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Smart Antennas and Systems for 5G and Beyond: Latest Advances and Prospects, 2nd Edition

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A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Microwave and Wireless Communications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2026) | Viewed by 2983

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Editor

Dr. Jesús Alberto López Fernández

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Area of Signal Theory and Communications, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijon, Spain
Interests: iterative methods and speed-up schemes; parallel algorithms; machine learning techniques applied in antenna design and signal processing
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the second edition of the successful Special Issue “Smart Antennas and Systems for 5G and Beyond: Latest Advances and Prospects”.

The development and deployment of modern wireless networks—such as 5G, upcoming 6G, and emerging Wi-Fi standards—are enabling a wide range of applications with increasingly stringent requirements. In the near future, it is expected that 5G FR1 networks will be widely deployed, 5G FR2 networks will be developed, numerous satellite constellations will be launched, and the foundations of 6G will be established. All these developments are part of the promise of offering higher data rates and negligible latency and will eventually lead to universal connectivity. The aim is to implement a cellular network in which sensors, appliances, mobile devices, and autonomous devices (such as cars or industrial elements) can interact with each other and meet different requirements based on their nature. In addition, 5G will allow for the coexistence of multiple users requiring high data rates. The development of smart or adaptive antennas plays a key role in meeting the stringent requirements posed by these new communication scenarios.

The objective of this Special Issue is to highlight the latest advancements in smart antenna design, with the ultimate goal of advancing the aforementioned applications and expanding the horizons of this captivating field. We warmly welcome researchers and industry professionals to contribute original research papers focusing on various topics, including, but not limited to:

Multibeam antenna technologies.
Plane-wave generators.
Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.
Metamaterial-based antennas.
Wearable antennas.
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) and THz antennas.
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) and THz cooperative relays.
Compact antennas for massive MIMO.
Sub-THz channel sounders using phased-array and virtual-array solutions.
Antennas for the Internet of Things.
Antennas and transceivers for full-duplex communication.
Mobile UE tracking antennas for LEO satellite systems.
Advanced 5G mmWave antennas for mobile industrial elements.
Miniaturized UWB and mmWave antennas for novel 6G in-X subnetwork scenarios.
Antennas for wireless power transmission and harvesting.

Dr. Jesús Alberto López Fernández
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

plane-wave generator
RIS
channel sounder for spatial profile measurements
5G
6G
non-terrestrial networks
adaptive antennas
tracking
active arrays
reconfigurable antennas and arrays
hybrid scanned arrays
AI-inspired/-assisted/-augmented antennas and arrays

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Related Special Issue

Smart Antennas and Systems for 5G and Beyond: Latest Advances and Prospects in Electronics (10 articles)

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

34 pages, 3066 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Underwater Antenna Technologies with Emphasis on Submarine and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

by Dimitrios G. Arnaoutoglou, Tzichat M. Empliouk, Dimitrios-Naoum Papamoschou, Yiannis Kyriacou, Andreas Papanastasiou, Theodoros N. F. Kaifas and George A. Kyriacou

Electronics 2026, 15(1), 219; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15010219 - 2 Jan 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1876

Abstract

Following the persistent evolution of terrestrial 5G wireless systems, a new field of underwater communication has emerged for various related applications like environmental monitoring, underwater mining, and marine research. However, establishing reliable high-speed underwater networks remains notoriously difficult due to the severe RF attenuation in conductive seawater, which strictly limits range coverage. In this article, we focus on a comprehensive review of different antenna types for future underwater communication and sensing systems, evaluating their performance and suitability for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). We critically examine and compare distinct antenna technologies, including Magnetic Induction (MI) coils, electrically short dipoles, wideband traveling wave antennas, printed planar antennas, and novel magnetoelectric (ME) resonators. Specifically, these antennas are compared in terms of physical footprint, operating frequency, bandwidth, and realized gain, revealing the trade-offs between miniaturization and radiation efficiency. Our analysis aims to identify the benefits and weaknesses of the different antenna types while emphasizing the necessity of innovative antenna designs to overcome the fundamental propagation limits of the underwater channel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Antennas and Systems for 5G and Beyond: Latest Advances and Prospects, 2nd Edition)

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14 pages, 4914 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Demonstration of 2D Optoelectronic THz-Wave Beam Steering

by Bo Li, Hussein Ssali, Yuanhao Li, Ming Che, Shenghong Ye, Yuya Mikami and Kazutoshi Kato

Electronics 2025, 14(24), 4980; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14244980 - 18 Dec 2025

Viewed by 694

Abstract

Advanced two-dimensional (2D) beam steering is essential for unlocking the full potential of terahertz (THz) systems in future 6G communications and high-resolution imaging. However, achieving wide-angle, high-speed, and high-precision 2D beam control within a compact THz platform remains a significant challenge. In this [...] Read more.

2 \times 2

THz antenna array that enables flexible 2D beam steering, beam hopping, and beam scanning around the 300 GHz band. This work employs a

2 \times 2

microstrip patch antenna (MPA) array directly driven by InGaAs/InP UTC-PDs on a silicon carbide (SiC) substrate. The relative phases of the four radiating elements are precisely programmed using an optical phased array (OPA), which provides fully decoupled and low-latency phase control in the optical domain. Experimentally, we demonstrate 2D beam steering and 2D beam hopping among three representative directions at a polar angle of

25^{\circ}

and azimuth angles of

60^{\circ}

180^{\circ}

, and

300^{\circ}

. Furthermore, continuous 2D beam scanning at a fixed polar angle of

25^{\circ}

is achieved, enabling a full

360^{\circ}

azimuth sweep within 0.43 s while maintaining high beam quality. These results confirm that the proposed UTC-PD based

2 \times 2

MPA array provides a practical and robust approach for 2D THz beam manipulation, and offers strong potential for future 6G wireless links and THz imaging applications. Full article