Wideband multi-mode circularly polarized MIMO antenna using characteristic mode analysis with cross-circular metasurfaces for wireless communication

doi:10.23919/JSEE.2026.000157

Abstract

Abstract:

A low-profile wideband multi-mode circularly polarized (CP) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with the parasitic metasurface using characteristic mode analysis (CMA) is presented. The single monopole element of MIMO is composed of a transmission line and a branch after slotting on the ground. Structurally, the transmission line forms a 90° shape with the branch, providing favorable conditions for achieving circular polarization. Through CMA, the difference in characteristic angle (CA) at the intersection of the mode significance (MS) is about 90° with their almost consistent radiation directions. The analysis results show that four modes work together to achieve a circular polarization effect. Secondly, after rotating the monopole antenna at three angles (90°, 180°, 270°), a 4-port MIMO antenna is formed, and the results of their ports on the same level are consistent. Finally, the narrow axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of MIMO antennas is compensated by adding two rows of parasitic cross-circular metasurfaces. The measured results of the proposed antenna prototyped are in agreement with the simulated ones, demonstrating an impedance bandwidth (IBW) of 84.1% (3.65-8.95 GHz), a 3-dB ARBW of 52.0% (3.7-6.3 GHz), and a peak gain of 5.8 dBic at 4.9 GHz. The antenna achieves a total efficiency ranging from 72.8% to 98.8% across the bandwidth, and its envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) remains below 0.15 throughout the working frequency range.

Key words: multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), characteristic mode analysis (CMA), multi-mode, metasurface

Zhendong Ding, Jianyin Cao, Jiawang Li, Dan Zhang, Nasimuddin Nasimuddin, Michael Yan-Wah Chia, Hao Wang. Wideband multi-mode circularly polarized MIMO antenna using characteristic mode analysis with cross-circular metasurfaces for wireless communication[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2026, 37(5): 1471-1480.

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Year reference	f_c/GHz	Ports	Profile(λ₀)	IBW/%	ARBW/%	PG/dBic	\|S₂₁\| isolation/dB	\|S₃₁\| Isolation/dB	RE/%	Antenna Type
2024/[2]	3.87	3	0.13	45.8	Not analyzed	8.9	>15	>15	>70	Patch
2024/[4]	3.55	4	0.05	14.1	Not analyzed	Not analyzed	>20	>20	72-90	Patch/Slots
2017/[5]	5.71	3	0.03	16.3	1.6	4	>18	>18	>50	Patch/Slots
2021/[13]	3.47	4	0.07	14.4	5.8	4.2	>15	>15	Not analyzed	Patch/DR
2023/[14]	8.15	4	0.05	23.3	Not analyzed	5.2	>15	>15	75-80	Parasitic/Patch
2023/[20]	8.75	4	0.04	19.3	19.3	3.5	>18	>18	>70	Modified plus-shaped
2022/[21]	5.35	2	0.05	14.8	8.3	6.2	>26	Not analyzed	>90	Parasitic/Patch
2019/[27]	3.75	3	0.13	24	Not analyzed	6.6	>14	>15	88-96	Patch
2022/[28]	3.95	2	0.21	32.9	13.2	6.3	>20	Not analyzed	>95	Dipole antenna
2023/[30]	2.95	2	0.16	16.9	13.8	4.3	>20	>20	Not analyzed	Patch/DR
This work	6.3	4	0.03	84.1	52.0	5.8	>16	>18	72-98	Monopole metasurface

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