A compact multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) was proposed and studied. The DRA consists of three antenna ports. The antennas operate at 2.4GHz, where one of the antenna ports was placed at the center and resonates in the monopole mode, and the two other ports were located at the sides and resonate in the TEy111 mode. Both simulation and measurements were carried out, and reasonably good agreement was obtained. In addition, a study for miniaturization with different permittivities for the DRA and a comparison of the throughput with the reference antennas of a commercial wireless LAN router were performed. Our proposed MIMO DRA gave similar performance as that of the reference antennas but was more compact in size.

Smartphones for wireless communication typically consist of a large area frontal liquid crystal display (LCD), which incorporates a metal back plate, and a back cover chassis made from metal. Leveraging this structure a new approach to construct antennas for smartphones is proposed where the complete metal back cover chassis and LCD back plate are used as the radiating element and ground plane. In the design a feedline is connected between the metal back cover chassis and LCD back plate, along with shorts at various locations between the two metal plates, to control the resonance frequency of the resulting antenna. Multiple-band operation is possible without the need for any slots in the plates for radiation. Results show that antenna frequency reconfigurability can be achieved when switching function is added to the shorts so that several wireless communication bands can be covered. This approach is different from existing metallic frame antenna designs currently available in the market. A design example is provided which uses one PIN diode for the switching shorts and the target frequency bands are 740-780MHz and 900-1000MHz & 1700-1900MHz. The optimization of LC matchings and concerns of hand effects and metallic components between the chassis and LCD metal back plate are also addressed.