High-Gain Miniaturized Multi-Band MIMO SSPP LWA for Vehicular Communications

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors, these are my comments:

There is an overuse of the wording in the reference:

https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/8/8/403

It is important to be careful when writing paragraphs based on another similar work.

The statement presented in lines 56-57 requires a reference.

The introduction was written too long; some applications are outside the range of those presented in this article; it is essential to reduce it to the most basic things.

Check that the acronyms are described once the first time they appear.

The format of the equations in (1)-(4) must be presented professionally; they are not in a clear form.

The system of equations in (5) must be written in the body of the following paragraph, in addition to verifying that all variables and constants are described.

The format of lines 439-444 is out of format.

In Figure 9a a reflection coefficient of 0 to -10 dB is observed, from DC frequencies to 80 GHz, this behavior is strange that it behaves in a similar way throughout all frequencies, this must be justified, along with the other Figures 9.

As the radiation patterns change in different styles of cars, for example, those with glass in most of the upper part, this must be justified in the development.

Best Regards

 

Author Response

Thank you very much for the effort that was put into this review. The response is attached as a file below.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper presents a novel multi-band, compact MIMO leaky-wave antenna for vehicular communication. It combines Spoof Surface Plasmon Polariton (SSPP) transmission lines and periodic strip resonators to address challenges in 5G and millimeter-wave vehicular communications.   

1. The manuscript lacks a concise statement of its key contributions compared to existing studies. Highlighting the unique aspects (e.g., SSPP innovations, compactness) and differentiating them from prior works is essential.  

2. Validation across various vehicular scenarios (e.g., urban, highway) is insufficient. The impact of environmental factors such as obstacles or weather should be discussed.  

3. Although the manuscript discusses mutual coupling and port isolation, deeper analysis and visualization (e.g., coupling coefficients, radiation pattern overlap) are needed to validate the claims, especially at higher frequency bands.  

4. The related work could be improved with current good designs, such as secure and efficient authenticated key management scheme for uav-assisted infrastructure-less IoVs, and a lightweight authentication and privacy-preserving aggregation for blockchain-enabled federated learning in vanets. 

5. Several sentences are lengthy and unclear, affecting readability. For example, the abstract and introduction sections could be streamlined for better comprehension.

Author Response

We sincerely appreciate your time and effort in reviewing our manuscript. Your constructive feedback has greatly improved our work. Attached file below is our detailed response to each comment

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article proposes a high-gain, multi-band, dual-polarized MIMO SSPP leaky-wave antenna for vehicular communication, addressing challenges in 5G mm-wave frequencies with enhanced bandwidth, efficiency, and isolation. The novelty of this manuscript lies in the integration of SSPP structures for bandwidth and gain enhancement, dual-polarized design for reliability, and compact optimization for vehicular applications. In my view, this work falls within the scope of Technologies and should be published after making some modifications. A few suggestions and clarifications that need to be addressed before publication are presented below.

 

1. The article contains an issue with its section numbering, featuring two instances of “3.1” and a missing “2.2” section. Such structural inconsistencies may confuse readers regarding the logical flow of the content. It is recommended to carefully review the logical structure of the article and adjust the numbering accordingly.

 

2. The blue parameter labels in Figure 2 are difficult to discern, which may hinder readers’ understanding of the design details. It is suggested to replace the blue with a higher-contrast color for better visibility. Additionally, the rectangular frame around the “(e)” annotation in Figure 9 appears unnecessary and should be removed to enhance clarity.

 

3. Although the experimental section mentions the use of a network analyzer and an anechoic chamber, the description of the experimental details is overly brief, making it challenging for readers to replicate the results. It is advised to supplement this section with a comprehensive explanation of the experimental environment and setup to improve the reproducibility of the study.

 

4. While the paper discusses scenarios such as V2V and V2I, it lacks a deeper analysis of other potential applications, such as autonomous driving and in-vehicle communication. It is recommended to increase the discussion of extended application scenarios, which will help enhance the practical value and impact of the study.

 

5. The abstract and conclusion sections do not sufficiently highlight the innovative aspects of the work, making it difficult for readers to quickly grasp the core contributions of the paper. It is recommended to emphasize the key innovations more clearly in these sections to better showcase the study's significance.

 

6. The method presented in this paper highly relevant to electromagnetic (EM) networks. Could the author briefly discuss the possibility of using D2NN to conduct this communication method. The following references could be included: [1] Gu, Z., Ma, Q., Gao, X., You, J. W. & Cui, T. J. Direct electromagnetic information processing with planar diffractive neural network. Science Advances 10, eado3937 (2024); [2] Gao, X. X. Ma, Q. Gu, Z. Cui, W. Y. Liu, C. Zhang, J. J. Cui, T. J., “Programmable surface plasmonic neural networks for microwave detection and processing,” Nature Electronics, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 319-328, Apr, 2023.

Author Response

Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions. The response is attached as a file below.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have solved all my concerns now. I recommend acceptance for this paper.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author has addressed all my questions. I agree this paper could be published.