Isolation enhancement effect on the measured channel capacity of a printed MIMO antenna system

The effect of isolation enhancement between two adjacent antenna elements used in a printed MIMO antenna system on its channel capacity performance is analyzed. Three 2-element MIMO antenna systems with different isolation mechanisms are measured at 2.45 GHz for channel capacity evaluation in an indoor environment. It is shown that antennas with good isolation characteristics provide better performance compared to the antenna without high isolation between its antenna elements. A 3-4 dB isolation enhancement provided 1 bit/sec/Hz capacity improvement at 20 dB SNR in a real indoor environment.