Compact Wideband Active Integrated Antenna Array Performance Enhancement Under High Mutual Coupling for 5G Applications

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper presents a compact solution for the design and analysis of the Active Integrated Antenna Array (AIAA) to improve its performance under high mutual coupling and mismatch losses. A simple compensation network (CN) is introduced to eliminate the mismatches in AIAA introduced by the antenna elements’ mutual coupling, which negatively impacts the power amplifier (PA) performance rather than previously proposed complex methods. The AIAA consists of a wideband GaN power amplifier (PA) transistor operating from 3 to 5 GHz, a wideband 4-element antenna array with λg/2 spacing between elements at 3.8 GHz operating from 3.6 to 4 GHz for 5G applications, and a compensation network designed to mitigate mismatch effects. To verify the proposed approach, two AIAA prototypes are measured, one with the CNs connected between each PA and the corresponding antenna element, and the other one with the antenna elements directly connected to the PAs. Experimental results show that the minimum realized gain of the proposed AIAA is more than 19.3 dBi over the operating bandwidth, with an enhancement of more than 2.5 dBi when compared to the conventional AIAA, where no CNs are used. Simulations and experimental results are presented along with detailed design and measurement procedures.
Funding Information
  • U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/Y035135/1)
  • U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-SE-01-01-ID: 101131501)
  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE), titled: titled: 6G Terahertz Communications for Future Heterogeneous Wireless Network
  • Deanship of Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, Taif University

This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit: