Design and performance analysis of a 4×1 MIMO Inverted F-shaped patch antenna array for X-band applications and link budget optimization

In the modern communication technologies, the development of very small size, low-cost, low-profile, high gain and high directivity antennas is essential. In this paper, the design and performance of a 10 GHz 4×1 MIMO Inverted F-shaped patch antenna (PIFA) array has been analyzed for the X-band applications. The novelty of the proposed PIFA antenna array is that it has a gain of 12.87dB, directivity of 13.24dBi; return loss value of -36.61dB, Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) of 1.03, bandwidth of 240MHz, antenna efficiency of 91.90% and 3dB angular beamwidth i.e., the Half Power Beamwidth (HPBW) of 64.4deg. The resonant frequency of the antenna array is 10.16 GHz. This antenna array can be used for X-band applications like satellite communications, radars, medical applications and other wireless systems. This antenna array is designed and simulated in the CST Microwave Studio. Link budget optimization is performed in order to analyze the critical factors in the transmission chain and to optimize the performance characteristic. The link budget determines what size antenna i s to use, power requirements and in general, the overall customer satisfaction.