Slotted E-Shaped Meta-Material Decoupling Slab for Densely Packed MIMO Antenna Arrays

In contemporary wireless communication systems, the multiple-input and multiple-output systems are extensively utilized due to their enhanced spectral efficiency and diversity. Densely packed antenna arrays play an important role in such systems to enhance their spatial diversity, array gain, and beam scanning capabilities. In this article, a slotted meta-material decoupling slab (S-MTM-DS) with dual reflexes slotted E-shapes and an inductive stub is proposed. Its function was validated when located between two microstrip patch antenna elements to reduce the inter-element spacing, the mutual coupling, the return losses, and manufacturing costs due to size reduction. A prototype is simply fabricated in a volume of 67.41 × 33.49 × 1.6 mm³ and frequency-span measured from 8.4:11 GHz. At 9.4 GHz frequency, the spaces between the transmitting elements are decreased to 0.57 of the free space wavelength. When the proposed isolation S-MTM-DS is applied, the average isolation among them is measured to be -36 dB, the operational bandwidth is enhanced to be 1.512 GHz, the fractional bandwidth improved to be 16.04%, and the return losses are decreased to be -26.5 dB at 9.4 GHz center frequency. Consequently, the proposed design has the potential to be implemented simply in wireless contemporary communication schemes.