A thin shared radiator based ACS-fed orthogonal pattern diversity antenna with physical tilt for mmWave 5G access points

A low profile and compact two-port antenna is proposed for mmWave 5G access point applications. Since the overall space inside a typical mmWave 5G access point is limited, a small form factor based antenna module is proposed. The two-port antenna shares a common radiator that miniaturizes the overall antenna module. The proposed antenna comprises of single-layered asymmetric coplanar strip (ACS)-fed shared radiator with wide operating bandwidth ranging from 25 to 31 GHz that accounts for fractional bandwidth of 21.4%. The two-port antenna elements are oriented at right angles to each other for obtaining orthogonal pattern diversity (OPD) thereby obtaining wide angular coverage in the E-plane. Vertical linear corrugations with varying lengths are incorporated for decreasing mutual coupling between these two antenna elements and producing a uniform high gain end-fire radiation pattern. Isolation of around 4 dB is enhanced by insertion of these vertical corrugations. The proposed antenna attains peak gain of 7.2 dBi with high pattern integrity over the entire operational frequency band. The presented OPD antenna occupies overall area of 74.75 mm² which is minimal. Moreover, implementation of the proposed antenna inside a typical mmWave 5G access point is also demonstrated. Simulation and measured results are presented with adequate technical explanation.