Reconfigurable Polarization Mimo Dielectric Resonator Antenna

Abstract

This paper introduces a reconfigurable polarization MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) dielectric resonator antenna at a millimeter-wave frequency band. The proposed antenna consists of four single dielectric resonator antennas that are placed in configuration to form a MIMO antenna, and also this design is based on using the pin diode switching concept to control the antenna polarization. To modify the antenna structure for different polarizations, two pin diodes are used in the ground place of the MIMO antenna. The designed antenna operates at 4.35 GHz for polarization diversity applications of the modern wireless MIMO systems. The proposed antenna covers a bandwidth of 11.26% at the central frequency and provides circular and linear polarizations with a high gain of around 6.4 dB. The antenna performance in terms of reflection coefficient, gain, and axial ratio bandwidth in different modes (ON-ON, ON-OFF, OFF-ON, and OFF-OFF) is measured. The advantages of the designed antenna are simple structure (using two pin diode switches to modify antenna polarization), high gain, low profile, and light weight. According to the measurement and simulation results, the designed antenna displays good return loss and radiation performance. Using plexiglass as an antenna material which is very cheap and available in different dimensions is another advantage of the proposed antenna which reduces the fabrication cost.