High altitude platform (HAP) drones can provide broadband wireless connectivity to ground users in rural areas by establishing line-of-sight (LoS) links and exploiting effective beamforming techniques. However, at high altitudes, acquiring the channel state information (CSI) for HAPs, which is a key component to perform beamforming, is challenging. In this paper, by exploiting an interference alignment (IA) technique, a novel method for achieving the maximum sum-rate in HAP-based communications without CSI is proposed. In particular, to realize IA, a multiple-antenna tethered balloon is used as a relay between multiple HAP drones and ground stations (GSs). Here, a multiple-input multiple-output X network system is considered. The capacity of the considered M×N X network with a tethered balloon relay is derived in closed-form. Simulation results corroborate the theoretical findings and show that the proposed approach yields the maximum sum-rate in multiple HAPs-GSs communications in absence of CSI. The results also show the existence of an optimal balloon’s altitude for which the sum-rate is maximized.

The ever-increasing demand and need for high-speed communication have generated intensive research in the field of fifth-generation (5G) technology. Sub-6 GHz 5G mid-band spectrum is the focus of the researchers due to its meritorious ease of deployment in the current scenario with the already existing infrastructure of the 4G-LTE system. The 5G technology finds applications in enormous fields that require high data rates, low latency, and stable radiation patterns. One of the major sectors that benefit from the outbreak of 5G is the field of flexible electronics. Devices that are compact need an antenna to be flexible, lightweight, conformal, and still have excellent performance characteristics. Flexible antennas used in wireless body area networks (WBANs) need to be highly conformal to be bent according to the different curvatures of the human body at different body parts. The specific absorption rate (SAR) must be at a permissible level for such an antenna to be suited for WBAN applications. This paper gives a comprehensive review of the current state of the art flexible antennas in a sub-6 GHz 5G band. Furthermore, this paper gives a key insight into the materials for a flexible antenna, the parameters considered for the design of a flexible antenna for 5G, the challenges for the design, and the implementation of a flexible antenna for 5G.

This article presents a flexible four-element MIMO antenna designed on a thin polyimide substrate to operate at 30.50 GHz for wearable applications. The antenna element structure is a combination of circular rings combined with T-shape stubs. The MIMO antenna isolation is enhanced through a novel decoupling structure consisting of a rectangular stub, four open-ended horizontal strip lines, and two vertical strip lines connecting the ground plane. It provides 22.5 dB isolation, even with conformal orientation. A metamaterial (MTM) reflective surface of 9 × 9 unit cells is designed and placed below the antenna to improve its radiation characteristics, bandwidth, gain, and specific absorption rate (SAR). The metamaterial unit cell provides a double negative property with a wide stop-band range of 26.27-36.49 GHz. With an MTM surface, the measured bandwidth is 25.2-33 GHz with a maximum broadside gain of 8.90 dBi. The resulting SAR is reduced from 1.71 W/kg to 0.86 W/kg with MTM surface. The MIMO antenna with MTM improves the bandwidth by 56%, gain by 32.5%, and radiation from bidirectional to broadside, compared to the MIMO antenna without MTM. Also, the antenna is measured and validated for diversity parameters such as Envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), Diversity gain (DG), Channel coefficient loss (CCL), Total active reflection coefficient (TARC), and Mean effective gain (MEG). The reduced SAR and improved antenna performance suggest the proposed MIMO antenna with an MTM reflective surface is suitable for on-body wearable applications in IoT devices, smart watches, headwear, and footwear devices.

The 5th generation (5G) network was planned to provide a fast, stable, and future-proof mobile communication network to existing society. This research presents a highly compact arc shape structure antenna resonating at 28 GHz for prospective millimeter-wave purposes in the 5G frequency spectrum. The circular monopole antenna is designed with a radius of 1.3 mm. An elliptical slot on the radiating plane aids in achieving an enhanced bandwidth resonating at the frequency of 28 GHz. Including an elliptical slot creates new resonance and helps improve the bandwidth. The antenna has an ultra-compact dimension of 5 × 3 × 1.6 mm³, which corresponds to an electrical length of 0.46λ × 0.28λ × 0.14λ, where λ is free space wavelength at the resonant frequency. The projected antenna has an impedance bandwidth of 15.73 % (25.83–30.24 GHz). The antenna has a good radiation efficiency of 89%, and the average gain is almost 4 dB over the entire impedance bandwidth. The simulated and experimental S11 findings are in good agreement.