0% found this document useful (0 votes)
52 views

Optically Transparent Antenna For Smart Glasses

This document discusses the development of an optically transparent antenna for use in smart glasses and augmented reality devices. It begins by introducing the need for transparent antennas to overcome space constraints and improve antenna performance. Previous research has focused on integrating transparent antennas with smartphone displays, but their application to smart glasses poses new challenges due to optical components in lenses. The document then reviews light control layers and transparent conductive materials that could enable coexistence of antennas and optical features. It proposes a slot loop antenna design using a metal mesh film and metallic glass frame and presents experimental results showing efficiency above -4.5 dB on a human head phantom. The presented approach could apply to other sub-6 GHz antennas for applications such as LTE, WiFi and G

Uploaded by

dion prayoga
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
52 views

Optically Transparent Antenna For Smart Glasses

This document discusses the development of an optically transparent antenna for use in smart glasses and augmented reality devices. It begins by introducing the need for transparent antennas to overcome space constraints and improve antenna performance. Previous research has focused on integrating transparent antennas with smartphone displays, but their application to smart glasses poses new challenges due to optical components in lenses. The document then reviews light control layers and transparent conductive materials that could enable coexistence of antennas and optical features. It proposes a slot loop antenna design using a metal mesh film and metallic glass frame and presents experimental results showing efficiency above -4.5 dB on a human head phantom. The presented approach could apply to other sub-6 GHz antennas for applications such as LTE, WiFi and G

Uploaded by

dion prayoga
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

Received 9 December 2022; revised 12 January 2023; accepted 14 January 2023.

Date of publication 23 January 2023; date of current version 10 February 2023.


Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/OJAP.2023.3238721

Optically Transparent Antenna for Smart Glasses


YASUO MORIMOTO (Member, IEEE), SAM SHIU, IRENE WEI HUANG (Senior Member, IEEE), ERIC FEST,
GENG YE, AND JIANG ZHU (Fellow, IEEE)
(Invited Paper)
Reality Labs, Meta Platforms, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
CORRESPONDING AUTHORS: Y. MORIMOTO AND J. ZHU (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected])
This work was supported by Meta Platforms, Inc.

ABSTRACT The optically transparent antenna technology has been gaining attention in consumer elec-
tronic industry owing to its potential to release the antenna volume constraints in compact mobile devices.
Earlier studies have been heavily focused on the transparent antenna integration to the display for smart-
phone applications, for example, to improve its spatial coverage of 5G mm-wave at the forehead side.
To our knowledge, the application of the transparent antenna technology to smart glasses and augmented
reality glasses, especially considering the constraints from the coexistence with optical features in the
lens stack-up, has remained unexplored. Thus, for the first time, we suggest a feasible existence solution
between antennas and the RF lossy layers in the lens stack-up, to reduce the negative impacts on antenna
performances. A slot loop antenna formed by metal-mesh based transparent antenna film and metallic
glass frame has been investigated. Experimental results of such an antenna on human head phantom shows
a total efficiency better than −4.5 dB in 2.4 GHz band. Even though it is demonstrated through a 2.4 GHz
antenna example, the same principle can be applied to any other sub-6 GHz antenna applications, i.e.,
LTE, WiFi, GNSS, etc.

INDEX TERMS Transparent antenna, invisible antenna, metaverse, augmented reality, virtual reality, smart
glass, light control panel, metal mesh, Indium Tin Oxide, slot antenna.

I. INTRODUCTION antennas such as by Printed Circuit Board (PCB), Laser

W E FUTURE immersive wearable computing plat-


forms will connect people to the new experiences,
from immersive education and training to the new possi-
Direct Structuring (LDS), Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC),
chip, metal plates, metal wires, etc. Therefore, the trans-
parent antenna has been drawing attention from industry
bilities in healthcare and the workplace, and beyond. The recently as one potential solution to address the antenna vol-
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) devices ume constraints and to achieve a high design freedom. Many
are key to offer such immersive experiences. Consumer elec- transparent antenna research and application in consumer
tronic industry has been heavily investing with commercial electronic domain have been focused on the transparent
products already made available to the market from Meta antenna and display integration for smart phone [1], [2],
(formerly Facebook), Google, Microsoft and many others. [3], [4], [5], [6], smart watch [7], [8], etc. Large space
Despite the tremendous efforts from the industry, technol- or high freedom of placement are desired in the design
ogy breakthroughs are demanded for developing the enabling for antenna performance optimization, for example, antenna
technologies that are required to support the 3D virtual expe- efficiency, antenna gain, bandwidth, antenna isolation, tun-
riences and yet packing them into light-weighted, long-term ing capability, polarization, and so on. In particular, the
lifetime, stylish and socially acceptable wearable form-factor implementation of transparent antenna and display integra-
devices. Specific to antennas on smart glasses, there are tion provides an option to achieve 5G mm-wave coverage at
restrictions in enclosure on the conventional placement of the forehead side for the all-screen display phones [1]. Other

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

VOLUME 4, 2023 159


MORIMOTO et al.: OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT ANTENNA FOR SMART GLASSES

FIGURE 2. A LCL; (a) On state and (b) Off state [17], [18], [19], [20].

transparent antenna becomes key for transparent antenna to


FIGURE 1. Transparent antenna and AR glass features coexistence on generic glass
be integrated into modern smart/AR glasses.
frame [15], [16]. In this paper, the LCL and transparent conductive mate-
rial made by metal mesh are firstly described. Through the
studies of several basic antenna types, the transparent slot
transparent antenna applications in the industry include but antenna concept emerges to be the best option for transpar-
ent antenna to coexist with the lossy LCL. The design has
not limited to car [9], [10], solar panel [11], [12], [13], [14]
been simulated and validated with prototypes.
applications.
Antenna design has been one of the most significant engi-
neering challenges in hardware design for smart glasses–the II. TRANSPARENT MATERIALS
antenna design is constrained by the stylish industrial design This section provides a review of Light Control Layer
requirements, while the antenna performances suffer from (LCL) with the analysis to explain why it has the largest
severe body effects, including detuning, attenuation, and negative impact on antenna. This section also reviews the
shadowing effects. From a system level, AR applications typical approaches to design optical invisible but electrically
demand high throughput and low latency while the con- conductive films.
ducted power for the antenna port is constrained by the
battery life requirement as well as the compliance with
human electromagnetic exposure requirement, i.e., Specific A. LCL
Absorption Rate (SAR). On the other hand, the lenses in The general LCL shown in Figure 2 is also known as
the glasses are the single biggest component / module in “active dimming layer.” The main types are PDLC (Polymer
the glasses form factor, and they offer the largest real-estate Dispersed Liquid Crystal) [17], [18] which is good at scatter
in the system and the best flexibility to tune the antenna controlled and GHLC (Guest-Host Liquid Crystal) [19], [20]
performance towards the system requirements. A generic AR which has advantages of optical transmittance controlled. In
glass [15], [16] is illustrated in Figure 1. Some key optical both cases, the Liquid Crystal (LC) is sandwiched between
functions, i.e., micro-LED, active or passive dimming, opti- two layers of transparent conductive film (typically Indium
cal waveguide, eye tracking etc., are expected to be built Tin Oxide: ITO), and the orientation of the LC can be
into the lens which help connect people from the real world changed by applying a voltage bias, thus allowing the optical
to the virtual world for the immersive experiences. Hence, properties of the layer to be changed electrically. The choice
a major technical challenge in implementing a transparent of GHLC vs PDLC depends on the application, i.e., AR vs.
antenna is the coordination of the transparent antenna layer VR, and also the optical features that they have to co-exist
with other functions that already exist in the lens stack-up. with.
In another word, the transparent antenna must ensure the At radio frequency, the ITOs on LC have significant
minimal optical performance degradation within acceptable impacts on transparent antenna performances, because of
range, while still demonstrating the antenna performance the high sheet resistivity nature of the typical ITOs. For
benefits as compared to the conventional antennas in the example, the typical resistance of ITO is about 10 to 500
glasses form factors, i.e., the LDS- or the PCB-antenna in /Sq, to maintain the acceptable optical properties. The RF
the glass temple or frame areas. While optical functional lay- impact from LC and mixed LC is minor even when the
ers in the lens stack-up is still evolving with huge technical bias of LC is ON or OFF since the difference between
challenges in their optical performances, the Light Control the vertical and horizontal Dk and Df of LC is small. If
Layer (LCL) is identified as the material that has the largest a transparent antenna on lens is not designed properly, the
negative impact on antenna performances among the exist- proximity to the lossy ITOs leads to a severe performance
ing functions, and the coexistence design of lossy LCL and degradation.

160 VOLUME 4, 2023


FIGURE 3. General transparent conductive material mapping shows tradeoff
between transparency and resistivity.

B. TRANSPARENT CONDUCTING FILMS AND METAL


MESH
Transparent conducting films (TCFs) are very thin, and the
material itself is optically transparent and electrically con-
ductive at same time. Several transparent antennas were FIGURE 4. Mesh structure and resistor network schematic.
developed using these TCFs in the past [21], [22], [23],
[24], [25], [26], [27]. ITO is the most widely used TCF
in electronic devices. Silver Nanowire (SNW) has randomly The metal mesh structure can be any geometric periodic
conducted network made by silver wires which is scaled structure, i.e., square, rectangular, hexagonal, diamond, tri-
shorter than the wavelength of visible light. Graphene and angular, hybrids of different shapes, rotational angles of
Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) are also being developed in recent arrangement, periodicity staggered, even randomness. In any
years as one of the promising TCFs. geometric pattern, the size and periodicity of the structure
On the other hand, Metal Mesh (MM), as one of the is on a scale sufficiently larger than the visible light wave-
TCFs, has been mainly used in touch sensors on display length (380 nm to 780 nm). Each has its own advantages and
and electromagnetic shield in the past. Recently, the use of disadvantages, from both optical and electrical perspectives.
MM to design transparent antennas has gained increasing This paper describes the major parameters for the case of
attention from the industry owing to its low resistivity [1], a 45-degree rotation of a square. Figure 4 shows the metal
[2], [7], [8], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31]. MM can be made mesh structure and resistance network schematics.
from manufacturing methods, such as subtracting method by Re is the element resistance of mesh branch, N and M is
photo-lithography, additive method by plating up, printing, the number of mesh intersections in the width direction, and
transfer method, etc., these process similar to the general fine in the current path direction, respectively. The aperture ratio
pattern for PCB or Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing. Ap (%), the area that one intersection can cover AC (m2 ),
Among all TCFs mentioned above, there is always a and the DC sheet resistance Rs (/Sq) can be calculated
fundamental trade-off between electrical resistance and opti- from the following equations:
cal properties as illustrated in Figure 3. Optical properties
(MP − MW)2
includes the well-understood visible light transmittance as Ap = 100 (1)
well as scattering (e.g., Haze), color parameters (A∗, B∗, MP2
yellowness index, etc.), and the Moire effect caused by AC = MP2 (2)
interference with other periodic structures specific to MM. 1 MP
Rs = (3)
Recently, both MM and ITO based transparent films are con- σ MT × MW
sidered for antennas. Since the MM approach provides lower where MW is the width, ML is the length, MP is the peri-
resistance and more flexibility to adjust the sheet resistance odic pitch (ML and MP are the same for a squared shape),
vs optical transparency, the consumer industry and transpar- MT is the thickness, and σ is conductivity of metal mesh,
ent antenna research community are both trending to use respectively. The effective σ (s/m) is calculated from the
MM as the major transparent antenna materials. measured dimensional values and DC sheet resistance Rs
The sheet resistance of MM is related to its shape, the of the manufactured MMs. A photograph of the MMs used
width/thickness, the pitch of wires and metal conductivity. in this paper is given in Figure 5. MP is 200 um, MW is

VOLUME 4, 2023 161


MORIMOTO et al.: OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT ANTENNA FOR SMART GLASSES

layer stack-up of transparent antenna and LCL on lens but


also the possible antenna types that can be fit into the form
factor. The actual layer stack-up should have a complicated
combination of base materials and Optical Clear Adhesive
(OCA) for each function. However, they’re not included in
this study since they’re especially thin and can be negligible
FIGURE 5. A microscope picture for metal mesh.
at radio frequency.
There are a total of five types of transparent antenna
on lossy material, with Types (A) - (C) consisting of MM
antenna and lossy LCL only, and Types (D)-(E) also includ-
ing metal enclosures. In all types, they are multi-layer
structure similar to PCBs but without vias. Type (A) is a
dipole antenna. Type (B) is a Microstrip Antenna (MSA).
Type (C) is a slot antenna within the transparent region. Type
(D) is a monopole antenna locates at the edge of the trans-
parent region and using metal enclosure as ground plane.
Type (E) is a slot antenna formed between the transparent
region and the metal enclosure. The film size of the trans-
parent sheet is given as 40 mm by 50 mm, and its metal
enclosure is a rectangular ring with a 2 mm by 2 mm cross
section. In these studies, each parameter and the results of
the analysis are summarized in Table 1. Except antenna size
FIGURE 6. Sheet resistance Rs and aperture ratio Ap of metal mesh, where MT /MW (W and L), the same materials were used in all antenna
= 1.0, σ = 5.8 × 107 × 0.5, MP is parameter in equation (1) and (3). types as a fair comparison, for example, the sheet resistance
of MM is 2 (/Sq.), and the sheet resistances of ITOs in
LCL, Rs2 and Rs3, are both 200 (/Sq.). It is noted that
approximately 2 um, the cross sectional area multiplied by the value of Rs1 on MM is determined from the target value
MW and MT is 2.5 um2 , and Ap is 98 (%). The measured of optical properties (e.g., Tr), and the values of H, Dk,
Rs is 2 (/Sq). The optical properties of metal mesh is mea- Df , H2, Dk2, and Df 2 are from the manufacturing process
sured by the spectrometer. The delta Tr, calibrated surface and materials. It is well understood that when the lossy ITO
reflection, of averaged in visible light wavelength 400 to materials are in close proximity of the antenna, the antenna
700 nm is 97.4 (%), and of 550 nm is 97.3 (%) which are efficiency drop.
strongly correlated with Ap. In the design of transparent antenna, the design variables
include the antenna pattern, the mesh width, mesh pitch, the
III. TRANSPARENT SLOT ANTENNA ON LCL gap between MM layer and metal enclosure G1, and the
A. TRANSPARENT ANTENNA TYPES STUDY gap between ITO layer and metal enclosure G2. The sim-
A plot of calculated Ap and Rs of general configurations is ulation results of all five types of antenna designed shown
given in Figure 6. The Ap based on only MP was changed in Table 1 is described in this paragraph. All antennas are
to see the Rs values. The thickness of metal mesh MT has well-matched at 2.4 GHz. The radiation efficiency of Type
dependencies on the mesh width MW. In this calculation, we (A) to (D) is significantly lower because the most of the
make an assumption that MT = MW, which is typical from RF power converts into Ohmic loss due to absorption of
the manufacturing process. The effective conductivity is set the resistive sheet of Rs1, Rs2, and Rs3. For the same rea-
at 50% of Cu (i.e., 5.8 × 107 × 0.5). Ap is also correlated sons, it yields a large impedance matching therefore the
to optical transmittance (Tr) and scattering, indicating that discussion of return loss here is negligible. It is found that
there is a trade-off between Rs and optical properties of metal among all five antenna types under investigation, the type
mesh. From optical visibility perspective, it is recommended (E) edge slot antenna performs the best. In edge slot antenna
that the mesh width is no more than 2um. From the optical design, the transparent antenna film matches the pattern of
transparency perspective which is correlated to AP, the wider the ITO in LCL and is directly placed against the ITO layer.
mesh width MW, the better AP, which is indicated from With such a configuration, the metal mesh layer and ITO
Figure 6. layers are strongly coupled to each other. Majority of the
When it comes to antenna design, it is reminded that there currents follow the least impedance path and is distributed
are three dominant materials to form antenna elements: the at the metal enclosure and the conductive metal mesh layer.
transparent conductive material, e.g., metal mesh antenna The lossy effect of the ITOs can be reduced. The addi-
layer, the lossy layer which locates in close proximity to tional analysis with the removal Rs2 and Rs3 lossy LCL
the antenna layer, e.g., ITOs of LCL, and the metallic or layers from Type (E) slightly improves antenna radiation effi-
plastic enclosure from the glasses. Figure 7 shows not only ciency from 35.88% to 38.10% indicating that the negative

162 VOLUME 4, 2023


FIGURE 7. The stack-up of different type transparent antenna with lossy materials; Stack-up structure, (A) Dipole, (B) Microstrip antenna, (C) Slot antenna, (D) Edge monopole
antenna, and (E) Edge slot antenna.

TABLE 1. Comparisons of different type transparent antennas with lossy materials.

impact from LCL is minor for the proposed antenna. G1 and at Type (E) is modified up to 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm,
G2 are the key parameters to increase radiation efficiency its radiated power increases to 18.21%, 35.88%, 48.18%,
and kept as 1 mm throughout the study. When G1 = G2 and 56.44%.

VOLUME 4, 2023 163


MORIMOTO et al.: OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT ANTENNA FOR SMART GLASSES

FIGURE 8. EM analysis model for (a) dimensions and (b) port/PIN locations.

B. ANTENNA CONCEPT AND DESIGN


A Type (E) antenna, i.e., edge slot antenna between trans-
parent conductor and metallic enclosure was designed for
2.4 GHz applications. The shape of glass frame refereed
from [15], [16]. For the antenna input impedance and reso-
nance of the edge slot antenna, the tuning parameters are the
locations of antenna feed and shorting PINs. Changing these
parameters is equivalent to changing the length of the slot
antenna or impedance match. A simulated antenna radiation
pattern and current distribution are shown in Figure 9. Since
the proposed edge slot antenna is slot formed between the
transparent sheet (i.e., including transparent antenna layer
FIGURE 9. (a) simulated antenna radiation pattern at 2.4GHz, (b) surface current
Rs1, LCL transparent conductor Rs2, and Rs3) and metal distribution on 2.16GHz and (c) surface current distribution on 1.6GHz, where labels
enclosure, the radiation pattern radiates both to the outside for location are: ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ and ‘D’ as corner, ‘a’ as feeding, ‘b’ and ‘c’ as shorting
PINs.
and to the human side. The proposed edge slot antenna has
multiple resonance including 2.16 GHz as second harmonic
of a full wave length (‘b’ - ‘A’ - ‘B’ - ‘D’ - ‘c’) for best
the prototype with one side has transparent antenna on lens
radiation efficiency close to 2.4GHz application, 1.6 GHz as
and another side has lens only, both have no LCLs. The
with parasitic slot (‘c’ - ‘C’ - ‘b’) plus fundamental slot (‘b’
gap between MM layer and metal enclosure G1 and the
- ‘A’ - ‘B’ - ‘D’ - ‘c’) or, slot loop will potentially cover
gap between ITO layer and metal enclosure G2 are 1mm
GPS L1 band.
which is the same as the design in the previous chapter. As
The visual and representative dimensions of the model
shown in the figure, human eyes can hardly differentiate the
used in the analysis are shown in Figure 8. Figure 10 shows
discrepancy between the two sides of lens.
the results of the analysis of the radiation performances and
reflection characteristics of the designed antenna in free
space. Total efficiency of −4.40 dB, as well as excellent
A. LCL
matching are obtained at 2.4 GHz.
LCL with PDLC was implemented in the prototype shown
in Figure 12. The reason was that it was possible to cor-
IV. PROTOTYPE AND MEASUREMENT RESULTS rectly evaluate the relatively high loss transparent resistance
This chapter describes the results of the prototype evalu- that affects the antenna performance, and it is easy to fabri-
ation for LCL and antenna performance. Figure 11 shows cate. After processing and mounting the electrodes for bias,

164 VOLUME 4, 2023


FIGURE 12. LCL test (a) Bias OFF (b) Bias ON.

FIGURE 10. Simulated results for (a) Antenna efficiencies (b) Reflection coefficient
of the proposed edge slot antenna.

FIGURE 13. Over-the-air measurement setup and radiation pattern at 2.4GHz.

antenna pattern at 2.4 GHz. The radiation pattern indicates


that the majority of the total gain shows on the world side
due to the shadowing effect of the human head phantom.
The measurement results of prototype with LCL are also
shown Figure 14. In each of the radiation and reflection
characteristics, both with and without the human head phan-
tom were measured. A comparison of the measured results
without the human head phantom and the simulated results
in the previous chapter shows an excellent agreement. After
taking account of 0.28 dB cable loss at 2.4 GHz, the esti-
mated measured antenna efficiency with head phantom is
−4.36 dB.
FIGURE 11. A picture of mock-up fabricated.

LCL was mounted on the lens with transparent antenna elec- V. CONCLUSION
trode. As shown in the figure, the transparency is apparently The transparent antenna is a good candidate to solve the
changed by turning bias ON or OFF. In additional measure- antenna volume constraints for smart glasses and aug-
ment, there was almost no impact from LCL bias status on mented glasses form factors. This paper summarizes the
antenna performances. practical constraints of transparent antenna designs and per-
formances when they co-exist with the RF lossy optical
B. ANTENNA features/functions in the lens stack-up. For the first time,
Antenna characteristics were evaluated. Figure 13 demon- the edge slot antenna concept has been proposed to address
strates the over-the-air measurement setup and radiated the coexistence issue with the optical features, where, more

VOLUME 4, 2023 165


MORIMOTO et al.: OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT ANTENNA FOR SMART GLASSES

[9] J. P. Lombardi et al., “Copper transparent antennas on flexible glass by


subtractive and semi-additive fabrication for automotive applications,”
in Proc. IEEE 68th Electron. Compon. Technol. Conf. (ECTC), 2018,
pp. 2107–2115.
[10] O. Kagaya, Y. Morimoto, T. Motegi, and M. Inomata, “Transparent
glass quartz antennas on the windows of 5G-millimeter-wave-
connected cars,” IEICE Trans. Commun., vol. 104, no. 1, pp. 64–72,
2021.
[11] T. Yekan and R. Baktur, “Conformal integrated solar panel antennas:
Two effective integration methods of antennas with solar cells,” IEEE
Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 69–78, Apr. 2017.
[12] F. Nashad, S. Foti, D. Smith, M. Elsdon, and O. Yurduseven,
“Development of transparent patch antenna element integrated with
solar cells for Ku-band satellite applications,” in Proc. Loughborough
Antennas Propag. Conf. (LAPC), 2016, pp. 1–5.
[13] S. Zarbakhsh, M. Akbari, M. Farahani, A. Ghayekhloo, T. A. Denidni,
and A.-R. Sebak, “Optically transparent subarray antenna based on
solar panel for CubeSat application,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 319–328, Jan. 2020.
[14] X. Liu, D. R. Jackson, E. Ingram, J. Chen, and M. H. Seko,
“Transparent microstrip antennas for CubeSats,” in Proc. IEEE Int.
Symp. Antennas Propag. USNC-URSI Radio Sci. Meeting, 2019,
pp. 845–846.
[15] Y.-Y. Wang, Y.-L. Ban, Z. Nie, and C.-Y.-D. Sim, “Dual-loop antenna
for 4G LTE MIMO smart glasses applications,” IEEE Antennas
Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 18, pp. 1818–1822, 2019.
[16] Y.-Y. Wang, Y.-L. Ban, and Y. Liu, “Sub-6GHz 4G/5G conformal
glasses antennas,” IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 182027–182036, 2019.
[17] J. Xu et al., “Study on the preparation and performance of an electri-
cally controlled dimming film with wide working temperature range,”
J. Mol. Liquids, vol. 367, Dec. 2022, Art. no. 120408.
FIGURE 14. Measurement results of proposed edge slot antenna (a) antenna [18] L. Chen, Y. Yang, X. Xia, M. Ju, and Z. Wu, “Design of intelligent
efficiency (b) reflection coefficient. dimming glass system,” World Sci. Res. J., vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 9–15,
2018.
specifically, a matched metal mesh layer is directly attached [19] J. Kim, S.-W. Oh, J. Choi, S. Park, and W. Kim, “Optical see-through
head-mounted display including transmittance-variable display for
to the lossy light control layer. With such configuration, the high visibility,” J. Inf. Display, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 121–127, 2022.
RF loss from the lossy optical features can be significant [20] J. Lee, S. Nam, and S. S. Choi, “Design of chiral guest-host liquid
eliminated. Experimental results on human head phantom crystals for a transmittance-tunable smart window,” Opt. Mater. Exp.,
vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 2568–2583, 2022.
verified our simulation with a total efficiency of −4.36 dB [21] H. J. Song, T. Y. Hsu, D. F. Sievenpiper, H. P. Hsu, J. Schaffner, and
at 2.4 GHz. E. Yasan, “A method for improving the efficiency of transparent film
antennas,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 7, pp. 753–756,
REFERENCES 2008.
[22] Y. Koga and M. Kai, “A transparent double folded loop antenna for
[1] J. Park, S. Y. Lee, J. Kim, D. Park, W. Choi, and W. Hong, “An
IoT applications,” in Proc. IEEE-APS Topical Conf. Antennas Propag.
optically invisible antenna-on-display concept for millimeter-wave
Wireless Commun. (APWC), 2018, pp. 762–765.
5G cellular devices,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 67, no. 5,
pp. 2942–2952, May 2019. [23] S. Hakimi, S. K. A. Rahim, M. Abedian, S. Noghabaei, and M. Khalily,
[2] M. Kim et al., “Antenna-on-display concept on an extremely thin “CPW-fed transparent antenna for extended ultrawideband applica-
substrate for sub-6 GHz wireless applications,” IEEE Trans. Antennas tions,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 13, pp. 1251–1254,
Propag., vol. 70, no. 7, pp. 5929–5934, Jul. 2022. 2014.
[3] Y. Oh, J.-Y. Lee, D. Lee, D. Park, and W. Hong, “Broadband [24] N. Guan, H. Furuya, K. Himeno, K. Goto, and K. Ito, “Basic study
antenna-on-display applicable for WiFi,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. on an antenna made of a transparent conductive film,” IEICE Trans.
Antennas Propag. USNC-URSI Radio Sci. Meeting (APS/URSI), 2021, Commun., vol. E90-B, no. 9, pp. 2219–2224, 2007.
pp. 61–62. [25] M. R. Haraty, M. Naser-Moghadasi, A. A. Lotfi-Neyestanak, and
[4] T. D. Nguyen, K. Kim, S. R. Yoon, and G. Byun, “Optically A. Nikfarjam, “Improving the efficiency of transparent antenna using
invisible artificial magnetic conductor subarrays for triband display- gold nanolayer deposition,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett.,
integrated antennas,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 70, vol. 15, pp. 4–7, 2015.
no. 8, pp. 3975–3986, Aug. 2022. [26] W. Li, A. Meredov, and A. Shamim, “Silver nanowire based flexible,
[5] M. Stanley, Y. Huang, H. Wang, H. Zhou, A. Alieldin, and S. Joseph, transparent, wideband antenna for 5G band application,” in Proc. IEEE
“A transparent dual-polarized antenna array for 5G smartphone appli- Int. Symp. Antennas Propag. USNC-URSI Radio Sci. Meeting, 2019,
cations,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Antennas Propag. USNC/URSI Nat. pp. 275–276.
Radio Sci. Meeting, 2018, pp. 635–636. [27] S. Hong, Y. Kim, and C. W. Jung, “Transparent microstrip patch anten-
[6] S. Foo and W. Tong, “AMOLED in-display antennas,” in Proc. 14th nas with multilayer and metal-mesh films,” IEEE Antennas Wireless
Eur. Conf. Antennas Propag. (EuCAP), 2020, pp. 1–5. Propag. Lett., vol. 16, pp. 772–775, 2016.
[7] W. Hong, S. Ko, Y. G. Kim, and S. Lim, “Invisible antennas using [28] Y. Zhang, S. Shen, C.-Y. Chiu, and R. Murch, “A broadband trans-
mesoscale conductive polymer wires embedded within OLED dis- parent antenna integrated with an indoor solar cell for WLAN
plays,” in Proc. 11th Eur. Conf. Antennas Propag. (EUCAP), 2017, applications,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Antennas Propag. North Amer.
pp. 2809–2811. Radio Sci. Meeting, 2020, pp. 437–438.
[8] W. Hong, S. Lim, S. Ko, and Y. G. Kim, “Optically invisible antenna [29] Y. Zhang, S. Shen, C.-Y. Chiu, and R. D. Murch, “A dual-band trans-
integrated within an OLED touch display panel for IoT applica- parent coplanar patch antenna for WLAN systems,” in Proc. IEEE Int.
tions,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 7, pp. 3750–3755, Symp. Antennas Propag. USNC/URSI Nat. Radio Sci. Meeting, 2018,
Jul. 2017. pp. 465–466.

166 VOLUME 4, 2023


[30] H. J. Song et al., “Roll-to-roll printed transparent applique antennas,” ERIC FEST received the Ph.D. degree in optics
in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Antennas Propag. USNC/URSI Nat. Radio from the University of Arizona. He is an Optical
Sci. Meeting, 2018, pp. 1671–1672. Scientist with Meta Platforms, Redmond, WA,
[31] S. H. Kang and C. W. Jung, “Transparent patch antenna using metal USA, where he leads the Augmented Reality
mesh,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 2095–2100, Product Waveguide Design Team. He is also an
Apr. 2018. Adjunct Associate Professor with the University
of Arizona. He has 29 years of experience in the
optics industry, and his former employers include
Raytheon and Synopsys, Inc. He is the author of
the widely used optical engineering textbook Stray
YASUO MORIMOTO (Member, IEEE) received the Light Analysis and Control (SPIE Press, 2013).
B.E. degree in information science and engineer-
ing and the M.E. and D.E. degrees in science and GENG YE is the Head of Antenna Engineering
engineering from Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, with Meta Reality Labs, Sunnyvale, CA, USA. He
Japan, in 2008, 2010, and 2019, respectively. has been instrumental in creating unique antenna
From 2010 to 2019, he was a Researcher with design for Meta’s virtual/artificial reality devices.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Kamakura, Japan,
where he was involved in the research and devel-
opment of antenna feedings, microwave circuits,
and RF implementations for antennas. He was a
Visiting Scholar with the University of California
at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA, in 2016. From 2019 to 2021,
he was a Principal Researcher/Manager with AGC Inc., Yokohama, Japan,
where he was engaged in the research of antennas for radar and radio com- JIANG ZHU (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S.
munication systems using new materials. In 2021, he joined Meta Reality degree in information science and electronic
Labs, Sunnyvale, CA, USA, as an Antenna Research Scientist, where he engineering from Zhejiang University, China,
leads coupled future antenna projects include transparent antennas. He has the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering
authored or coauthored over 40 journal and conference papers and more from McMaster University, Canada, and the
than 30 patent grants and applications. Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the
Dr. Morimoto received the Young Engineer Award from the IEEE MTT-S University of Toronto, Canada.
Japan Chapter in 2018. He is a member of the Institute of Electronics, From 2010 to 2014, he was a Senior Hardware
Information and Communication Engineers, Japan. Engineer with Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, USA.
From 2014 to 2016, he was with Google[x] Life
Science Division and then a Founding Member
with Verily Life Science, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., Mountain View.
SAM SHIU received the B.Eng. degree from McGill From 2016 to 2021, he founded the Wearable Wireless Hardware Group
University, Montreal, QC, Canada, the M.Sc. and with Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA, and led the antenna and RF
Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering special- research and development for the emerging Wrist-worn, Hearable, Virtual
ized in industrial engineering from the University Reality and Augmented Reality products, projects, and technologies. In
of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, 2021, he joined Meta Reality Labs, Sunnyvale, CA, USA, as the Head of
and the M.B.A. degree from Ivey Business School, Antenna Research, where he leads a group of talented and diverse research
London, ON, Canada. Since 2008, he has been scientists and engineers working on the enabling technologies for the immer-
focusing on innovative antenna and its mechanical sive wearable computing. His work leads to over 100 IEEE journal and
design in undisclosed new product introductions conference publications and U.S. patents, many of them have been com-
during his 13.5 years of work tenure with Apple as mercialized in some of the most popular consumer products in the world.
a Hardware Engineer, and currently as an Antenna His research interests are the consumer applications of RF, antennas, and
Research Scientist with Meta Reality Lab focusing on new technology initia- electromagnetics in the areas of wireless communications, human body
tives. He has authored or coauthored 12 journal and conference papers, more interaction and sensing, and wireless power.
than 36 patent grants, and 15 pending applications. His current research Dr. Zhu was a recipient of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques
interests include transparent antenna mechanical design for smart glass and Society Outstanding Young Engineer Award and the IEEE Antennas and
augmented reality devices, radar sensing applications, and novel antenna Propagation Society Doctoral Research Award. He has received several
manufacturing processes. Student Paper Awards as a student as well as a Project Supervisor, includ-
ing the most recent one–the First Place Best Student Paper Award in
the 2021 IEEE AP-S Symposium on Antennas and Propagation with his
Intern Student at Google. He serves as the TPC Chair for the 2023 IEEE
International Workshop on Antenna Technology and the TPC Co-Chair
IRENE WEI HUANG (Senior Member, IEEE) for the 2022 IEEE International Microwave Biomedical Conference. He
received the B.Eng. degree from the China serves on TPC and TPRC for numerous conferences, including IEEE
University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China, in 2002, APS, IMS, and RWS. He has been a Senior Editor for the IEEE OPEN
and the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical JOURNAL OF ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION and an Associate Editor for
engineering specialized in electromagnetics from the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, the IEEE
the University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA, INTERNET OF THINGS JOURNAL, the IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS
in 2005 and 2009, respectively. Since 2008, she PROPAGATION LETTERS, and IET Microwaves, Antennas, and Propagation.
has been highly focusing on innovative antenna He is also the Guest Co-Editor for the IEEE Communications Magazine—
design in research and development of antenna Special Feature Topic on Antenna Systems for 5G and Beyond, and
and RF device and system during her work a Guest Co-Editor for the IEEE OPEN JOURNAL OF ANTENNAS AND
tenure with Nokia, Huawei, and Foxconn Research PROPAGATION—Special Section on Advances in Antenna Design for
Department as an Antenna Specialist, a Senior Staff Antenna Engineer, Metaverse and Other Modern Smart Mobile Devices. He is a member
and an Antenna Manager. She is currently an Antenna Research Scientist of the IEEE AP-S Industrial Initiatives Committee and the IEEE AP-S
with Meta Reality Lab. She has authored or coauthored 21 journal and Young Professional Committee, a member and an industry liaison of the
conference papers and more than 20 patent grants and applications. Her IEEE AP-S Membership and Benefits Committee, a member of the IEEE
current research interests include transparent antenna design for smart glass MTT-S Technical Coordination Future Directions Committee—IoT Working
and augmented reality devices and millimeter-wave antenna in package or Group, and a member of the IEEE MTT-26 RFID, Wireless Sensors, and
antenna in module design for communications and sensing. IoT Committee.

VOLUME 4, 2023 167

You might also like