Experiments of closely coupled monopoles with load matching in a random field

Recent theoretical and simulation studies reveal that closely coupled antennas with appropriately chosen impedance matching loads can yield desired characteristics of small antenna correlation coefficients and/or high received power levels. However, no experiment has been performed to verify these claims. Here, we describe an experimental setup used to investigate the correlation and received power of closely coupled antennas with impedance matching. Specifically, a two-monopole array with a small antenna spacing 0.05 wavelength and five different matching networks are constructed and measured. Whereas our experimental results largely confirm theoretical predictions, some discrepancies due to simplifications made in the theoretical models are observed.