Antipodal linearly tapered slot antenna array for millimeter-wave base station in massive MIMO systems

For massive MIMO systems, it is very challenging to have the large-scale antennas for a compact base station. This paper presents a 36 sub-sectors for a compact millimeter-wave base station. The antenna array for each sub-sector is comprised of 16 planar high-gain dielectric-loaded antipodal linearly tapered slot antenna (ALTSA) elements arranged in a 4×4 configuration. Down to 36 feed ports are required in a base station with 36×16 antennas. The realized gain of the antenna array is 25.6 dBi, and the half-power beam widths (HPBW) are 10.7° and 5.3° in H-plane and E-plane, respectively.