This paper presents the design and realization of a simple and low-profile, four-port multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna operating in a mm-wave band supporting 5G communication technologies. As part of the design methodology, the initial stage involved the development of a conventional monopole patch antenna optimized for operation at 26 GHz, which was matched to a 50 Ω stepped feed line. Afterward, a square-shaped defected ground structure (DGS) with semi-circle slots on the edges was placed on the ground to improve the isolation, and the circular and rectangular slots were incorporated as DGSs to optimize the antenna impedance bandwidth. Etching semi-circular-shaped slots on the ground plane achieved more than 34.2 dB isolation in the 26 GHz operating band. In addition, an arrangement of four symmetrical radiating elements was positioned orthogonally to minimize the antenna's physical size and improve the isolation. The proposed MIMO antenna's overall dimension was 25 × 25 mm2, which was printed on a Rogers 5880 substrate at a width of 0.787 mm and εr = 2.2. The proposed antenna covered the 5G mm-wave band with a 10 dB bandwidth ranging from 25.28-28.02 GHz, whereas the maximum gain attained for the proposed structure was 8.72 dBi. Additionally, the implementation of these slots effectively mitigated mutual coupling, resulting in reduced envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) values. Furthermore, other MIMO performance metrics, including channel capacity loss (CCL), mean effective gain (MEG), and diversity gain (DG), were analyzed for the proposed structure. The obtained results indicate its suitability for various usage areas, such as smart devices, mobile phones, and sensors in 5G applications.
Keywords: 5G; DGS; ECC; MIMO; isolation; slot.