Investigation of Parallel and Orthogonal MIMO Antennas with Two-Notched Structures for Ultra-Wideband Application

Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is widely used in many communication scenarios. However, narrowband systems can easily interfere with the UWB system, which generates multipath fading. In order to solve these interferences and meet the design requirements of high isolation of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, two MIMO antennas with double-notch structures are designed. Firstly, two U-shaped slots are etched on the radiating patch and feeder to achieve notch characteristics in WiMAX and ITU bands. Using this antenna element, a two-element antenna is put symmetrically in parallel, and two rectangular branches are loaded to improve the isolation. The size is 0.57λ × 0.32λ × 0.013λ (at 2.5 GHz). Then, a four-element antenna is designed to meet the requirements for another application; here, each element is placed orthogonally to each other, and the isolation is improved through loading a cross-shaped branch in the middle of these elements. The size is 0.57λ × 0.57λ × 0.013λ. Both antenna samples are tested to verify the design. Measurement results show that the working bandwidth is 2.45–14.88 GHz and 2.14–14.95 GHz, the isolation is greater than 17 and 20 dB, and the peak gain is 5.7 and 5.9 dBi for the two- and four-element MIMO antenna, respectively. Compared to the references, the designed antennas have a wider bandwidth and a higher gain and radiation efficiency. They are well-suited for diverse wireless applications.