIMO antenna can be reduced by various
methods, such as employing neutralization line, metamaterials,
parasitic elements etc. Recently, mutual coupling reduction using
meander-line slot [4] and defected ground structure [5] have been
reported. Frequency-reconfigurability in an antenna can be realized
by using various techniques, such as RF MEMS [6], varactor diodes
dual-band operation have been reported recently in [10], [11]. In [10],
a stepped feed line is used to feed a slot antenna that employs three
PIN diodes to obtain frequency-reconfigurability. Three PIN diodes
are inserted in the two open ends of L-shaped slots and the middle of
a U-shaped slot. Thus, LTE (2.3 GHz) and WLAN (5.8 GHz)
frequency bands are achieved with a frequency ratio of 2.62:1. In [11],
four MEMS switches are used to obtain a compact frequency-
reconfigurable MIMO antenna with isolation greater than 14 dB.
However, obtaining frequency-reconfigurability within a compact
MIMO antenna with high isolation and frequency ratio remains a
challenge.
In this paper, a novel compact frequency-reconfigurable MIMO
antenna is presented for wireless sensor network applications in
WLAN and WiMAX frequency bands. Three communicating
frequency bands (2.4-2.48, 3.4-3.6, and 5.3-5.9 GHz) are covered by
the antenna-based sensor. In each of the three frequency bands, the
isolation between the two antenna elements is greater than 25 dB and
the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) is less than 0.08, which is
within the acceptable limit of ECC. The overall size of the proposed
MIMO antenna is 0.49λ0×0.16λ0, and the edge-to-edge separation
between the elements is 0.06λ0, where λ0 is the free space wavelength
at 2.45 GHz.
II. FREQUENCY RECONFIGURABLE SLOT
ANTENNA
The design and analysis of a C-shaped frequency-reconfigurable
slot antenna (FRSA) are presented in this section. Fig. 1 shows a

Corresponding author: F. A. Author (f.author@psu.edu). If some authors

contributed equally, write here, “F. A. Author and S. B. Author contributed equally.”
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LSENS.2018.2822598, IEEE Sensors
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————————————————————————————————————–

Fig. 3. Simulated return loss of the FRSA antenna according to

Fig. 1. Frequency-Reconfigurable Slot Antenna (FRSA) with DC-
Structure I-III.
biasing, (L = 30 mm, L4 = 22 mm, L5 = 5.1 mm, L6 = 7.5 mm, L7 = 6.7
mm, W = 20 mm, W 4 = 1.2 mm, W 5 = 10 mm).
TABLE 1. Various equivalent structures of the FRSA antenna.

PIN diode Structure I Structure II Structure III

D1 OFF OFF ON
D2 OFF ON ON
Resonance Freq. (GHz) 2.45 3.5 5.7
Slot Length (mm) 47.2 23.6 13.4

Thus, a frequency ratio of 2.5:1 is obtained to the C-shaped FRSA

antenna. The simulated electric field distribution in Fig. 2(d)-(f)
shows that the slot antenna is resonating at the frequencies f1, f2, and
f3 according to PIN diodes ON/OFF states as presented in Table 1.
Fig. 2. Various structures and electric field distributions (|E|, V/m) of the These electric field distributions validate equivalent structures
FRSA antenna at various states of PIN diodes. (a)-(c) corresponds to (Structure I-III) of the FRSA antenna.
Structure I, II, and III, respectively. (d)-(f) corresponds to electric field
distribution at 2.45 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 5.7 GHz, respectively. TABLE 2. Performance comparison of FRSA antenna to other reported
antennas.
FRSA antenna which is switchable among three communicating
frequency bands centered at f1=2.45, f2=3.5, and f3=5.7 GHz. Using Ref. Size 1st Freq. Switch Relative Rad.
two PIN diodes and a C-shaped slot, the FRSA is designed on 0.8- (mm2) Freq. Ratio Number Dimensions Eff.
(GHz) (%)
mm-thick FR4 substrate with dielectric constant of 4.4 and loss
[6] 50×46 2.2 2.15:1 5 0.55λ1×0.51λ1 -
tangent of 0.02. The slot antenna is fed by 50 Ω microstrip feedline. [8] 27×25 2.26 2.62:1 3 0.3λ1×0.28λ1 55-76
Various structures (Structure I-III) of slot antenna are shown in Fig. [7] 40×40 2.3 1.56:1 2 0.41λ1×0.41λ1 -
2(a)-(c). The lengths of these slots are equal to λg/2, where λg is the FRSA 30×20 2.4 2.5:1 2 0.38λ1×0.25λ1 54-72
guided wavelength at their corresponding resonance frequencies.
These structures can be realized within one structure (Fig. 1) by using A comparison of the FRSA antenna performance with other similar
two PIN diodes (D1 and D2) at their appropriate locations. For reported antennas is presented in Table 2. The FRSA antenna in this
example, Structure II can be obtained by switching D1, D2 to OFF, work has low physical area, less number of PIN diodes and good
ON states, respectively. The details of all structures along with the
frequency ratio of reconfigurability in comparison to other reported
switching states of the diodes are provided in Table 1. HPND-4005
antennas. The simulated radiation efficiency of the FRSA antenna is
beam lead PIN diodes, which are used in this experiment, have very
low capacitance in OFF state [12]. To apply DC bias voltage to the low (0.54, 0.61 and 0.72 at the resonance frequencies f1, f2, and f3,
PIN diodes, 0.6mm×2mm metal strips are created inside the C-shaped respectively) due to losses in lossy FR4 substrate and switching
slot at locations where diodes are to be placed. For applying the DC circuits. In the next section, the design of the proposed frequency-
bias voltage to each PIN diode, a DC blocking capacitor of 100 pF is reconfigurable MIMO antenna is illustrated.
used in series to the PIN diode as shown in Fig. 1. A forward bias
voltage of 1 V and a reverse bias voltage of 10 V are required to switch III. COMPACT FREQUENCY-RECONFIGURABLE
the PIN diode to ON and OFF states, respectively [12]. MIMO ANTENNA
Using two HPND-4005 beam lead PIN diodes, the C-shaped
frequency-reconfigurable slot antenna is designed. Assuming 4.7 Ω Using two FRSAs, a compact frequency-reconfigurable MIMO
resistance to ON state and 0.017 pF capacitor to OFF state of PIN antenna operating in WLAN and WiMAX frequency bands is
diodes [12], the FRSA antenna is simulated in ANSYS HFSS designed on FR4 substrate as shown in Fig. 4. The overall volume of
software. The overall antenna volume is 30 mm × 20 mm × 0.8 mm, the proposed MIMO antenna is 60 mm × 20 mm × 0.8 mm, and the
i.e., 0.38λ1×0.25λ1×0.01λ1, where λ1 is the guided wavelength at the edge-to-edge separation between the elements is 8 mm. The evolution
first resonance frequency (2.4 GHz). of the proposed frequency-reconfigurable MIMO antenna is shown in
The FRSA antenna is switchable among three single-frequency Fig. 5 along with the S-parameters in Fig. 6. At first, two C-shaped
bands as reported in Table 1. The return loss plots of various FRSAs are placed in adjacent positions on a 0.8-mm-thick FR4
structures (Structure I-III) are shown in Fig. 3. It is observed that good substrate of size Lm×Wm as shown in Fig. 5(a) [Configuration 1, CF1].
impedance matching is obtained at f1 = 2.45, f2 = 3.5, and f3 = 5.7 GHz.

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LSENS.2018.2822598, IEEE Sensors
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————————————————————————————————————–

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 6. Simulated S-parameters of the MIMO antennas (CF1, CF2, CF3).
(a) Resonating at f1 when D1- 4 are in OFF state. (b) Resonating at f2
when D1, 3 are in OFF state, and D2, 4 are in ON state. (c) Resonating at
f3 when D1- 4 are in ON state.

Fig. 4. Proposed frequency-reconfigurable MIMO antenna. (a) Top view.

(b) Bottom view, (Lm = 60 mm, Ld = 8 mm, Lf = 12 mm, L1 = 12 mm, L2
= 4 mm, L3 = 28.49 mm, W m = 20 mm, W f = 1.51 mm W 1 = 6 mm, W 2 =
6.2 mm; D1-4 are PIN diodes).
Fig. 7. Surface current distributions of the three MIMO configurations at
three operating frequencies (f1, f2, and f3), when Port 1 is excited and
Port 2 is terminated with 50 Ω matched load.

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 5. Various configurations of the frequency-reconfigurable MIMO
Fig. 8. (a) Top view. (b) Bottom view of the antenna prototype. (c)
antenna. (a) Configuration 1 (CF1). (b) Configuration 2 (CF2). (c)
Simulated and measured S-parameters of the proposed MIMO antenna
Configuration 3 (CF3), the proposed MIMO antenna with the C-shaped
for various antenna states, i.e., F1-F3.
meander-line resonator (MLR), (LML = 11.6 mm, Lm = 60 mm, W ML = 2.5
mm, W m = 20 mm, d1 = 1 mm, d2 = 0.6 mm, d3 = 0.4 mm, d4 = 0.3 mm, Fig. 6 that the isolation values in CF3 are greater than 25 dB for all
d5 = 0.4 mm).
the three frequency bands, i.e., 2.4-2.48, 3.4-3.6, and 5.3-5.9 GHz.
Thus, in this work, a compact MIMO antenna with frequency-
The edge-to-edge separation between the elements of CF1 is 8 mm. It reconfigurability among three frequency bands and isolation greater
is observed from Fig. 6 that the isolation between the antenna than 25 dB in these frequency bands is achieved.
elements is remarkably low, especially at 2.4-2.48 GHz frequency
band. The isolation values are 5.6, 13, and 24 dB at the resonance
IV. FABRICATION AND MEASUREMENT
frequencies f1, f2, and f3, respectively. In order to improve the isolation,
an inverted-T-shaped slot is etched in the middle of two FRSAs while
In order to verify the present approach, a prototype of the proposed
maintaining the same edge-to-edge separation. Thus, we obtain
MIMO antenna is fabricated and its characteristics are measured after
Configuration 2 [CF2, Fig. 5(b)]. The inverted-T-shaped slot placing four PIN diodes at their appropriate positions with proper DC
suppresses the surface current propagation between the antenna biasing. The fabricated antenna is shown in Fig. 8(a)-(b). The various
elements that results in lower mutual coupling. Fig. 6 shows that the
switching states and antenna parameters of the proposed frequency-
isolation between the elements of CF2 configuration is increased to
reconfigurable MIMO antenna are shown in Table 3. For example,
13, 29 and 28 dB at the resonance frequencies f1, f2, and f3,
state F2 corresponds to D1, 3 in ON state and D2, 4 in OFF state.
respectively.
Therefore, the MIMO antenna in state F2 resonates at f2 frequency.
Now, for further improvement of the isolation, a novel C-shaped
meander-line resonator (MLR) is introduced in the MIMO antenna as TABLE 3. Various parameters of the proposed MIMO antenna.
shown in Fig. 5(c), [Configuration 3, CF3], which is the proposed
MIMO antenna. The MLR is placed on both sides of the MIMO Ant. Diodes -10 dB Isolation ECC Gain
antenna at appropriate positions as shown in Fig. 4. The MLR States D1- 4 BW (dB) (dBi)
suppresses the surface current propagation further, as well as reduces (GHz)
F1 D1- 4 OFF 2.4-2.48 >25 < 0.08 1.06
the near field coupling between the antenna elements, particularly at
F2 D1, 3 ON 3.41-3.62 >28 < 0.02 1.02
2.4-2.48 GHz frequency band. The surface current distribution in Fig. D2, 4 OFF
7 exhibits that the mutual coupling between the elements is gradually F3 D1- 4 ON 5.3-5.9 >26 < 0.02 2.46
reduced from CF1 to CF3. It is observed from the S-parameter plot in

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E-plane/ yz-plane H-plane/ xz-plane
Fig. 9. Simulated and measured (normalized) radiation pattern of the
proposed MIMO antenna with one port excitation and another port
matched to 50 Ω. (a)-(b) at 2.45 GHz of State F1. (c)-(d) at 3.5 GHz of
State F2. (e)-(f) at 5.7 GHz of State F3.
The measured and simulated S-parameters of the three states (F1-F3)
are shown in Fig. 8(c). It is observed from this figure that the proposed
antenna is switchable among three single-frequency bands, i.e.,
WLAN bands 2.42-2.5 and 5.28-5.98 GHz, and WiMAX band 3.41-
3.59 GHz. The measured isolation between the antenna elements is
greater than 25 dB for all the three frequency bands corresponding to
WLAN/WiMAX applications. The radiation pattern in Fig. 9 shows
the proposed MIMO antenna has omnidirectional radiation pattern in
H-plane (xz-plane) and bi-directional radiation pattern in E-plane (yz-
plane) at the resonance frequencies.
The measured/simulated peak gains in states F1-F3 are 0.72/1.06,
0.48/1.02, and 2.1/2.46 dBi, respectively. The radiation efficiency of
our proposed MIMO antenna is 0.54, 0.59, and 0.73 at the operating
frequencies f1, f2, and f3, respectively. Assuming uniform multipath
environment [5], [13], the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) can
be obtained from the S-parameters and radiation efficiency as follows:
2 [11] S. Soltani, P. Lotfi, and R. D. Murch, “A port and frequency reconfigurable MIMO
S11* S12  S 21
*
S 22
e 
1 | S 11 |  | S21 | 1 | S22 |  | S12 | 1 2
2 2 2 2
where η1 and η2 are the radiation efficiencies of antenna elements 1
and 2, respectively. The ECC is plotted in Fig. 10 which shows the
ECC values are less than 0.08 in the three frequency bands, which is
well below the acceptable limit of ECC for good diversity
performance, i.e., ρe < 0.5 [11].
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Letters
Volume 2(3) (2017)
Fig. 10. Simulated ECC of the proposed MIMO antenna.
V. CONCLUSION
In this letter, we have presented a compact frequency-
reconfigurable MIMO antenna using four PIN diodes for wireless
sensor network applications in WLAN and WiMAX frequency bands,
i.e., two WLAN bands (2.4-2.48 and 5.3-5.9 GHz), and one WiMAX
band (3.4-3.6 GHz). Using an inverted-T-shaped slot and then, a U-
shaped metallic strip to the ground plane, an isolation greater than 25
dB between the antenna elements and ECC less than 0.08 are achieved
in all the three frequency bands. The proposed antenna has 1.02, 1.06
and 2.48 dBi peak realized gains at the operating frequencies f1, f2,
and f3, respectively. The radiation pattern of the proposed antenna is
omnidirectional in H-plane and bi-directional in E-plane. Compact
size with low mutual coupling makes the proposed antenna suitable
for embedding into portable electronic devices designed for various
sensing applications, such as temperature sensing.
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