A Compact Dual-Band and Dual-Polarized Millimeter-Wave Beam Scanning Antenna Array for 5G Mobile Terminals

TL;DR: In this article, a compact dual-band and dual-polarized millimeter-wave patch antenna array with satisfactory performance on element mutual coupling and beam scanning capabilities is presented.

Abstract: This paper presents a compact dual-band and dual-polarized millimeter-wave patch antenna array with satisfactory performance on element mutual coupling and beam scanning capabilities. Using capacitive feed technique and stacked configuration with extra parasitic strips, the proposed antenna array is able to achieve a wide operating bandwidth in both the low- and high-bands. In order to reduce the array’s footprint, and to enhance the beam scanning performance in both bands, the element spacing is shrunk to less than 0.36 wavelength at 26 GHz. To improve the isolation between array elements due to their small spacings, two effective decoupling approaches are adopted, which result in a 6-dB isolation enhancement. The overall size of the proposed antenna array is only 18.2 mm $\times4.1$ mm $\times1.07$ mm, which is smaller than some industrial mm-Wave antenna modules released recently. Our simulation shows that the antenna array can fully cover the 5G NR bands of n258~n261 simultaneously. The four-element array provides ±60° and ±45° beam scanning performance in the low- and high-bands, respectively. The experimental data of reflection coefficient, mutual coupling, and radiation patterns confirm with the simulated results, rendering the proposed array to be a good candidate for 5G mm-Wave communications.