Abstract
This paper presents compact two-port antenna arrays with linear and circular polarization based on a miniaturized patch radiator with extremely low cross-polarization radiation. The primary radiator employs a conventional rectangular patch loaded with multiple slots and meander-line structures to increase the equivalent capacitance, thereby lowering the resonant frequency without enlarging the antenna footprint. Owing to the inherently low cross-polarization radiation of the miniaturized radiator, two compact 2-port array configurations are implemented: the first provides polarization diversity under linear polarization, while the second employs a hybrid coupler to achieve dual circular polarization. Both arrays operate at 4.3 GHz and possess compact physical dimensions with stable radiation performance. Compared with state-of-the-art works, the proposed designs exhibit a significantly reduced size while maintaining competitive radiation characteristics, making them suitable for space-constrained wireless systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data is provided within the manuscript.
References
Wong, K.-L. Compact and Broadband Microstrip Antennas (Wiley, New York, 2004).
Elalaouy, O., Ghzaoui, E. L. M. & Foshi, J. A high-isolated wideband two-port mimo antenna for 5g millimeter-wave applications. Results Eng. 23, 102466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2024.102466 (2024).
Luo, S., Zhang, Y., Mei, P., Pedersen, G. F. & Zhang, S. Decoupling for millimeter-wave array antennas using near-field shrinking dielectric superstrate. IEEE Open J. Antennas Propag. 4, 1187–1194. https://doi.org/10.1109/OJAP.2023.3328813 (2023).
Singh, M., Tomar, P. S. & Parihar, M. S. A highly isolated mimo antenna system using near-field suppression mechanisms for sub-6 GHz band applications. IETE J. Res. 71, 1244–1253. https://doi.org/10.1080/03772063.2024.2448587 (2025).
Zou, X., Wang, G., Wang, Y. & Zong, B. Metasurface-based coupling suppression for wideband multiple-input-multiple-output antenna arrays. Opt. Express 29, 41643. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.444293 (2021).
Wang, Z., Li, C., Wu, Q. & Yin, Y. A metasurface-based low-profile array decoupling technology to enhance isolation in mimo antenna systems. IEEE Access 8, 125565–125575. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3007188 (2020).
Yang, C., Lu, K. & Leung, K. W. Dielectric decoupler for compact mimo antenna systems. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 70, 6444–6454. https://doi.org/10.1109/tap.2022.3177555 (2022).
Fang, Y., Tang, M. & Zhang, Y. P. A decoupling structure for mutual coupling suppression in stacked microstrip patch antenna array. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett. 21, 1110–1114. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2022.3158420 (2022).
Cheng, Y.-F., Ding, X., Shao, W. & Wang, B.-Z. Reduction of mutual coupling between patch antennas using a polarization-conversion isolator. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett. 16, 1257–1260. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2016.2631621 (2017).
Singh, G., Kumar, S., Kanaujia, B. K. & Pandey, V. K. Design and implementation of a compact tri-band four-port multiple-input-multiple-output antenna. Int. J. RF Microwave Comput.-Aided Eng. https://doi.org/10.1002/mmce.23218 (2022).
Yang, X., Liu, Y., Xu, Y.-X. & Gong, S.-X. Isolation enhancement in patch antenna array with fractal uc-ebg structure and cross slot. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett. 16, 2175–2178. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2017.2703170 (2017).
Sharma, K. & Pandey, G. P. Two port compact mimo antenna for ism band applications. Progress Electromagn. Res. C 100, 173–185. https://doi.org/10.2528/pierc20011504 (2020).
Sanmugasundaram, R., Natarajan, S. & Rajkumar, R. A compact mimo antenna with electromagnetic bandgap structure for isolation enhancement. Progress Electromagn. Res. C 107, 233–244. https://doi.org/10.2528/pierc20111306 (2021).
Babu, N. S., Ansari, A. Q., Kanaujia, B. K., Singh, G. & Kumar, S. A two-port UWB MIMO antenna with an EBG structure for WLAN/ISM applications. Mater. Today Proc. 74, 334–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.08.316 (2023).
Tran, H.-H., Nguyen, T.T.-L. & Nguyen Thi, T. Two closely spaced microstrip patches with high isolation for full-duplex/mimo applications. PLoS ONE 18, e0290980. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290980 (2023).
Dash, J. C. & Sarkar, D. Microstrip patch antenna system with enhanced inter-port isolation for full-duplex/mimo applications. IEEE Access 9, 156222–156228. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3128997 (2021).
Ghannad, A. A., Khalily, M., Xiao, P., Tafazolli, R. & Kishk, A. A. Enhanced matching and vialess decoupling of nearby patch antennas for mimo system. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett. 18, 1066–1070. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2019.2906308 (2019).
Hwangbo, S., Yang, H. Y. & Yoon, Y.-K. Mutual coupling reduction using micromachined complementary meander-line slots for a patch array antenna. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett. 16, 1667–1670. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2017.2663114 (2017).
Kurup, H. B., Remsha, M., Antony, D. & Rodrigues, S. Development and analysis of two quarter wavelength patch antennas. ECS Trans. 107, 2495–2502. https://doi.org/10.1149/10701.2495ecst (2022).
Kim-Thi, P. & Pham-Danh, T. Compact and high isolated microstrip patch antenna system for full-duplex/mimo applications. Heliyon 10, e38980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e38980 (2024).
Hoang-Thi, T., Tran, N., Dinh Nguyen, T. & Tran-Huy, H. Compact microstrip patch antenna array for mimo IoT applications. Phys. Scr. 100, 105542. https://doi.org/10.1088/1402-4896/ae116b (2025).
Lai, Q. X., Pan, Y. M. & Zheng, S. Y. A self-decoupling method for mimo antenna array using characteristic mode of ground plane. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 71, 2126–2135. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2023.3240561 (2023).
Lin, H. et al. Weak-field-based self-decoupling patch antennas. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 68, 4208–4217. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2020.2970109 (2020).
Kim-Thi, P., Van, T. N. & Thanh, T. B. A self-decoupling technique for isolation enhancement in closely-spaced mimo patch antennas. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett. 23, 1695–1699. https://doi.org/10.1109/lawp.2024.3367036 (2024).
Jamal, M. Y., Li, M. & Yeung, K. L. Isolation enhancement of closely packed dual circularly polarized mimo antenna using hybrid technique. IEEE Access 8, 11241–11247. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2964902 (2020).
Gao, D., Cao, Z.-X., Fu, S.-D., Quan, X. & Chen, P. A novel slot-array defected ground structure for decoupling microstrip antenna array. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 68, 7027–7038. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2020.2992881 (2020).
Sufian, M. A. et al. Mutual coupling reduction of a circularly polarized mimo antenna using parasitic elements and dgs for v2x communications. IEEE Access 10, 56388–56400. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3177886 (2022).
Tran, H.-H., Nguyen, T.T.-L., Ta, H.-N. & Pham, D.-P. Coupling reduction of extremely closely spaced circularly polarized mimo patch antenna by phase shift method. IEEE Access 11, 65347–65353. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3289840 (2023).
Tran, H.-H., Hussain, N., Park, H. & Nguyen-Trong, N. Isolation in dual-sense cp mimo antennas and role of decoupling structures. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett. 21, 1203–1207. https://doi.org/10.1109/lawp.2022.3161669 (2022).
Hussain, N., Jeong, M.-J., Abbas, A. & Kim, N. Metasurface-based single-layer wideband circularly polarized mimo antenna for 5g millimeter-wave systems. IEEE Access 8, 130293–130304. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2020.3009380 (2020).
Funding
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Besides that, this publication has emanated from research jointly funded by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland under Grant number \(13/RC/2094\_2\), the European Union’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions under grant number 101126578 and was supported in part by University of Galway.
In addition, the authors extend the appreciation to the Deanship of Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research at Majmaah University for funding this research work through the project number (R-2026-125).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Conceptualization: A.T.-T., T.L.-T., and M.A.; Methodology: T.H.-T. and Y.M.Q.; Software: A.T.-T., T.H.-T., and T.S.; Validation: M.A., Y.M.Q., and P.L.; Formal analysis: T.L.-T. and T.S.; Investigation: A.T.-T. and T.H.-T.; Resources: M.A. and P.L.; Data Curation: T.S. and T.L.-T.; Writing - Original Draft: A.T.-T. and T.H.-T.; Writing - Review & Editing: M.A., Y.M.Q., T.S., and P.L.; Visualization: A.T.-T.; Supervision: M.A., Y.M.Q., and P.L.; Funding Acquisition: M.A., Y.M.Q., and P.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Tran-Tuan, A., Hoang-Thu, T., Le-Tuan, T. et al. Compact 2-port linearly and circularly polarized antennas using low cross-polarization miniaturized patch. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46704-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46704-6


