The next-generation wireless technology that can fulfill such a demand, namely the fifth-generation (5G) technology, should provide 1000 times larger capacity. Moreover, sixth-generation (6G) communication, which represents a significant upgrade from the fifth-generation (5G) network and is anticipated to operate from 100 GHz to 3 THz band, will be required in the years after 2030 due to newly developed data-hungry applications and the greatly expanded wireless network. To meet the ever-growing demands of wireless carriers, an efficient wireless access method that can improve wireless area throughput without expanding bandwidth or cell size is required. Radio Frequency (RF) Orbital Angular Momentum vortex waves (which is now on referred to as OAM waves) to address the concerns mentioned above have attracted much attention in recent years. Due to their orthogonality, different OAM waves of different modes can be multiplexed in the same frequency channel, which can greatly increase the channel capacity. Using the orthogonal modes, a new type of multiple access scheme known as Mode Domain Multiple Access (MDMA) can be used by multiple users using the same frequency channel without additional resources such as frequency and time. As a result, the channel capacity for the next generation wireless communication systems can be enhanced as well as the overall spectrum efficiency can be improved. This review paper begins with an overview of the next generation communication such as 5G communication technology and beyond. This paper first briefly discusses the theory of OAM waves and several methods to generate OAM waves. Various different designs have also been analyzed for their ability to generate OAM waves and discussion on several restrictions and solutions to resolve. Open concerns and development trends are discussed for possible future RF OAM antenna upgrades. This study also proposes that for next generation wireless communication employing OAM, the typically used Uniform Circular Array (UCA) could be paired with the Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) system to improve performance in dense or urban areas for multiusers. In addition, the purity of OAM-modes needs to be considered for efficient utilization of the OAM system for future communications at the radio domain.

An engineered composite conductor is essential for developing a wearable antenna that is not only flexible but also stretchable. This paper presents the use of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the substrate and custom polydimethylsiloxane-silver conductive paste for wearable applications. The antenna is designed with an air gap PDMS substrate between the patch and sawtooth partial ground at 3.5 GHz to enhance the bandwidth and gain. Furthermore, the proposed antenna is flexible and can be bent as well as stretched up to 20%, making it suitable for use on the human body. This study investigates the antenna’s performance under bending and stretching to mimic the human body’s structure and movements. Additionally, the specific absorption rate (SAR) of the wearable antenna was analyzed for safety purposes.

In this paper, a compact textile ultrawideband (UWB) planar monopole antenna loaded with a metamaterial unit cell array (MTMUCA) structure with epsilon-negative (ENG) and near-zero refractive index (NZRI) properties is proposed. The proposed MTMUCA was constructed based on a combination of a rectangular- and a nonagonal-shaped unit cell. The size of the antenna was 0.825 λ₀ × 0.75 λ₀ × 0.075 λ₀, whereas each MTMUCA was sized at 0.312 λ₀ × 0.312 λ₀, with respect to a free space wavelength of 7.5 GHz. The antenna was fabricated using viscose-wool felt due to its strong metal–polymer adhesion. A naturally available polymer, wool, and a human-made polymer, viscose, that was derived from regenerated cellulose fiber were used in the manufacturing of the adopted viscose-wool felt. The MTMUCA exhibits the characteristics of ENG, with a bandwidth (BW) of 11.68 GHz and an NZRI BW of 8.5 GHz. The MTMUCA was incorporated on the planar monopole to behave as a shunt LC resonator, and its working principles were described using an equivalent circuit. The results indicate a 10 dB impedance fractional bandwidth of 142% (from 2.55 to 15 GHz) in simulations, and 138.84% (from 2.63 to 14.57 GHz) in measurements obtained by the textile UWB antenna. A peak realized gain of 4.84 dBi and 4.4 dBi was achieved in simulations and measurements, respectively. A satisfactory agreement between simulations and experiments was achieved, indicating the potential of the proposed negative index metamaterial-based antenna for microwave applications.

An electrically tunable, textile-based metamaterial (MTM) is presented in this work. The proposed MTM unit cell consists of a decagonal-shaped split-ring resonator and a slotted ground plane integrated with RF varactor diodes. The characteristics of the proposed MTM were first studied independently using a single unit cell, prior to different array combinations consisting of 1 × 2, 2 × 1, and 2 × 2 unit cells. Experimental validation was conducted for the fabricated 2 × 2 unit cell array format. The proposed tunable MTM array exhibits tunable left-handed characteristics for both simulation and measurement from 2.71 to 5.51 GHz and provides a tunable transmission coefficient of the MTM. Besides the left-handed properties within the frequency of interest (from 1 to 15 GHz), the proposed MTM also exhibits negative permittivity and permeability from 8.54 to 10.82 GHz and from 10.6 to 13.78 GHz, respectively. The proposed tunable MTM could operate in a dynamic mode using a feedback system for different microwave wearable applications.

The paper presents a triband circular polarized rectangular dielectric resonator antenna. A single coaxial cable feeds the DRA to a double stub strip on the DRA side. A patch strip coupled to the feed assists in widening the bandwidth of the proposed DRA. The degenerate mode pair ${\mathrm{TE}}_{\partial 11}^{\mathrm{x}}$ and higher-$\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{E}}_{\partial 23}^{\mathrm{x}}$ has been excited to achieve CP and enhance the antenna gain. The higher-order mode has been excited using a low-cost simple excitation mechanism without compromising on the size and shape of the DRA. An impedance bandwidth of 48% with a gain ~6–9 dBic was achieved in all resonance frequencies. Additionally, the AR bandwidth of 5.5%, 4.2%, and 2.76% was obtained at three different frequencies. Note that the proposed DRA exhibits a wide beamwidth of 112^o, which is good for better signal reception. A comparison between the measured with simulated results shows that the measured results are matched by the simulated result trends.

Designing planar antenna with orbital angular momentum (OAM) radiation beam is quite challenging. Adding mode configurability in the OAM antenna further increases the complexity for practical realization. This article presents a novel modified single-fed uniform circular array (UCA) antenna capable of generating three OAM modes (l = -1, +1, and 0). These modes can be controlled electronically using three p-i-n diodes in real-time. A series-fed network with eight circularly polarized (CP) patches generates -1 and +1 OAM modes depending on two possible ways of excitation (i.e., clockwise or counterclockwise). Two-element linearly polarized (LP) array placed at the center of the UCA antenna generates l = 0 OAM mode. The CP elements are rotated sequentially along a circle maintaining 45between two consecutive elements to obtain the desired phase excitation. The final optimized antenna was fabricated on an FR4 substrate with the p-i-n diode switches. The experimental results show that the proposed UCA antenna successfully generates the desired OAM modes at 6 GHz. The proposed concept offers simple OAM mode reconfigurability and can be scaled to operate at other frequencies, making it advantageous for various vehicular and wireless communication applications.