Over the previous two decades, a notable array of space exploration missions have been initiated with the primary aim of facilitating the return of both humans and robots from Earth to the moon. The significance of these endeavors cannot be emphasized enough as numerous entities, both public and private, from across the globe have invested substantial resources into this pursuit. Researchers have committed their efforts to addressing the challenges linked to lunar communication. Even with all of these efforts, only a few of the many suggested designs for communication and antennas on the moon have been evaluated and compared. These designs have also not been shared with the scientific community. To bridge this gap in the existing body of knowledge, this paper conducts a thorough review of lunar surface communication and the diverse antenna designs employed in lunar communication systems. This paper provides a summary of the findings presented in lunar surface communication research while also outlining the assorted challenges that impact lunar communication. Apart from various antenna designs reported in this field, based on their intended usage, two additional classifications are introduced: (a) mission-based antennas—utilized in actual lunar missions—and (b) research-based antennas—employed solely for research purposes. Given the critical need to comprehend and predict lunar conditions and antenna behaviors within those conditions, this review holds immense significance. Its relevance is particularly pronounced in light of the numerous upcoming lunar missions that have been announced.

Smart street LED lighting systems have received much attention driven by the need to save energy and the dramatic advances in the Internet of Things. This work proposes a new smart street lighting system that adaptively changes the street lights’ intensity based on traffic and weather conditions and provides a platform for monitoring road conditions and detecting lamp faults. The system transfers the data using the UDP protocol over NBIoT radio technology. It also maintains two-way communication between the luminaires and the central node. In order to ensure real-time response to traffic and avoid dimming delays, each light is locally controlled by a microcontroller based on the sensed traffic and weather data. The measurements of each luminaire are also sent to the central control node to locate lamp faults, detect emergency situations, and, if needed, broadcast on/off messages to the whole network’s luminaires. The system was implemented in a suburban street in Ras Al Khaimah. Evaluations proved that the system can locate and detect faulty lamps and vary the light intensity in real time based on traffic. It also resulted in energy savings of up to 55% compared to a normal LED street light network.

The United Arab Emirates has announced its first space mission to the moon by 2024. The Emirates Lunar Mission (ELM) consists of a micro rover, named Rashid, has a main objective of traversing the mid-latitude landing site and obtaining high resolution images of the lunar surface. Such an objective necessitates careful designs of the architecture and the different systems involved to ensure smooth integration and proper operation.The rover weigh around 10Kg and has 4 wheels that are designed to climb slopes of 20 degrees and rocks of maximum height of 10cm. Also, it is equipped with 2 wide field cameras that will be used for navigation and to increase the environmental awareness while the operator drives the rover remotely. Moreover, the rover is powered by the solar panels which are mounted in a certain angle to maximize the collecting of the solar energy. After the collection and battery charging, various regulated voltages are distributed to all subsystems.  The Rashid rover is designed with two communications channels. The primary communications channel is the main channel used during the mission and allows for high speed bandwidth and low power consumption (on the rover). The secondary communications channel uses more power and is slower, but is not dependent on the lander and is therefore used as a backup as well as the lunar night recovery phase.Despite being a small rover and its prime goal being a technology demonstrator, Rashid’s scientific instrument suite is substantial. The science instruments will provide data of the lunar surface environment allowing to investigate a vast variety of topics like geology of the Moon, lunar surface alteration mechanisms, Interaction of the soil with the solar wind and material suitability for future lunar missions. In this paper, the ELM mission, the rover subsystems as well as the science instruments are described in details.

The Emirates Lunar Mission is developing the small and light weight "Rashid" rover. The goals for this rover are to traverse several hundred meters on the lunar surface during the course of one lunar day. The Rashid rover's science objectives cover both fundamental science as well as engineering topics with the goal to enable future missions to the lunar surface, and other airless solar system bodies. Hence, Rashid will carry a suite of scientific instruments and an experiment, covering a wide range of the physical properties at the lunar surface. The focus of investigation for the microscopic imager (CAM-M) will be to measure the regolith particle size distribution, and the lunar surface structure at microscopic scales. The Langmuir probe system (LNG) will address  the  electron density profile of the sheath, its behavior over the course of the lunar day, and its dependence on topographic features.  A thermal imager (CAM-T) with low spatial resolution is also foreseen. Finally, the in-situ testing of the adhesive and abrasive properties of various materials to lunar regolith is planned to be conducted by the MAD experiment.  In this paper the science program and instrumentation of the Rashid mission will be outlined.

This article explores the influence of lunar regolith and rover structure, such as mast design and material composition, on antenna parameters. It focuses on the distinctive difficulties of communication in the lunar environment, which need specialized antenna solutions. This study specifically examines the performance of antennas on the lunar Rashid rover within the Atlas crater, a landing site on the moon, considering two antenna types: a sleeve dipole antenna and an all-metal patch antenna. Thermal analyses reveal temperatures in the Atlas crater can exceed 80 °C during lunar mid-day. The findings highlight the effect of different materials used as thermal coatings for Rashid rover antennas, as well as the influence of rover materials on antenna performance. Furthermore, this study extends to analyze the conductivity and depth of lunar regolith within the Atlas crater. Given the critical role of antennas in wireless communication, understanding how lunar regolith properties affect antenna performance is essential. This research contributes to the creation of a strong communication system for the Rashid rover and future lunar missions by considering the features of the lunar regolith in addition to the rover’s size and material attributes.