Increasing Channel Capacity of an Ultrawideband MIMO System Using Vector Antennas

Recently it was shown that co-located vector antennas can provide the same capacity increase as spatial array antennas in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. This paper describes the design of a vector antenna consisting of a loop antenna and two orthogonal bowtie antennas for a ultrawideband (UWB) MIMO system that operates in the frequency range 3.6-8.5 GHz. Channel capacity calculations performed with the antenna operating in a rich scattering environment show that spectral efficiency of the UWB vector antenna system approaches that of the traditional spatial array. This demonstrates that vector antennas can be used in place of spatial arrays where compact UWB multiantenna systems are needed.