A novel 32 port cube MIMO combining broadside and endfire radiation patterns for full azimuthal coverage — A modular unit approach for a massive MIMO system

In this paper we propose a novel 32 antenna port multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)-cube. The total volume of the cube is 320 × 320 × 120mm ³ . On two faces, endfire radiating linear tapered slot antennas (LTSAs) are placed and on the remaining sides, a mix of both LTSAs and broadside patch antennas are placed. In total 16 LTSAs and 8 dual polarized patches are used. The LTSA is designed to operate at the GSM and 3G bands, from 1.7 to 2.3 GHz. A corrugation pattern is introduced along the edges of the LTSAs covering one face to increase directivity and decrease sidelobes. The LTSAs are placed in two different orientations in order to receive two polarisations. The patch antenna is dual band and dual polarized. It operates in the frequency bands 2.4-2.5 and 5.45-5.6 GHz where Wi-Fi communication is made. The spatial placement, with antennas on all sides of the cuboid, ensures full azimuthal coverage despite the high directivity of the antennas. Using different antennas on different faces of the cube further optimizes the volume efficiency of the cube for azimuthal coverage.