AbstractA novel compact dual‐element antenna array is proposed for adaptive MIMO system. By four embedded PIN diodes in the feeding network, the antenna array has three different working states. It can operate as a dual‐element antenna array or work as a single antenna while the unselected antenna is terminated to a lumped matched resistor. As a dual‐element antenna array, it has a −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 595 MHz covering UMTS band with mutual coupling lower than −15 dB in the whole band. The measured radiation patterns show that the radiation property of the selected antenna keeps steady no matter the other antenna is selected or not. The proposed antenna array can achieve antenna selection scheme to adapt to the time‐varying channel conditions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 348–351, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24044