A mutual coupling study of linear and circular polarized microstrip antennas for diversity wireless systems

In this paper, an analysis of mutual coupling is presented to examine the benefits of orthogonal polarizations and patterns for adjacent microstrip antennas. The mutual coupling between two linear polarized antennas orientated in parallel polarizations (E and H plane) is reduced using low dielectric constant materials. The mutual coupling can be reduced an additional 20-35dB at the same inter-element spacing when adjacent elements are orientated in orthogonal polarizations, O plane. Similarly, the mutual coupling between two circular polarized antennas orientated in the parallel polarization is reduced using low dielectric constant materials. However, the reduction in mutual coupling between two circular polarized antenna elements orientated in the O plane is only an additional 1-6 dB. The mutual coupling between a linear polarized sum beam (1/2λ) and difference beam (1λ) antenna is reduced 20-35 dB below the case when using identical antennas only in the H- and O-planes. Compact two- and four-element multielement antennas with inter-element spacings less than 0.15λ are fabricated and the S parameters and radiation patterns are measured.