Flexible Multimode-Based Beamforming MIMO Antenna

TL;DR

This paper introduces a flexible, compact MIMO antenna design using multimode excitation and phase control to achieve beamforming in various planes, suitable for IoT applications.

Contribution

It presents a novel multimode-based beamforming technique with flexible, bendable antennas using PDMS substrate, demonstrating unidirectional and bidirectional beamsteering capabilities.

Findings

Isolation better than 23 dB in various bend configurations

Unidirectional beamsteering across the elevation plane

Bidirectional beamsteering in the horizontal plane

Abstract

This work proposes compact, flexible Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas. The design principle is based on the excitation of different orthogonal radiating modes within the same antenna volume. Via phase control of the excited modes, beamforming is demonstrated in azimuth and elevation planes using single-layered structures. For flexibility, the antennas are designed using Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the substrate. Numerical results demonstrate that isolation better than 23 dB is realized in all investigated antennas under different bend configurations. Moreover, the proposed technique demonstrates an antenna with unidirectional beamsteering across the entire elevation plane, and a second design realizes a bidirectional beamsteering in the horizontal plane. Overall, the results highlight the potential of multimode-based beamforming for flexible MIMO antennas in Internet of Things (IoT) systems.