Design and Analysis of Millimeter‐Wave Antennas for the Fifth Generation Networks and Beyond

Abstract

AbstractFuture 5G systems and beyond are anticipated to deploy compact, efficient, and versatile antennas in short‐range, ultradense millimeter‐wave (mmWave) wireless networks. This article emphasizes on the requirement of realizing antennas with wide bandwidth, high gain, adaptability, preferably conformal, and feasible and cost‐effective bulk manufacturing for the upcoming 5G networks.Ka‐band (26.5–40 GHz) is selected based on recent 5G standardization, and state‐of‐the‐art research contributions regarding antenna geometries are discussed on both rigid and flexible substrates by using advanced techniques of multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO), as well as wideband antennas and arrays to enhance the spectrum usability. mmWave wideband antennas have been developed for 5G networks, recommending that the spatial diversity at the antenna front ends could be significantly improved by deploying wideband antennas in a MIMO topology for simultaneous multiple‐channel communication. In addition, an efficient antenna front‐end solution is demonstrated, which integrates defected ground structures (DGS) for bandwidth improvement and integrated with MIMO technology. Flexible mmWave antenna is also suggested by using the DGS to implement wideband. Antenna gain is critically important for 5G systems to mitigate high propagation losses. Antenna design with both high gain and bandwidth is challenging as traditional wideband antennas are gain‐limited, while conventional arrays deliver high gain over a restricted bandwidth. Several attempts have been made to come up with such antenna designs, which provide reasonable gain performance over wide bandwidth at mmWave frequencies. These proposed 5G antennas are expected as potential contribution in the progress toward the realization of next generation of wireless networks.