Antennas and Propagation
Summary
Antennas serve as the interface between guided‐wave circuits and free‐space radiation, converting electrical signals into propagating electromagnetic waves and vice versa. Their performance hinges on the geometry, materials and feeding structures that determine impedance matching, radiation efficiency and pattern shape. Propagation through diverse environments—line‐of‐sight urban corridors, indoor clutter or atmospheric layers—further influences signal attenuation, scattering and multipath fading. Modern demands for wide bandwidths and high directivity have driven the adoption of millimetre‐wave and sub‐THz bands, novel substrate‐integrated and gap‐waveguide architectures, and reconfigurable arrays capable of beam‐steering and null forming. Concurrently, lightweight conformal and wearable designs integrate metamaterials and textile composites to maintain stable performance near the human body. The interplay between antenna design and propagation phenomena underpins applications ranging from 5G base stations and vehicular radars to Internet of Things sensors and biomedical telemetry, with ever‐tighter requirements on spectral efficiency, energy consumption and form‐factor constraints.
Research from Nature Portfolio
A flexible on-package phased‐array concept has been demonstrated using additive manufacturing of 3D-printed substrates and inkjet-printed interconnects, yielding a beam-steerable module covering 26–40 GHz with minimal performance degradation under repeated bending. This work establishes new standards for highly integrated flexible electronics at millimetre-wave frequencies.
A compact evolved patch antenna on a biocompatible flexible substrate has achieved dual-band operation for 5G communications. Enhanced radiation is realised by embedding a split-ring resonator between ground and radiator layers, offering stable performance despite substrate bending and simplifying fabrication via multi-layer inkjet printing.
A dual-band beam-steering array for sub-6 GHz 5G base stations employs printed U-shaped dipoles above a metal reflector, with parasitic patches to excite 2.2 GHz and 3.8 GHz bands. Phase-shifting across eight ports delivers up to ±20° electronic steering per panel, enabling dual-sector coverage without additional RF chains and meeting stringent gain, isolation and form factor targets.
Antennas and Propagation publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in antennas and propagation across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Radiation pattern: Angular distribution of radiated power described as a function of elevation and azimuth.
Directivity: Ratio of radiation intensity in a given direction to the average intensity over all directions.
Metasurface superstrate: Engineered periodic layer above an array that modifies the aperture impedance and beam-scanning capability.
Gap waveguide: A contactless transmission line formed by a high-impedance surface and parallel plate, supporting quasi-TEM modes without galvanic joins.
Beam steering: Electronic control of element phase (and amplitude) to deflect the main lobe without mechanical movement.
Impedance matching: Adjustment of antenna input impedance to minimise reflections and maximise power transfer from the feed.
References
- Design of a Three‐Dimensional Uniform UHF Near‐Field RFID Reader Antenna. International Journal of Antennas and Propagation (2023).
- An Overview of Recent Development of the Gap-Waveguide Technology for mmWave and Sub-THz Applications. IEEE Access (2023).
- Design of miniaturised printed quadrifilar helix antenna with isoflux coverage and wide‐angle circular polarisation. IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation (2021).
- Additively manufactured flexible on-package phased array antennas for 5G/mmWave wearable and conformal digital twin and massive MIMO applications. Scientific Reports (2023).
- A compact evolved antenna for 5G communications. Scientific Reports (2022).
- A dual-band high-gain beam steering antenna array for 5G sub-6 GHz base station. Scientific Reports (2024).
- Some Basic Principles of RF Electronic Systems and Antennas.
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
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