RF Lens-Embedded Antenna Array for mmWave MIMO: Design and Performance

TL;DR

This paper introduces lens-embedded antenna arrays for mmWave MIMO in 5G, demonstrating prototypes that achieve high gain and directivity with reduced complexity, and showing promising results in real environments.

Contribution

It presents practical lens antenna prototypes for mmWave MIMO, offering a cost-effective alternative to complex hybrid beamforming systems with improved performance.

Findings

High gain and directivity achieved by lens antennas

Enhanced beam-switching capabilities demonstrated

Significant throughput improvements in real environments

Abstract

The requirement of high data-rate in the fifth generation wireless systems (5G) calls for the ultimate utilization of the wide bandwidth in the mmWave frequency band. Researchers seeking to compensate for mmWave's high path loss and to achieve both gain and directivity have proposed that mmWave multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems make use of beamforming systems. Hybrid beamforming in mmWave demonstrates promising performance in achieving high gain and directivity by using phase shifters at the analog processing block. What remains a problem, however, is the actual implementation of mmWave beamforming systems; to fabricate such a system is costly and complex. With the aim of reducing such cost and complexity, this article presents actual prototypes of the lens antenna as an effective device to be used in the future 5G mmWave hybrid beamforming systems. Using a lens as a passive phase shifter enables beamforming without the heavy network of active phase shifters, while gain and directivity are achieved by the energy-focusing property of the lens. Proposed in this article are two types of lens antennas, one for static and the other for mobile usage. Their performance is evaluated using measurements and simulation data along with link-level analysis via a software defined radio (SDR) platform. Results show the promising potential of the lens antenna for its high gain and directivity, and its improved beam-switching feasibility compared to when a lens is not used. System-level evaluations reveal the significant throughput enhancement in both real indoor and outdoor environments. Moreover, the lens antenna's design issues are also discussed by evaluating different lens sizes.