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Towards supporting a myriad of new services and applications under highly heterogeneous operating conditions, while dynamically adapting to capacity and quality-of-service (QoS) demands, the sixth generation (6G) communication systems are required to undergo significant advances. Along with the proliferation of devices, a multitude of challenges remain towards aspired performance, versatility, security, and cost-effectiveness of next generation networks. The aim of this work is to identify said challenges and promising approaches, within the scenario of dense and complex urban deployments enabled by optical-wireless coexistence. Towards enabling such operation scenario, our 6G vision focuses on various aspects of four main innovation paradigms. First, as future systems target network capacities beyond the capabilities of current technologies, the scientific trend of pursuing radio frequencies edging towards the THz domain continues. To ensure reliable and efficient deployment and mobility under the cell densification paradigm, particularly in complex urban environments, novel approaches are required to address the challenges as latency, signal blockages, and unreliable handovers. Second, towards enabling efficient operation under the heterogeneous scenario, we highlight the cooperative coexistence paradigm as a key feature of the underlying physical layer architecture. Third, joint and holistic resource optimization is required towards dynamically optimized support of mm-wave and sub-THz operation while retaining legacy coexistence, where we consider features that may benefit from the research paths proposed within the second paradigm. Fourth, network security is identified as critical towards the market adoption of technologies proposed within the first paradigm, where we highlight aspects unique to our scenario and network vision. We provide a comprehensive overview of promising state-of-the-art approaches and identify relevant research gaps while holistically addressing the four aforementioned innovation paradigms.

We propose a flexible cluster array concept utilizing diverse antenna elements and the mutual coupling among them to improve the spherical coverage. This innovative approach can not only enhance the impedance matching but also improve the beamforming performance across a wide frequency band by adjusting excitation amplitudes and phases. Equations are derived to achieve specific objectives such as minimizing the total active reflection coefficient or maximizing the realized gain of an antenna array. To validate the concept, we employ a cluster array consisting of eight non-identical patch antenna elements with strong mutual coupling. When compared to a conventional four-element patch antenna array of the same size, the cluster array exhibits high beamforming capability over a wider frequency band. Simulated and measured results confirm that the operational frequency band can be extended from 24.5–26.5 GHz to 24.5–29.5 GHz, while maintaining a spherical coverage of over 6 dBi at the 50%-tile cumulative distribution function (CDF) of maximum realized gain.

In this study, a Machine Learning (ML) is implemented to soft computation of the Reconfigurable Horn Bowtie Dumbbell (RHBD) antenna at operating frequency range from 26 GHz to 29.5 GHz for 5G applications. An adaptive learning rate approach is used to build a ML model on a 5-layer system utilizing a simulated database of 180 RHBD antennas. In the training stage of a hybrid method that combines the advantages of particle swarm optimization (PSO) with a modified version of the gravitational search algorithm (MGSA), the architecture frame and hyper-parameters of the ML model are optimized. A precise electromagnetic analysis platform is used to simulate 180 RHBD antennas with varying geometrical properties in terms of the resonant frequency in order to create the database for training and testing the model. The ML model is tested and validated using a fabricated RHBD antenna operating at 27.5 GHz. Then, three PIN diodes are placed in the gaps of the reflectors located at the back of the antenna, and by changing the state of these PIN diodes, it can be noticed that they have a significant and direct effect on the radiation pattern, as they are able to change the beamwidth from 10.7° to 156.2°. The suggested antenna makes it easier to create dynamic radiation patterns that may be utilized to reconfigure the coverage area as required in accordance with the spatial-temporal user and traffic variations in high mobility environments.

GaN integrated circuit technologies have dramatically progressed over the recent years. The prominent feature of GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), unparalleled output power densities, has created a paradigm shift in the established and emerging high-power applications. In this article, we present a review on the developments and prospects of GaN integrated circuit power amplifiers (PAs). The progress of GaN transistors including improvements in their important features, i.e., supply voltage, substrate material, transistor scaling approach, and device modeling are elaborated and the current state-of-the-art processes with 20-nm gate length, 450 GHz cut-off frequency, and over 600 V supply voltage are discussed. We also investigate developments in the GaN integrated circuit PA architectures and their implementation challenges including the reactive matching PAs capable of delivering over 100 W output power and operating up to 200 GHz, PA linearity, back-off efficiency enhancement, reconfigurable PAs, and distributed PA architectures. Finally, we discuss the prospects of GaN technology and possible future improvements, in transistor and circuit levels, which can advance performance and functionality of GaN integrated circuits.

In this article, a wideband aperture-coupled stacked-patch (ACSP) antenna on a flexible material for wireless applications at the WR-08 band is presented. It is shown that conventional designs of ACSP fail to achieve a large bandwidth at this frequency range, and a novel design methodology is proposed. We first propose a broadband impedance matching between the input port and the slot aperture based on two-section wideband distributed network (TWBDN). We also propose a TWBDN matched stacked patch (TMSP) network based on constant VSWR circles to attain broadband matching between the slot aperture and patches in an ACSP. To facilitate the measurements, a novel low-loss transition from a ground-signal-ground (GSG) port to a feedline is proposed. The proposed structure suppresses surface waves induced in the WR-08 band by placing via arrays around the feedline, which largely reduces unwanted resonance modes, thereby leading to uniformly high radiation efficiency across the band. The measured results of the fabricated antenna closely follow the simulations, and a measured peak gain of 7.95 dBi and $S_{11}\leq -10$ dB across a wide frequency range from 90 to 128.5 GHz is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 3-D printed quasi-elliptic waveguide bandpass filter (BPF) for 5G mm-wave application is proposed in this letter. First, by adjusting the coupling topology based on the typical 4th-order cross-coupled filter, the spurious mode below the passband is eliminated. Second, an increased-height resonator is proposed to decrease the electric coupling strength to avoid extremely small features, hence effectively reducing the sensitivity to the fabrication tolerances. Third, two types of defected ground structures (DGSs) on the filter shell are introduced to suppress two spurious modes above the passband. The stereolithography apparatus (SLA) 3-D printing with the electroplating copper plating technique is utilized to fabricate this filter for demonstration. A good agreement between simulated and experimental results verifies this design method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mm-wave frequency band, the rectifier’s sensitivity is the bottleneck of a wireless-powered IoT transponder’s distance. At a meter’s distance, the received power is weak, and transistors in a front end of a wireless power receiver operate in the weak inversion region. This article presents a mathematical analysis of the mm-wave multi-stage rectifier in the low-power region. A design methodology of a 57–64-GHz fully integrated eight-stage rectifier with a bulk-drain connection in 40-nm CMOS technology is presented. Parasitic effects on a multi-stage rectifier are analyzed. Based on the analysis, an intrinsic threshold voltage modulation is applied to improve the sensitivity. A tree-type power splitter is also proposed for the RF power signal’s phase balance. With this method, the RF signal arrives at each stage with an equal phase, and its suppression at the output is improved by 16 dB. This mm-wave rectifier achieves −7.1-dBm input sensitivity at 57 GHz with 1-V dc output voltage. The overall sensitivity from 57 to 64 GHz is better than −4.5 dBm. Compared to other mm-wave silicon-based rectifier state of the arts, the proposed mm-wave rectifier achieves better sensitivity while maintaining a compact size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The next-generation cellular system operating in millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) frequencies requires different signal processing schemes from the legacy LTE system. Among these, beam management aligns the transmitter-receiver pairs with narrow beams and serves as an essential initial acquisition procedure. This paper introduces a novel angle-based downlink precoding strategy, including beam selection and user scheduling for a full dimension (FD) MIMO-OFDM system. The highly directional mm-Wave channel allows the system to perform user/beam scheduling rather than pure user scheduling during the precoding process. A beam-based receive matrix eliminates the remaining intra-cell interference caused by overlapped beams. The performance analysis proves the superiority of the proposed precoding and scheduling strategies over the conventional technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slow response time of planar Liquid Crystal (LC)-based phase-shift metasurface and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) cells is addressed in this paper by introducing a polymer network LC (PNLC) mixture suitable at mm-wave bands. Since the conventional effective isotropic model used in optical cells for describing the PNLC is not suitable in RF, an effective anisotropic and uniaxial model for such mixture is provided and experimentally validated at 100 GHz for the first time. In order to compare the temporal performance and tunability of the PNLC, transmissive and reflective cells, containing conventional LC and PNLC, have been manufactured and measured at optical and mm-wave frequencies. The temporal responses of PNLC are also compared for both RF and optical cells, obtaining relevant differences between their improvement factors, which are also discussed. Specifically, a 50 fold response time improvement is attained in cells designed to work at 100 GHz, although at the expense of a 3X tunability reduction. The model, which is robust to varying angle of incidence and cell dimensions, has been experimentally validated by designing and manufacturing a PNLC reflectarray cell of a different geometry. The cell shows reconfigurability times of 210ms, representing a significant improvement with respect to state-of-the-art response time in mm-wave cells, which are in the order of several seconds.

This work investigates the theoretical bounds of the joint localization and synchronization processes in a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted system. We address the case of millimeter-wave ( $mm$ -Wave) multiple-input single-output (MISO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) with non-ideal transceivers. Considering a single antenna mobile station (MS) aims to estimate the parameters of the downlinks from the base station (BS) and the RIS by observing a known sequence received by the MS directly from the BS and indirectly through the RIS. The theoretical bounds of the estimation process are assessed by using the Fisher information matrix (FIM). A transformation matrix is then used to convert the FIM of the downlink channel parameters to the FIM of the MS joint localization and synchronization parameters. Specifically, the transformation matrix is derived based on the geometric relationships that convert the estimated downlink channels’ parameters to the position coordinates and clock offset. Next, the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) matrix of the joint localization and synchronization process is obtained by using the pseudo-inverse of the FIM. Thus, the position error bound (PEB), as well as the synchronization error bound (SEB), are calculated. Computer simulation results are provided to illustrate the adverse effects of the hardware impairments (HWIs) on the accuracy of localization and synchronization. These results are given in proportion to the effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the number of pilot transmissions, and the number of the RIS elements.

A millimeter-wave (mm-wave) antenna with enhanced gain for new 5G networks is introduced in this work. A rectangular slot antenna operating at the fundamental mode of the desired frequency band is utilized in this study. The antenna gain is improved by employing a Frequency Selective Surface (FSS). The FSS-based reflectors are designed at the same fundamental mode of the antenna and added under the antenna at a specific distance to achieve the required gain enhancement with a suitable dimension of 25 $\times 25\times5$ mm3. The antenna gain is increased by around 5.3 dBi when the FSS-based reflectors are added under the antenna. The antenna and the FSS are fabricated and tested. The antenna has tested outcomes without FSS with S11 ≤ −10 dB from 26 GHz up to 29.8 GHz and realized gain of around 4.5 dBi within the entire frequency band and radiation efficiency of around 93 %. While the antenna with FSS has achieved bandwidth with S11 ≤ −10 dB from 25.5 GHz up to 30.8 GHz and realized gain around 10.3 dBi at 28 GHz and radiation efficiency around 90 %. The simulated and tested outcomes have the same trend which validates the suggested antenna to be operated in the new 5G applications. All simulation results are completed using the CST Microwave Studio.

Millimeter-wave (mm-wave) communication is the spectral frontier to meet the anticipated significant volume of high data traffic processing in next-generation systems. The primary challenges in mm-wave can be overcome by reducing complexity and power consumption by large antenna arrays for massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) systems. However, the circuit power consumption is expected to increase rapidly. The precoding in mm-wave mMIMO systems cannot be successfully achieved at baseband using digital precoders, owing to the high cost and power consumption of signal mixers and analog-to-digital converters. Nevertheless, hybrid analog–digital precoders are considered a cost-effective solution. In this work, we introduce a novel method for optimizing energy efficiency (EE) in the upper-bound multiuser (MU) - mMIMO system and the cost efficiency of quantized hybrid precoding (HP) design. We propose effective alternating minimization algorithms based on the zero gradient method to establish fully-connected structures (FCSs) and partially-connected structures (PCSs). In the alternating minimization algorithms, low complexity is proposed by enforcing an orthogonal constraint on the digital precoders to realize the joint optimization of computational complexity and communication power. Therefore, the alternating minimization algorithm enhances HP by improving the performance of the FCS through advanced phase extraction, which involves high complexity. Meanwhile, the alternating minimization algorithm develops a PCS to achieve low complexity using HP. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm for MU - mMIMO systems improves EE. The power-saving ratio is also enhanced for PCS and FCS by 48.3% and 17.12%, respectively.

A modular dual-polarized Vivaldi antenna array design for 18–30 GHz frequency is presented. The array module consists of the antenna and RF modules. The antenna module comprises $4\times 4$ dual-polarized antenna elements with element spacing of $\lambda $ /2 at 30 GHz. The RF module contains the amplifiers and phase shifters that control all the elements using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) flip-chip components. The footprint of the RF module is the same as that of the antenna module allowing assembly of antenna arrays of almost any size and shape. Additionally, the interface between the antenna and the RF modules is connectorless, decreasing the number of components required in the assembly and decreasing the overall cost of the system. An array of $4\times 8$ dual-polarized antenna elements is constructed from two array modules to prove the seamless operation of the modular design. The prototype uses Anokiwave chips with a frequency range from 26.5 GHz to 29.5 GHz. The measured amplitude and phase of the electric field in front of the antenna aperture is uniform so as to equally feed the elements. Additionally, the demonstrated beam steering up to ±60° in the plane of the larger array dimension matches well with the simulations, proving the feasibility of the design.

This paper presents a transmitter (TX) and a receiver (RX) with a cross-polarized bowtie-antenna on a silicon lens for gas spectroscopy at 222–270 GHz and the doubled frequency at 444–540 GHz. TX and RX are fabricated in 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. Both use two integrated local oscillators for frequency subbands 222–256 GHz and 250–270 GHz, which allow operating in one branch of the TX and RX at 222–270 GHz and in a second branch of the TX and RX at 444–540 GHz by frequency doubling. The directivity of the cross-polarized bowtie-antenna of the TX and RX is optimized for these two frequency bands with an estimated value of 24.4 dBi at 260 GHz, and 29.5 dBi at 520 GHz. Absorption spectroscopy of gaseous methanol is used as a measure for the performance of the TX and RX in the lower and upper frequency bands.

In this work, characterizations are performed to investigate the stability of an mm-wave GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor HEMT. Bias temperature instability (BTI) experiment conducted at various voltages and temperatures show a highly stable threshold voltage (${V}_{\text {TH}}$) with both positive BTI (PBTI) and negative BTI (NBTI) attributing to the high quality of SiN gate dielectric. In addition, ${V}_{\text {TH}}$ shift (${\Delta } {V}_{\text {TH}}$) under reverse-bias step-stress is further monitored, achieving small ${\Delta } {V}_{\text {TH}} < {0.1}$ V and a recoverable behavior below ${V}_{\text {D}}$ , stress = 60 V. After 104 s of stress at 175°C, under the OFF-state high drain-bias, ${\Delta } {V}_{\text {TH}}$ is 0.15 V, and a larger ${V}_{\text {TH}}$ shift (0.23 V) is observed under On-state drain-bias of 28 V due to the high electric-field. According to the time-dependent dielectric breakdown prediction, +3.0 V gate voltage stress at a failure rate of 0.01 % can be extrapolated for mm-wave MIS-HEMT. These findings guarantee a good stability for the device utilized in power amplifier applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief presents a comprehensive tutorial on the recent advances of injection-locking techniques used for millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) and terahertz (THz) signal generation systems. Injection locking has the potential to significantly improve the system performance in terms of low phase noise and low power consumption. The focus will be on the state-of-the-art injection-locking techniques to effectively widen the locking range and reduce the phase noise, including injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFDs), injection-locked frequency multipliers (ILFMs), and sub-harmonic injection-locked phase-locked loops (IL-PLLs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a 150-GHz regenerative low-power miniature two-way radio integrated with on-chip antennas. The low-power radio is based on a reconfigurable fundamental oscillator array that can be used as a sub-terahertz (THz) source in the transmitter (Tx) mode and a sub-THz super-regenerative detector in the receiver (Rx) mode supporting ON–OFF keying (OOK) modulation. The oscillators are coupled through a low-loss integrated Marchand balun-based coupling network that guarantees far-field constructive interference at the Rx side. A 2 $\times $ 2 on-chip patch antenna array is designed with a new adaptive metal-fill placement methodology that largely reduces antenna losses and off-tuning present in sub-THz/THz frequency antenna designs without the need for bulky silicon lenses. Our proof-of-concept prototype achieves a maximum EIRP of 8.52 dBm at a frequency of 149 GHz, an Rx sensitivity of −70 dBm, and a dc-to-EIRP efficiency of 30.7% with no silicon lens, which is the highest efficiency reported of all the silicon-based sub-THz transceivers (TRxs) in the 150-GHz range. The moderate 2 $\times $ 2 array size with no silicon lens offers a large field of view (FoV) of ±40°, which eases node finding and link establishment in deployment. Our miniature low-power radio prototype consumes 11.6 mW in the Tx mode and 10 mW in the Rx mode after duty cycling. Wireless peer-to-peer network measurements with OOK modulation using a 10-Mb/s data rate demonstrate a chip-to-chip communication distance of 70 cm and BER $\le $ 10 $^{-5}$ at/above −55-dBm received power and a BER of 6 $\times $ 10 $^{-3}$ at −70-dBm received power. The prototype chip was designed using the GlobalFoundries 45-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process, and it occupies a total chip area of 2.1 mm $\times $ 2.1 mm, including the antenna array, making it particularly apt for ultra-miniaturized, high-security, and stealth Internet-of-Things (IoT) nodes for intelligent edge networks and wearable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief presents the modeling and design of a static current-mode logic, divide-by-2 frequency divider for mm-wave frequency synthesis. An optimized design procedure based on the $RC$ delay model and insights into the nonlinear mixing conversion gain of the injection-locking model are presented and leveraged towards the design of an inductor-less 28-nm CMOS prototype that achieves 72 GHz maximum input frequency and power-delay product of 21.5 fJ. Performance can be tuned to 66 GHz and 16.9 fJ, respectively, via lowering the supply voltage. In addition to standalone measurements with an off-chip input signal, a fundamental-frequency dual-core voltage-controlled oscillator provides on-chip and realistic input signal generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep learning and artificial intelligence, in general, is advancing scientific discovery and technological inventions through its ability to extract inherently hidden features and map it to output in a highly complex multi-dimensional space. Synthesis of electromagnetic (EM) structures with nearly arbitrary with desired functional properties is such an example of a high dimensional optimization space. In this article, we employ deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to allow robust and rapid prediction of scattering properties of nearly arbitrary planar electromagnetic structures on chip. Utilizing this, the work reports an mm-wave PA in 90-nm SiGe with a novel deep learning-enabled inverse design of low-loss, broadband output matching network that achieves a PAE of 16%–24.7%, a saturation power of 16.7–19.5 dBm across Psat, 3 dB bandwidth of 30–94 GHz (103.2%), while supporting both single-carrier high-speed modulation and concurrent multiband multi-Gb/s non-constant amplitude modulation. The Psat, 3 dB bandwidth covers from 5G band up to W-band and is higher than all reported mm-wave silicon PAs which have peak PAE > 20% and demonstrates for the first time concurrent multiband (triple-band) transmission with superior performance at multi-Gb/s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we present a new class of thickness extensional microelectromechanical resonator, the overmoded bulk acoustic resonator (OBAR) for filtering applications in the 5G millimeter wave (mm-wave) spectrum. This resonator operates in a second overtone thickness mode with approximately equal thickness electrodes and piezoelectric layer so that acoustic energy is distributed evenly between the different layers. Compared to a fundamental mode at a fixed frequency, the OBAR possess a $3\times $ thicker piezo layer and 5– $10\times $ thicker metal electrodes, enabling manufacturable 30–60 GHz devices. We demonstrate the OBAR experimentally through fabrication of a Pt-AlN-Al device with electromechanical-coupling coefficient ($k_{t}^{2}$) of 1.7%, and series resonance quality factor ($Q_{s}$) of 110 at 33 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A phased-array fed reflector antenna system is presented which can be used for mm-wave base station applications. The proposed system is designed to support massive-multi-input–multi-output (MIMO) scenarios within a wide coverage ($\pm 30^\circ $) in the azimuth plane and a limited coverage at the elevation plane. A design and characterization methodology has been established to optimize the system for the operation in various line-of-sight conditions by adopting the maximum-ratio-transmission (MRT) and zero-forcing (ZF) MIMO algorithms. A two-user MIMO case study has been considered for the evaluation of the key system performance metrics, i.e., the effective isotropic radiated power, power consumption, signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR), and signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR). This study demonstrates that the phased-array fed reflector concept has a major advantage over traditional direct-radiating phased-array (DRPA) antennas to reduce energy consumption. In the present example, it requires 12–14 dB less transmitted power as compared with the MRT-beamformed DRPAs for the same SNR, and 26–27 dB less transmitted power relatively to ZF-beamformed DRPA systems for the same SINR. A prototype, employing a 55 cm diameter torus reflector and operating at 28 GHz-band, has been manufactured and tested. The measurement results agree well with simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, we have explored the DC, small and large-signal RF reliability of the Power Amplifier (PA) cell for mm-wave applications under DC and RF stress. The PA cell comprises of a single transistor that employs 45RFSOI technology. For the first time here, a PA cell consisting of p-channel partially depleted Silicon-On-Insulator (PD-SOI) FET has been investigated for large-signal reliability behavior. At the same stress conditions, the impact of hot carrier degradation (HCD) on a p-channel FET (PFET) PA cell is also compared with the n-channel FET (NFET) PA cell. As the reliability of the PFET PA cell is superior than NFETs, a deeper investigation of hot carrier degradation and its impact on PA cell reliability is carried out. The PA cell is subjected to extensive RF characterization for varying DC stress and RF power at the gate terminal. The behavior of the time slope exponent of the PFET PA cell is studied to understand the nature of defects. Accelerated aging experiments using DC bias at drain/gate terminals and RF power at the gate terminal is performed. These results show that the RF reliability of the PFET PA cell is superior than its counterpart NFET PA cell at mm-wave frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research work presents the analysis, design, and characterization of a concept for an mm-wave divide-by-4 frequency divider utilizing an extended true single-phase clock (E-TSPC) and a TSPC divide-by-2 stage. The divider operates from 16 to 70 GHz from a 0.8-V supply with the highest power consumption of 0.35 mW. Operating frequencies up to 53 GHz were reached with a supply voltage of only 0.5 V at 0.12-mW power consumption. The self-resonance frequency of the circuit is adjustable through backgate biasing from 40 up to 70 GHz at 0.9-V supply, allowing a reduction in the required input power in this frequency range. Locking ranges up to 114% have been measured by changing only the backgate voltage. The circuit design is illustrated in detail and supported with original analysis and an explicit expression to calculate the self-oscillation frequency of the E-TSPC divider. The presented circuit was fabricated on a 22-nm fully depleted silicon-on-isolator complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology and occupies an active area of $3.4 ~\mu \text{m}^{2}$. The circuit requires the lowest power consumption and area among state-of-the-art RF frequency dividers, while it demonstrates the second widest adjustable operating frequency range and the second highest self-resonance frequency for CMOS D-flip-flop frequency dividers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phased arrays, commonly used in IEEE 802.11ad and 5G radios, are capable of focusing radio frequency signals in a specific direction or a spatial region. Beamforming achieves such directional or spatial concentration of signals and enables phased array-based radios to achieve high data rates. Designing beams for millimeter wave and terahertz communication using massive phased arrays, however, is challenging due to hardware constraints and the wide bandwidth in these systems. For example, beams which are optimal at the center frequency may perform poor in wideband communication systems where the radio frequencies differ substantially from the center frequency. The poor performance in such systems is due to differences in the optimal beamformers corresponding to distinct radio frequencies within the wide bandwidth. Such a mismatch leads to a misfocus effect in near-field systems and the beam squint effect in far-field systems. In this paper, we investigate the misfocus effect and propose InFocus, a low complexity technique to construct beams that are well suited for massive wideband phased arrays. The beams are constructed using a carefully designed frequency modulated waveform in the spatial dimension. InFocus mitigates beam misfocus and beam squint when applied to near-field and far-field systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents challenges and design perspectives for terahertz (THz) integrated circuits and systems. THz means different things to different people. From International Telecommunication Union (ITU) perspective, THz radiation primarily means frequency range from 300 – 3000 GHz. However, recently, a more expansive definition of THz has emerged that covers frequencies from 100 GHz to 10 THz, which includes sub-THz (100 – 300 GHz), ITU-defined THz frequencies. This definition is now commonly used by communication theorists, and since this paper is intended for people with a wide variety of expertise in system and circuit design, we have adopted the latter definition. The paper brings to the open unmitigated shortcomings of conventional transceiver architectures for multi gigabit-per-second wireless applications, unfolds challenges in designing THz transceivers, and provides pathways to address these impediments. Furthermore, it goes through design challenges and candidate solutions for key circuit blocks of a transceiver including front-end amplifiers, local oscillator (LO) circuit and LO distribution network, and antennas intended for frequencies above 100 GHz.

The AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructure is attractive for microwave and millimeter-wave power devices due to its thin top barrier, tight carrier confinement, and improved breakdown voltage. This work explores the large-signal RF performance of high-electron-mobility transistors on this heterostructure. Results are highlighted by record high on-current of 3.6 A/mm, and record maximum oscillation frequency ( $f_{max}$ ) of 233 GHz. The load-pull power sweep at 10 GHz demonstrate a peak power added efficiency (PAE) of 22.7% with an associated gain ( $G_{T}$ ) of 8.7 dB and output power ( $P_{out}$ ) of 3 W/mm. When optimized for power, the peak $P_{out}$ of 3.3 W/mm has an associated PAE of 14.7% and $G_{T}$ of 3.2 dB. This first demonstration is encouraging for the mm-wave power potential of the AlN/GaN/AlN HEMT.

Accurate prediction of the large-scale channel fading is fundamental to planning and optimization in 5G millimeter-wave cellular networks. The current prediction methods, which are either too computationally expensive or inaccurate, are unsuitable for city-scale cell planning and optimization. This paper presents FadeNet, a convolutional neural-network enabled alternative for predicting large-scale fading with high computation speed and accuracy. By using carefully designed input features and neural-network architecture to capture topographical information, FadeNet accurately predicts the large-scale fading from a base station to each location in its coverage area. Evaluations on realistic data, derived from millimeter-wave cells across multiple cities, suggest that FadeNet can achieve a prediction accuracy of 5.6 decibels in root mean square error. In addition, by leveraging the parallel processing capabilities of a graphics processing unit, FadeNet can reduce the prediction time by 40X - 1000X in comparison to industry prevalent methods like ray-tracing. Generalizations of FadeNet, that can handle variable topographies and base station heights, and its use for optimal cell site selection are also explored.

Recent standardization of portions of the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band for fifth-generation (5G) operation has called for further research on how short-term fading behaves in that unexplored part of the spectrum. With such a target, this paper reports on a thorough measurement campaign conducted in an indoor environment characterized by rich-multipath scattering, a part of a modern building, with floor and ceiling constructed of reinforced concrete over steel plates with wood and plasterboard-paneled walls. Particularly, measurements have been performed in a variety of scenarios, under line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (nLoS) conditions, for a wide range of frequencies, namely from 25 to 40 GHz- a span of 15 GHz- therefore, including 26, 28 and 39 GHz. First and second order statistics of representative fading models, namely Rayleigh, Rice, Nakagami, folded normal, ${\alpha } $ - ${\mu } $ , ${\eta } $ - ${\mu }$ , ${\kappa } $ - ${\mu } $ , and ${\alpha } $ - ${\eta } $ - ${\kappa } $ - ${\mu } $ have been investigated. The metrics used in the analysis were the normalized mean square error (NMSE), the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS), and the Akaike information criterion (AIC). Additionally, the study of the ${\kappa } $ - ${\mu } $ model is advanced, in which new, exact, simple closed-form expressions for probability density function, cumulative distribution function, and level crossing rate are derived for some particular cases, namely for ${\mu = n+ 1/2}$ in which ${n\in {{\mathbb {N}}}}$ .

This paper presents a compact dual-band and dual-polarized millimeter-wave patch antenna array with satisfactory performance on element mutual coupling and beam scanning capabilities. Using capacitive feed technique and stacked configuration with extra parasitic strips, the proposed antenna array is able to achieve a wide operating bandwidth in both the low- and high-bands. In order to reduce the array’s footprint, and to enhance the beam scanning performance in both bands, the element spacing is shrunk to less than 0.36 wavelength at 26 GHz. To improve the isolation between array elements due to their small spacings, two effective decoupling approaches are adopted, which result in a 6-dB isolation enhancement. The overall size of the proposed antenna array is only 18.2 mm $\times4.1$ mm $\times1.07$ mm, which is smaller than some industrial mm-Wave antenna modules released recently. Our simulation shows that the antenna array can fully cover the 5G NR bands of n258~n261 simultaneously. The four-element array provides ±60° and ±45° beam scanning performance in the low- and high-bands, respectively. The experimental data of reflection coefficient, mutual coupling, and radiation patterns confirm with the simulated results, rendering the proposed array to be a good candidate for 5G mm-Wave communications.

The millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band is expected to be the optimal solution for future wireless communication systems as it provides a wide bandwidth, which enhancing data transmission rate. Therefore, high-directive antennas, principal elements for mm-wave wireless communications, are used at the mm-wave band as they can overcome the negative effect of high path losses. A transmit-array antenna (TA) operates at the mm-wave band (around 28 GHz) with high aperture efficiency, high gain, wide bandwidth, and low-profile TA surface has been designed. Basically, the aperture efficiency of the TA depends on the unit cell (UC) characteristics, and feed antenna radiation pattern. Therefore, the UC elements designed based on capacitive differential feeding and true time delay techniques, as a result the designed UC has a wide bandwidth with a stable broadside radiation pattern, high cross-polarization discrimination and a full phase range (0–360°) and a maximum element loss of 0.5 dB. Moreover, the designed UC rotates the polarization of linearly polarized electromagnetic (EM) wave to its orthogonal direction with high efficiency, a polarization conversion ratio higher than 0.9 is achieved within the operating frequency band. The used techniques to design the proposed UC have a significant effect on TA antenna performance, in terms of gain and bandwidth. The TA antenna surface and the feeding antenna have been designed and fabricated. The maximum gain is 31.15 dBi. The 1 dB gain bandwidth is 12.7% while the 3 dB gain bandwidth is 21% around 28 GHz. The aperture efficiency is better than 50% and the cross-polarization level is less than −37 dB, on the frequency range from 25 to 31.5 GHz.

The integration of sub-6-GHz and millimeter-wave (mm-wave) bands has become an important issue for future fifth generation (5G) wireless communications owing to their large frequency ratios. This paper proposes a compact-size dual-function antenna operating at 3.5 GHz and the mm-wave band (28 GHz) for 5G mobile applications using a frequency reconfigurability technique. The proposed antenna comprises a microstrip patch linked with a meandered radiating structure through a radio frequency PIN diode to achieve frequency reconfigurability between the two bands. A significant size reduction up to 15.3 mm × 7.2 mm × 0.508 mm for the proposed antenna was achieved using a meandered line structure and truncated ground plane. To enhance the functionality, 8 × 8 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with possible long- and short-edge antenna placement configurations were demonstrated. The system exhibited satisfactory MIMO characteristics with wide decoupling -10 dB bandwidths of 7.4% and 4.8% at the low- and high-frequency bands, respectively, without utilizing any external decoupling structure. The simulated results were validated using fabricated prototypes, and good agreement was observed. Additionally, a safety analysis based on the specific absorption rate and power density at the prescribed frequency bands was conducted using a realistic human model, and the results were found to be in accordance with the safety guidelines. Owing to the integration of sub-6-GHz and mm-wave bands in a single compact structure with a large frequency ratio and good MIMO performance, the proposed antenna system is suitable for future 5G mobile handheld devices.

This paper presents a transmitter (TX) and a receiver (RX) with bowtie-antenna and silicon lens for gas spectroscopy at 222-270 GHz, which are fabricated in IHP’s $0.13~\mu \text{m}$ SiGe BiCMOS technology. The TX and RX use two integrated local oscillators for 222 – 256 GHz and 250 – 270 GHz, which are switched for dual-band operation. Due to its directivity of about 27 dBi, the single integrated bowtie-antenna with silicon lens enables an EIRP of about 25 dBm for the TX, and therefore a considerably higher EIRP for the 2-band TX compared to previously reported systems. The double sideband noise temperature of the RX is 20,000 K (18.5 dB noise figure) as measured by the Y-factor method. Absorption spectroscopy of gaseous methanol is used as a measure for the performance of the gas spectroscopy system with TX- and RX-modules.

This paper presents a fully integrated linear power amplifier (PA) in a 65-nm CMOS process for mm-wave 5G applications. The proposed linear PA employs a compact symmetrical 4-way parallel–parallel power combiner with a third-order intermodulation distortion (IMD3) cancellation method to achieve high linear output power with a high power-added efficiency (PAE). An on-chip 4-way parallel–parallel power combiner, which combines the output power from 8-unit PAs, is designed with a compact footprint ( $241\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 241\,\,\mu \text{m}$ ). Conventional series power-combining transformer based power combiners have poor symmetrical performance for the amplitude and phase of the input impedance among unit PAs owing to the parasitic effects of the power combiners. However, the proposed parallel–parallel power combiner, which is based on parallel power-combining transformer structures, shows good symmetrical performances among unit PAs. Moreover, an IMD3 cancellation method using a parallel–parallel power combiner is proposed in this work. The proposed IMD3 cancellation method can support high-order modulation signals without increasing the complexity and reduce the dependence for digital predistortion (DPD). Consequently, the proposed linearization method obtains a high linear POUT and PAE without DPD. The PA in 65-nm CMOS demonstrates a saturated output power (PSAT) of 23.2 dBm, a 15.9-dB power gain, a 1-dB compressed output power ( $\text{P}_{\mathrm {O,1dB}}$ ) of 22 dBm, and a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 33.5% at 28 GHz. The measured error vector magnitude with 100 Msym/s of 256/512-QAM is −31.2/−32.1 dB with average output power of 18.02/17.73 dBm, average PAE of 17.6/16.1%, and adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) of −30/−33.1 dBc without DPD. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the proposed PA demonstrates high output power with the highest PAE performance supporting 256/512-QAM compared to the recently published fully integrated mm-wave 5G CMOS PAs.

The deployment of the Millimeter-Wave (mm-Wave) band in 5G and beyond wireless communications networks is one of the emerging fields owing to its potential of providing extensive bandwidth. Frequency Hopping (FH) has a high potential for use in wireless networks due to its key advantages of spreading the interference over wide bandwidth and of providing diversity gain in counteracting frequency-selective fading. Furthermore, Fast Frequency Hopping (FFH) intrinsically amalgamated with directional Beamforming (BF) may overcome the impairments because of the path-loss of mm-Wave communications. Thus, we propose FFH assisted base-band precoding aided BF for mitigating the mm-wave channel impairments imposed by both fading as well as path loss, whilst relying on a minimal range of radio frequency chains. The mathematical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that hybrid precoded FFH is indeed a promising high-capacity technique of attaining both time- and frequency-domain diversity gains for the mm-Wave communications.

A dual-band quad-polarized transmitarray (TA) is designed in a common aperture operating at 25.9/39.8 GHz. Using narrow strip patches as cells, the 25.9 GHz cells are arranged in the ±45° direction, and the 39.8 GHz cells are arranged in the 0/90° direction in the formed square gap of the 25.9 GHz cells to realize a compact design with four polarization directions. In each band of 25.9/39.8 GHz, the proposed TA is dual-polarization designed. Measurements show that the expected beams can be achieved, and their 3 dB gain bandwidth covers almost all of the 5G bands n258 (24.25–27.5 GHz) and n260 (37–440 GHz). This TA has potential application value in 5G construction.

In this communication, a dual-band shared aperture antenna is presented. The proposed antenna achieves dual-band operation by housing both a low-frequency patch antenna array and a high-frequency reflectarray in the same aperture area. The two different antenna types are combined into a single-antenna product without any significant performance loss. The antenna has a layered structure that allows the low-frequency antenna array to have both a sufficient impedance bandwidth and realized gain. The antenna has a shared aperture since the high-frequency reflectarray has unit elements within the area of the low-frequency patch antenna array. This allows the antenna to achieve a good realized gain in the high-frequency band. The proposed antenna is fabricated and measured. The prototype is designed for S- and Ka-bands resulting in a frequency ratio of 7.37. The shared aperture size is 156 mm $\times156$ mm $\times4.624$ mm ($1.82\lambda \times 1.82\lambda \times 0.05\lambda $ at S-band and $13.4\lambda \times 13.4\lambda \times 0.40\lambda $ at Ka-band). Measurements show the impedance bandwidth to be 200 MHz (6%) and 5.1 GHz (20%) and the peak realized gain to be 13.70 and 27.65 dBi at 3.5 and 25.8 GHz, respectively. A very good agreement between the simulated and measured results is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a photonically-excited antenna array at E-band for scanning by beam switching in wireless links. First, we discuss the proposed technique applied to photonic-enabled (sub)millimeter-wave transmitters. Next, we present our implementation; it consists of two sub-arrays of stacked patches as primary feeds of a Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) lens, with one photodiode feeding each sub-array. To validate the assembly, the return loss and radiation patterns have been measured for one of the sub-arrays excited with a coplanar probe. In turn, the lens illuminated by one of the sub-arrays yields a directivity of 27 dBi. The radiation patterns measured for the transmitter module (including the lens) are in very good agreement with full-wave simulations, and they show that excitation of one of either sub-arrays allows beam switching between $\pm 2.7^\circ$ with a beam crossover at $-3\, \mathrm{dB}$. Finally, we have tested the transmitter in a 0.6 m wireless link. Depending on the position of the detector and on which sub-array is excited, we have accomplished 5 Gbps transmission for on-off-keying modulation and direct detection (BER $=10^{-11}$). The system constitutes an initial proof of photonic-assisted beam switching for mm-wave transmitters enabling broadband operation with a directive and switchable beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter introduces a wide tuning range voltage-controlled oscillator with quadrature outputs, which uses current-combining for four times frequency multiplication from 15 to 60 GHz. The oscillator is based on an eight-stage interleaved ring oscillator (RO), where the supply currents of the oscillator stages are reused for frequency multiplication and quadrature signal generation within two transformers. For this purpose, the RO is supplied through the primary center taps of the transformers. That results in an alternating current in the transformer with a frequency of four times the RO frequency. The secondary sides of the transformers provide the frequency multiplied quadrature-phase output signals. The oscillator (area: 0.135 mm2) was fabricated in a 28-nm CMOS process. The measurement results show that it achieves a very wide tuning range of 66% and has a power demand of 15.3 mW at 60 GHz (PN: −63.5 dBc/Hz, FOM: −163.6 at 1-MHz offset). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low relative permittivity plastic elliptical lenses in combination with integrated focal plane arrays are a promising solution to be used in the future mm- and sub-mm-wave systems. Their appeal lies in the availability of materials with moderate loss and lightweight, and the possibility to use cost-effective manufacturing techniques. However, the achievable scanning angular range is relatively small with low permittivity lenses. In this article, we explore the use of dielectric gratings with modulated height integrated in the lens material, with the aim of enlarging the steering angle. The dielectric gratings synthesize a tilted feed pattern, reducing the reflection loss and spillover when illuminating the lens off-focus. A quasi-analytic approach based on the Floquet mode analysis of the gratings is used to synthesize the grating profile. This method is combined with an analysis in reception of the lens antenna. A wideband prototype in $G$ -band (140–220 GHz) has been fabricated, achieving a field of view of ±25° with gain >30 dBi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a 22.9–38.2-GHz dual-path noise-canceling low noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed, which can achieve a low noise figure (NF) by reducing the noise of both paths. Such LNA consists of one common gate (CG) amplifier with one three-stage transformer, one resistive feedback common-source (CS) amplifier, and two amplitude-adjusting amplifiers. The three-stage transformer is used in the CG amplifier to provide gain-boosting, noise-reducing, and wideband inter-stage matching operation, simultaneously. Meanwhile, amplitude-adjusting amplifiers with reconfigurable phase-tuning lines are utilized in both paths to optimize the noise-canceling performance. To verify the aforementioned principle, a dual-path noise-canceling LNA is implemented and fabricated using a conventional 28-nm CMOS technology. The proposed LNA consumed 18.9 mW under a 0.9-V supply. The measured NF is 2.65–4.62 dB within the operating frequency range of 22.9–38.2 GHz, while the peak gain is 14.5 dB. The in-band input 1-dB compression point (IP1 dB) and input third-order intercept point (IIP3) are −13.2 to −6.6 and −3.6 to 3.2 dBm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the concept of a double maximum achievable gain (double- $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$) core for the implementation of sub-terahertz high-gain amplifier design. The double- $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$ core is a $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$ core that adopts another linear, lossless, and reciprocal network that satisfies the $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$ condition onto an even number of cascaded transistor-level $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$ cores. It is shown that the double- $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$ core, due to its regenerative nature, can achieve much higher gain per stage than that of the same number of cascaded $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$ cores while satisfying the unconditional stability. Implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process, by adopting the proposed double- $G_{\mathrm{ max}}$ core, 247- and 272-GHz two-stage amplifiers achieve the peak gain of 18 and 15 dB, the gain per stage of 9 and 7.5 dB, and the PAE of 4.44% and 2.37%, respectively, while dissipating 21.5 mW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stacked nanosheet nFETs considering a six-stack four-finger transistor array are studied and optimized by validated TCAD simulation. Stacked Si nanosheet (NS) nFETs have lower parasitics than nFinFETs in the same six-fin/stack four-finger transistor array layout. With the same electron mobility, back-end-of-line (BEOL), equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of 1.4 nm, and gate length of 30 nm, the stacked Si NSs have $1.1\times $ cut-off frequency (240 versus 215 GHz) and $1.15\times $ maximum oscillation frequency (290 versus 251 GHz) when compared to FinFETs due to larger transconductance increase than capacitance increase and output conductance decrease. With the optimized EOT of 0.8 nm and gate length of 18 nm, the stacked Si NSs can achieve cut-off frequency of 340 GHz and maximum oscillation frequency of 370 GHz. Furthermore, considering the higher electron mobility on {100} surfaces of NSs than {110} sidewalls of FinFETs as suggested by the ${I} _{D}$ – ${V}_{\text {GS}}$ fitting, the cut-off frequency and maximum oscillation frequency of stacked Si NSs can reach 380 and 390 GHz, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) is true chip scale package with low cost by eliminating package substrate. The direct chip-to-board attach through solder joints provides low interconnect inductance and resistance, as well as improved thermal performance. These properties make WLCSP a packaging format well suited for 5G radio frequency (RF) applications where minimized package size and parasitics as well as thermal performance are critical. Due to the dissimilar properties between chip and board, the reliability of WLCSP can be challenging. This article reports a reliability study of WLCSP using 45nm RFSOI technology for 5G RF applications. Dedicated test chips and boards were designed and used for board level reliability tests. The test vehicles passed bHAST and drop test, whereas it is found that temperature cycling on board (TCoB) is challenging for solder joint reliability in some cases. Thorough tests were carried out based on Kelvin test on specially designed individual bump and bump pair structures and developed fail criterion. Finite element modeling was adopted to simulate the reliability performance in different configurations. The impact on reliability performance from bump depopulation, die thickness, bump size, UBM to board pad alignment, and board wiring trace were thoroughly investigated. Based on comprehensive testing and deep understanding of the failure mechanisms, design optimizations for chip, board and interconnect were implemented. WLCSP reliability was significantly improved.

This paper presents an accurate procedure to design, characterize and test a radome for millimeter-wave applications. In this procedure, an accurate analytical model is presented to design a radome structure that takes into consideration the bandwidth, losses, reflections and depolarization factor as a function of frequency and incident angle. To guarantee a good operational electrical performance, the proposed procedure includes a material characterization and accurate test procedure based on the free-space Gaussian beam method and time gating filtering technique. Four radomes (two-monolithic and two A-sandwich) at 82 GHz and 94 GHz are designed, characterized and tested to validate the proposed technique. Results obtained with this procedure are compared with numerical simulations and experimental results. This method is shown to be accurate and versatile for radomes in mm-Wave applications.

This paper presents designs and prototypes of low cost multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antennas for 5G and millimetre-wave (mm-wave) applications. The proposed MIMOs are fabricated using 3D printing and are able deliver beams in multiple directions that provide continuous and real time coverage in the elevation of up to F300 without using phase shifters. This equips the proposed MIMO with a superior advantage of being an attractive low cost technology for 5G and mm-wave applications. The proposed MIMO antennas operate at the 28 GHz 5G band, with wide bandwidth performance exceeds 4 GHz and with beam switching ability of up to F300 in the elevation plane. The direction of the main beam of the single element antenna in the MIMO is steered over the entire bandwidth through introducing 3D printed walls with different heights on the side of the 3D printed radiating antenna. Unlike all other available beam steering techniques; the proposed wall is not only able to change the direction of the beam of the antenna, but also it is able to increase the overall directivity and gain of the proposed antenna and MIMO at the same time over the entire bandwidth.

The high frequencies of millimeter wave (mm-wave) bands have been recognized for the fifth generation (5G) and beyond wireless communication networks. However, the radio propagation channel at high frequencies can be largely influenced by rain attenuation, especially in tropical regions with high rainfall intensity. In this paper, we present the results of rainfall intensity and rain attenuation in tropical regions based on one-year measurement campaign. The measurements were conducted from September 2018 until September 2019 at 21.8 GHz (K-band) and 73.5 GHz (E-band) in Malaysia. The rainfall intensity was collected using three rain gauges installed along a 1.8 km link. The rain attenuation is computed from the difference between the measured minimum received signal level (RSL) during clear sky and rain conditions. The measured rain rate and rain attenuation distributions are then analysed and benchmarked with several previous measurements and well-known prediction models such as the ITU-R P. 530-17. The rainfall rate results showed that the best agreement between the measured rainfall rate in Malaysia and the ITU-R PN.837-1 prediction value for Zone P is up to 0.01% of time (99.99% of time agrees well and only disagrees for 0.01% of time). For the E-band, the maximum measured rain attenuation exceeding 0.03% of the year is around 40.1 and 20 dB for 1.8 and 0.3 km links, respectively, at the maximum rain rate of 108 mm/h. For the K-band, the maximum rain attenuation exceeding 0.01% of the year is around 31 dB for the 1.8 km link. Finally, the rain rates exceeding 108 and 180 mm/h at 73.5 and 21.8 GHz, respectively, along the 1.8 km path caused an outage on our measurement setup. The rain rate of 193 mm/h and above caused an outage for the 0.3 km E-band link. The experimental data as well as the presented data analysis can be utilized for efficient planning and deployments of mm-wave wireless communication systems in tropical regions.

This paper proposes a measurement based modeling of D-band indoor channels. Different indoor environments were considered including Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Non Line-of-Sight (NLOS) conditions. Double steering at the transmitter and receiver sides was performed allowing angular characterization of the channel. Path loss, delay spread, angular spread, intra- and inter- cluster characteristics were also modeled. These characteristics were then compared to the ones obtained in other millimeter wave bands for the same environment.

In this paper, three different microstrip slot radiators are proposed on single user equipment (UE) size ground plane providing flexibility for the user to utilize many useful bands such as some lower cellular bands, Sub-6 GHz band, and mm-wave 5G band. First, a 2-port multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna (Type-I) utilizing polarization diversity is designed for useful cellular bands from 1.6 -2.2 GHz and 2.5-2.7 GHz (|S11|

The need for a compact, economical, and low-power wireless system has given birth to the System-on-Chip (SoC) concept viable of a multitude of innovative applications. On-Chip-Antennas (AoCs) are an integral part of the SoC based wireless system and have got a remarkable attention since last one decade. In contrary to off-chip-antennas, AoCs are fabricated and integrated on the same substrate where the other components of the wireless system are fabricated. This integration results in several challenges besides highly desired benefits. The most serious challenge is the degradation in AoC's key performance metrics, i.e. gain and radiation efficiency because of low-resistivity and high-permittivity of the Silicon substrate which is the optimized choice for the AoC design. This triggers a need for the use of novel methods for the mitigation of these performance issues. Consequently, a variety of such innovative methods have been proposed in the literature. However, a critical description on the recent developments in these methods at one place to facilitate a wide range of researchers is missing. Therefore, this article presents a well-organized and systematic survey on the recent advancements of the AoC's performance-issues-mitigation-methods for wireless applications in Radio Frequency (RF), Millimeter-Wave (MM-Wave), and Terahertz (THz) bands for the first time. A concise description of future directions with respect to AoCs performance enhancement methods is also part of this article. It is anticipated that the critical presentation of these methods will make this article a valuable guide for a wide spectrum of researchers, who want to adventure with the tough task of high performance AoC design. In addition, it is envisioned that this article will pave a promising path for a further dominance of the AoCs in RF, MM-Wave, and THz regions.