Modeling of MIMO Antenna System for Wireless Communication using HFWorks

Antennas & Radomes Electromagnetic Interference & Compatibility
By Asma Jlassi | 01/02/2022

MIMO Antenna System for Wireless communication

Multiple-input multiple-output, or MIMO, has become a mainstream antenna technology for wireless communication devices due to its numerous advantages over MISO and SIMO systems; MIMO uses multiple antennas to improve signal quality, spectral efficiency, and strength of RF link reliability; it has been playing a key role in the deployment of Wi-Fi, LTE; 4G, 5G, and many other radio, wireless and RF advanced technologies. However, it is more challenging to design and maintain a MIMO system; thus, the need to use high frequency antenna simulation software early-on in the MIMO lifecycle. 



Design challenges posed by MIMO

The design of a MIMO system is a challenging endeavor, especially for 5G applications; it requires the placement of many antenna elements in a compact area which affects the channel capacity, bandwidth, gain, polarization diversity, cross talk, and distortion of the system.  In addition, MIMO must be support multiband operation in different regions in the world.  Whether used in precoding, spatial multiplexing, or diversity coding configurations, the MIMO antennas must be carefully designed and optimized.  


Example of Dual-polarized Eight- elements MIMO antenna for smartphone


HFWorks for MIMO antennas

HFWorks is an antenna simulator software widely used by MIMO engineers to overcome the above-mentioned design challenges.  Based on the frequency domain finite element, HFWorks has no limitation on the shape or number of the antenna elements; nor does it have a frequency band restriction, i.e.  LTE, 4G, or 5G.  In few clicks, you can compute the near- and far-fields, all antenna parameters, and radiation patterns; it is also equipped with a built-in thermal solver that computes the temperature in the entire device and across biological tissues like shown in the plot below for a human head exposed to electromagnetic radiations of a MIMO antenna.


E-field and Temperature distributions for the 3.6 GHz smartphone MIMO antenna