Low-Cost Origami Wideband 3D Printed Dielectric Resonator MIMO Antenna

This paper presents the design and implementation of an origami-inspired, foldable, and packable wideband MIMO antenna, featuring a 3D-printed dielectric resonator. The proposed antenna offers physical reconfigurability of the radiation patterns, providing an additional degree of freedom to enhance the MIMO system’s multiplexing, diversity, and beamforming capabilities. Three folding states: 0° (unfolded), 45° fold, and 360° fold can be achieved with the proposed origami configurations. A stable gain ranging between 4 and 6.2 dBi is achieved across the operating frequency band of 8.7–12 GHz, with an efficiency > 90%. Last, we conducted experimental validation and observed strong agreement with the simulation results, demonstrating the potential of the proposed MIMO antenna as a unit cell for a massive MIMO system.