A compact cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna for MIMO applications

In this work an eight-port cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is presented for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Other possible applications include polarization diversity and other phased arrays for wireless communications. The antenna is defined by a cylindrical dielectric resonator with ε_r = 30. Four HE_11δ modes are excited within the DRA by slots which are etched out of the ground plane of the FR-4 substrate onto which the DRA is mounted. Each of these slots are excited by two 50-Ω microstrip transmission lines. This work provides a significant size reduction when compared with previous designs by the authors. In particular, when this work is compared to previous antenna structures which utilize a similar 4-port feeding scheme, a total antenna height and ground plane reduction of 37% and 44% is achieved, respectively. The new eight-port antenna design is also low-profile, compact (90 mm by 90 mm), and offers good radiation performance with a bandwidth of more than 30%.