Combination of EBG and DGS to Improve MIMO Antenna Isolation

In this study, the design of the addition of an 8x8 MIMO microstrip antenna structure using a combination of electromagnetic band gap (EBG) and defected ground structure (DGS) techniques is described. Through the combination of techniques, it is expected to suppress the mutual coupling effect between MIMO antenna elements, thereby increasing antenna isolation that can support MIMO antenna performance. This design uses FR-4 epoxy material with
$\varepsilon_{r}=4.3$
with 64 MIMO elements at 3.5 GHz frequency for 5G C-Band application. The simulation results and antenna measurements show an increase in the isolation between antennas compared to without the addition of EBG and DGS structures. These results indicate that the use of a combination of EBG and DGS structures on MIMO antennas can improve isolation which is expected to improve antenna performance for 5G technology applications.