Editorial

Antenna Designs for 5G/IoT and Space Applications, 2nd Edition

Faisel Tubbal 1,2, * , Ladislau Matekovits 3,4,5 and Raad Raad 1

1 School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunication Engineering, University of Wollongong,

Wollongong 2500, Australia; [email protected]
2 Technological Projects Department, Libyan Center for Remote Sensing and Space Science, Tripoli 21821, Libya
3 Dipartimento di Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy;
[email protected]
4 Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria dell’Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni, National Research Council,
10129 Turin, Italy
5 Department of Measurements and Optical Electronics, Politehnica University Timisoara,
300006 Timisoara, Romania
* Correspondence: [email protected]

1. Introduction
Antenna design has received renewed attention in the last few years. This is thanks
to an explosion of interest in a range of applications, from the Internet of Things, low-
frequency, long-range applications to high-frequency mmWave 5G mobile technologies.
There has also been renewed interest in wearable antennas that form body area networks.
These include wearable garments, as well as materials that directly attach themselves to skin,
such as e-skin. In addition to this, a renewed interest in space and space exploration has
restored attention in satellite technologies and applications, such as CubeSats, intersatellite
communications, and deep space exploration. All these emerging applications have brought
about novel concern in looking at special materials and new designs for antenna systems.
This will bring new challenges in designing such antennas.
For this purpose, this Special Issue intends to shed some light on recent advances in
antenna design for these new emerging applications and identify further research areas
in this exciting field of communication technologies. We invite researchers and practicing
engineers to contribute original research articles that discuss issues related but not limited
to the following:
o Antenna design for the Internet of Things;
Received: 20 March 2025
o Beamforming and smart antennas for 5G;
Accepted: 25 March 2025
o Antenna design for wearable applications;
Published: 26 March 2025
o Antenna design for body area networks;
Citation: Tubbal, F.; Matekovits, L.;
o Antenna design for chipless RFID;
Raad, R. Antenna Designs for 5G/IoT
and Space Applications, 2nd Edition. o Metamaterial-based antennas;
Electronics 2025, 14, 1308. o Smart antennas, beamforming, and MIMO;
https://doi.org/10.3390/ o Aeronautical and space applications;
electronics14071308 o Antenna design for CubeSat;
Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. o Antenna design for deep space communication;
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. o Antenna design for biomedical systems and applications;
This article is an open access article o Implanted antennas;
distributed under the terms and
o UWB and multispectral technologies and systems;
conditions of the Creative Commons
o MM-wave and THz antennas.
Attribution (CC BY) license
(https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/).

Electronics 2025, 14, 1308 https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14071308

Electronics 2025, 14, 1308 2 of 4

2. Short Presentation of the Papers

Arnaoutoglou et al. [1] presented a comprehensive review of tailored Internet of
Things (IoT) antenna designs, categorizing them based on their application areas, such as
biomedical applications, smart homes, and smart cities. The authors highlight the evolution
and specialization of antennas for each sector, noting the specific demands of antennas such
as low-profile, efficient antennas for biomedical devices (e.g., implantable antennas) and
tunable antennas for smart home connectivity. The review also emphasizes the importance
of multifunctional antennas capable of adapting to different IoT environments, with a
particular focus on challenges like beam-switching techniques for smart cities. The authors
emphasize the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to drive innovation in antenna
design, ensuring that both technical performance and practical user needs are met as IoT
technology continues to evolve.
Saeidi et al. [2] presented a review that explores the advancements in beam-steering
antennas for CubeSats, addressing key challenges such as power efficiency, miniaturization,
and integration with CubeSat platforms. Their review provides a detailed analysis of state-
of-the-art techniques such as phased arrays, metasurface-based designs, and reconfigurable
antennas. The paper highlights the limitations of traditional omnidirectional CubeSat
antennas and the need for adaptive communication solutions to improve gain and coverage
in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Moreover, their review paper compares various beam-steering
approaches, such as phased arrays (offering fast electronic beam steering, but high complex-
ity and power demands), dielectric lenses (efficient, but reliant on mechanical steering), and
leaky-wave antennas (simpler, but constrained by bandwidth limitations). The study sug-
gests hybrid techniques, including passive beamforming networks and metamaterial-based
designs, as potential solutions for overcoming current constraints.
Xiao et al. [3] proposed a single-layer, dual-band, shared-aperture phased array that
operates at S-/C-band direct-to-cellular satellite communications, using high-dielectric
ceramic substrates for miniaturization and optimal element spacing. The 8 × 8 Right
Hand Circular Polarization (RHCP) S-band receive array and the 16 × 16 Right Hand
Circular Polarization (LHCP) C-band transmit array achieve ±50◦ beam scanning without
grating lobes. To further enhance this performance, the authors used a sequential rotation
technique, ensuring improved circular polarization with an axial ratio (AR) of less than
3 dB. Covering 1.93–2.03 GHz (S-band) and 3.32–3.71 GHz (C-band), this design offers a
compact, scalable solution for future LEO satellite networks.
Miklavčič et al. [4] designed a novel sum channel radiating element for a patch-
monopole monopulse feed for the prime-focus illumination of deep symmetric reflectors in
S-band satellite ground stations. The circularly polarized slotted patch enhances monopulse
tracking, radiation symmetry, and channel isolation, improving aperture illumination
efficiency to 75%. The proposed design demonstrated a LHCP gain of 8 dBi and a 30 MHz
narrowband sum channel, making it suitable for LEO-satellite ground stations and small
satellite antennas. The design optimizations minimize spillover losses, contributing to
efficient and precise satellite tracking systems.
Inclán-Sánchez [5] introduced a low-cost, semitransparent, 3D-printed mesh patch
antenna design for urban communication that can be integrated into buildings’ windows
to enhance 5G/6G connectivity while preserving natural lighting. The proposed sub-
strateless metal mesh structure, fabricated using 3D printing and silver conductive paint,
achieves 60% transparency, a 2.7% bandwidth, and a peak gain of 5.4 dBi at 2.6 GHz. By
eliminating the substrate, the antenna minimizes losses, cost, and environmental impact,
offering a lightweight, scalable solution for smart building applications and urban network
infrastructure enhancement.
Electronics 2025, 14, 1308 3 of 4

Kabir et al. [6] proposed a compact, multi-band, circularly polarized, shared-aperture

antenna for CubeSat applications at S-band (2013–2043 MHz) and X-band (8320–8530 MHz).
The design integrates an S-band slot antenna with an X-band square patch antenna in one
signal antenna design to provide uplink/downlink communication links. The antenna
has circular polarization and achieves high gains of 7.7 dBic and 12.8 dBic at S-band and
X-band, respectively. The use of a partial reflective surface (PRS) dielectric layer enhances
the antenna performance. The S-band patch serves as a Telemetry, Tracking, and Command
(TT&C) antenna, while the X-band patch supports high-speed data downlink, making it
suitable for deep space CubeSat missions. The shared-aperture approach offers an efficient,
space-saving solution for future CubeSat communications.
Tran et al. [7] presented a drone-based wireless network system for post-disaster
communication, focusing on mitigating cross-link interference in local 5G networks. The
numerical analyses presented by the authors show that using circular polarization sig-
nificantly improves the Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR). In a scenario with only access
links, circularly polarized antennas improve the SIR from less than 20 dB to over 40 dB.
Similarly, in cases involving backhaul links, the proposed antenna system achieves an SIR
of 16.8 dB, which was challenging with conventional linear polarization. The proposed
system operates at 28 GHz with 100 MHz bandwidth and is suited for rapid deployment in
disaster-affected areas.
Yeo et al. [8] proposed a high gain 4 × 1 microstrip patch array antenna for 24 GHz
radar applications. The main idea is to add two metallic plates along the array axis, resulting
in enhanced gain. After appending metallic plates, the gain of the proposed antenna design
increased from 9.8 dBi to 16.8 dBi. The gain was maximized with a tilting angle of 70◦ and
a metallic plate length of 50 mm. The method demonstrated significant enhancements in
gain, radiation patterns, and input reflection coefficient. This approach can be applied to
radar, satellite communications, and future 5G/6G systems.
Abubakar et al. [9] presented an eight-element MIMO antenna system for 5G mobile
phones, designed with a modified E-slot on the ground to enhance isolation. The key idea
of using the E-slot is to reduce the coupling between antenna elements by suppressing
the ground current effects, achieving isolation greater than −21 dB in the 3.5 GHz band.
The proposed system operates in the 3.4–3.65 GHz frequency range and achieves a −6 dB
impedance bandwidth of 250 MHz. The system exhibits an envelope correlation coeffi-
cient (ECC) of <0.01 and an ergodic channel capacity of 43.5 bps/Hz, indicating excellent
performance for 5G MIMO applications.
Khaleel et al. [10] introduced a graphene plasmonic MIMO microstrip patch antenna
designed for THz wireless communication operating at a 1.9 THz resonance frequency. The
authors used E-shaped metamaterial (MTM) unit cells to enhance isolation from −35 dB to
−54 dB and employed graphene-based reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (G-RIS) placed
above the patches for beam steering in directions of ±60◦ . Moreover, they placed a graphene
artificial magnetic conductor (G-AMC) layer underneath the antenna to further improve the
gain from 4.5 dBi to 10 dBi. They claimed that their proposed antenna is suitable for IoT ap-
plications, providing high gain, data rates, and beam-steering capabilities for smart homes
and radar applications that require wide scanning angles and high-speed communication.
Atta Ullah et al. [11] proposed an eight-element phased array antenna for 5G hand-
portable devices, particularly smartphones. The antenna uses air-filled, slot-loop, metal-
ring elements arranged in a 1 × 8 linear configuration along the edge of the smartphone
mainboard, covering the 21–23.5 GHz sub-mm-wave 5G bands. The proposed design is
placed on a low-cost FR-4 substrate and provides high performance and low loss due to
the air-filled element configuration. It features a broad impedance bandwidth, an end-
fire radiation mode, and wide beam steering, making it ideal for 5G applications. The
Electronics 2025, 14, 1308 4 of 4

array is insensitive to various substrates and performs well in terms of gain, efficiency,
and radiation properties, even in the presence of the user’s hand. These characteristics
make it a suitable design for modern 5G smartphones, offering high efficiency and stable
performance across varying conditions.
Kim et al. [12] designed a flat-panel, metasurface, reflectarray antenna for satellite
applications, particularly in the C-band (5.8 GHz). The reflectarray antenna is designed
using a dual-ring resonator unit cell, which allows for steering the reflection angle of
incident waves without relying on Snell’s law. The antenna array consists of a 16 × 16 unit-
cell array, which was validated through measurement. The proposed antenna is fed by a
low-cost circular horn antenna, and the design procedure is scalable to any electromagnetic
(EM) solvers for analysis. The authors reported a measured gain of 22.4 dBi, with a
cross-polarization suppression of 36 dB and a reflection angle of 15◦ at normal incidence.
The design procedure is fully automated and demonstrates good agreement between the
simulated and measured results, with a slight error of 1–2◦ in the beam steering direction.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, F.T., L.M. and R.R.; methodology, F.T.; validation, L.M.
and R.R.; investigation, R.R., F.T. and R.R.; resources, F.T., L.M. and R.R.; writing—original draft
preparation, F.T.; writing—review and editing, L.M. and R.R.; visualization, F.T., L.M. and R.R.;
supervision, F.T.; project administration, F.T., L.M. and R.R. All authors have read and agreed to the
published version of the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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