Wideband Three Loop Element Antenna Array for Future 5G mmwave Devices

In this work, a compact, light-weight, low-cost, and easy install and incorporate mmwave printed square loop antenna with a perturbed ground plane is proposed. The antenna is fabricated on an ultra-thin 0.254 mm Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate. The antenna resonates between 26 GHz and 40 GHz providing the broad bandwidth of 13 GHz (similar to 47%). First, a single element consisting of three rectangular square loops and a transmission line with total dimensions of 9 mm x 11 mm (0.84 lambda(0) x 1 lambda(0)) is designed. The loop elements are arranged on top of each other and with the further insertion of square slot in ground plane, wideband resonance response has been achieved. The antenna demonstrates gain of more than 3.3 dBi, and radiation and a total efficiency of 98% at 28 GHz. The proposed design enables spatial diversity and minimize the effects of interference between adjacent channels by providing dual-beam within desired frequency band. In addition, a linear array (18.5 x 22.5 mm(2)) of four elements with a traditional feeding network is also designed, simulated, and measured. The gain of the array is 10.1 dBi, while the radiation and the total efficiency is more than 92 % at 28 GHz. A brief literature review and comparison of this work with other published works is also presented. To validate the proposed design and concept, a prototype is fabricated for both, a single element, and an array. It is found that the measured results and the computed results are in good agreement. Therefore, we believe that this system will find its applications within modern mmwave communication cellular devices.