Coupling Measurements of an Antenna System Suitable for Relay-Aided WiMAX Network

Abstract

In this paper two novel antennas, suitable for access and backhaul links, are designed, fabricated and tested for a Relay Station in a WiMAX wireless network. A single modi¯ed E-shaped patch antenna is described, presenting 10 dB gain over 12.4% bandwidth. This antenna element is used for the design of a 4 £ 4 planar array which provides experimental gain of 21.2 dB. The antenna system on the Relay Station operates at 3.4 GHz and includes one single antenna element for access link realization and an antenna array for the backhaul link realization. These antennas are installed in two con¯guration arrangements and tested in terms of their radiation performances and coupling e®ects. The simulated and measured results are quite satisfactory and in good agreement at which the maximum coupling between the access and backhaul antennas is found below ¡25 dB for all tested cases.