Reconfigurable Reflectarrays and Array Lenses for Dynamic Antenna Beam Control: A Review

Advances in reflectarrays and array lenses with electronic beam-forming capabilities are enabling a host of new possibilities for these high-performance, low-cost antenna architectures. This paper reviews enabling technologies and topologies of reconfigurable reflectarray and array lens designs, and surveys a range of experimental implementations and achievements that have been made in this area in recent years. The paper describes the fundamental design approaches employed in realizing reconfigurable designs, and explores advanced capabilities of these nascent architectures, such as multi-band operation, polarization manipulation, frequency agility, and amplification. Finally, the paper concludes by discussing future challenges and possibilities for these antennas.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure

Antenna Design for 5G and Beyond

With the rapid evolution of the wireless communications, fifth-generation (5G) communication has received much attention from both academia and industry, with many reported efforts and research outputs and significant improvements in different aspects, such as data rate speed and resolution, mobility, latency, etc. In some countries, the commercialization of 5G communication has already started as well as initial research of beyond technologies such as 6G.MIMO technology with multiple antennas is a promising technology to obtain the requirements of 5G/6G communications. It can significantly enhance the system capacity and resist multipath fading, and has become a hot spot in the field of wireless communications. This technology is a key component and probably the most established to truly reach the promised transfer data rates of future communication systems. In MIMO systems, multiple antennas are deployed at both the transmitter and receiver sides. The greater number of antennas can make the system more resistant to intentional jamming and interference. Massive MIMO with an especially high number of antennas can reduce energy consumption by targeting signals to individual users utilizing beamforming.Apart from sub-6 GHz frequency bands, 5G/6G devices are also expected to cover millimeter-wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) spectra. However, moving to higher bands will bring new challenges and will certainly require careful consideration of the antenna design for smart devices. Compact antennas arranged as conformal, planar, and linear arrays can be employed at different portions of base stations and user equipment to form phased arrays with high gain and directional radiation beams. The objective of this Special Issue is to cover all aspects of antenna designs used in existing or future wireless communication systems. The aim is to highlight recent advances, current trends, and possible future developments of 5G/6G antennas

Evolution and Move toward Fifth-Generation Antenna

With the introduction of various antennas in the field of antenna technology, most of the constraints related to the transmission and receiving of the signals at different intervals have been resolved. By the rapid growth in industry and consequently high demands in the communication arena, the conventional antennas are unable to respond to these extended requirements. However, those initial antennas were suitably used in the field of technology. In the recent decades, by introducing new antenna technologies such as metamaterial structures, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) structures and microstrip antennas with various feeding networks could meet the demands of the current systems. As stated before, in the frequency ranges of below 30 GHz, antenna size and bandwidth are of the important issues, so that novel antennas can be created in low frequencies, which are able to achieve reliable radiation properties when combined with new multiband antennas. Generally, transmission lines are practical in low frequencies and short distances, while higher frequencies are mainly used due to bandwidth goals. This chapter is organized into three subsections related to the 5G wireless communication systems: antennas below 15 GHz or accordingly antennas with wavelength less than 1/20; antennas operating between 15 and 30 GHz; higher frequency antennas or millimeter-wave antennas, which are desired for above 40 GHz

Quasi-Optical Multi-Beam Antenna Technologies for B5G and 6G mmWave and THz Networks: A Review

Multi-beam antennas are critical components in future terrestrial and non-terrestrial wireless communications networks. The multiple beams produced by these antennas will enable dynamic interconnection of various terrestrial, airborne and space-borne network nodes. As the operating frequency increases to the high millimeter wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) bands for beyond 5G (B5G) and sixth-generation (6G) systems, quasi-optical techniques are expected to become dominant in the design of high gain multi-beam antennas. This paper presents a timely overview of the mainstream quasi-optical techniques employed in current and future multi-beam antennas. Their operating principles and design techniques along with those of various quasi-optical beamformers are presented. These include both conventional and advanced lens and reflector based configurations to realize high gain multiple beams at low cost and in small form factors. New research challenges and industry trends in the field, such as planar lenses based on transformation optics and metasurface-based transmitarrays, are discussed to foster further innovations in the microwave and antenna research community

Beam-steering ka-band phase rotation cells-based transmit-array for circular-polarization

Planar transmit-arrays (TAs) have been an attractive solution as gain-enhancers for various applications, e.g. satellite communications. For the first time, a TA composed of sequentially rotated cells is employed as beam-steering circular polarization Ka-band satellite ground terminal. Moreover, it is shown that the intrinsic filtering effect of phase rotation (PR) cells for this kind of TA enables improvement in the axial ratio bandwidth. The performance of the TA is evaluated through simulation. The TA presents only 2.7dB loss over zenith scan between 15° and 50° while its structure rotation provides 360° azimuth scan. The TA offers 2GHz (28.730.7GHz) combined 3dB axial ratio and 3dB gain bandwidth.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio