With the increasing demand for high-speed data, rapid deployments of the 5G terrestrial heterogeneous wireless networks are expected worldwide in the next decade. In such networks, sub-6 GHz macro-cells overlapped by mmWave small-cells are being used to cater to densely populated regions.As a result, several challenges arise with the antenna design technologies used at the mobile terminal, access points, or backhaul/front haul levels. These challenges are being addressed using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), massive-MIMO, and phased array antenna technologies. In order to implement these antenna technologies, considering the expanding 5G scenario, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) offers a viable solution due to its low-cost, low-profile, high-power handling, low transmission loss, and ease of integration with the radio circuits; therefore, the SIW plays a vital role in developing the modern radio systems. The proposed study aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of SIW MIMO and phased array antennas operating in the 5G sub-6 GHz and mmWave bands. It deliberates the specific issues related to the band of operations and challenges in designing different antenna structures. After careful investigation and detailed analysis, this paper identified existing research gaps and suggested possible antenna design solutions for prospective researchers who intend to explore further the aforementioned promising area and present future research directions.

This paper proposes a high-order MIMO antenna operating at 3.5 GHz for a 5G new radio. Using an eighth-mode substrate integrated waveguide (EMSIW) cavity and considering a typical smartphone scenario, a two-element MIMO antenna is developed and extended to a twelve-element MIMO. These MIMO elements are closely spaced, and by employing multiple diversity techniques, high isolation is achieved without using a decoupling network. The asymmetric EMSIW structures resulted in radiation pattern diversity, and their orthogonal placement provides polarization diversity. The radiation characteristics and diversity performance are parametrically optimized for a two-element MIMO antenna. The experimental results exhibited 6.0 dB and 10.0 dB bandwidths of 250 and 100 MHz, respectively. The measured and simulated radiation patterns are closely matched with a peak gain of 3.4 dBi and isolation ≥36 dB. Encouraged with these results, higher-order MIMO, namely, four- and twelve-element MIMO are investigated, and isolation ≥35 and ≥22 dB are achieved, respectively. The channel capacity is found equal to 56.37 bps/Hz for twelve-element MIMO, which is nearly 6.25 times higher than the two-element counterpart. The hand and head proximity analysis reveal that the proposed antenna performances are within the acceptable limit. A detailed comparison with the previous works demonstrates that the proposed antenna offers a simple, low-cost, and compact MIMO antenna design solution with a high diversity performance.