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The Review and Analysis of Antenna for Sixth Generation (6G) Applications

Conference Paper · December 2020

DOI: 10.1109/RFM50841.2020.9344731

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 ,(((,QWHUQDWLRQDO5)DQG0LFURZDYH&RQIHUHQFH 5)0

The Review and Analysis of Antenna for Sixth Generation (6G)

Applications
#1 #2 #3
Siti Nor Hafizah Sa’don , Muhammad Ramlee Kamarudin , Muhammad Hashim Dahri , Adel Yahya Isa
#4 #5 *6 #7
Ashyap , Fauziahanim Che Seman , Muhammad Inam Abbasi and Zuhairiah Zainal Abidin
#
Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
86400, Parit Raja, Johor, Malaysia
1
sitinorhafizahsaadon@gmail.com
2
mramlee@uthm.edu.my
3
muhammadhashimdahri@yahoo.com
4
adelyahya@uthm.edu.my
5
fauziahs@uthm.edu.my
7
zuhairia@uthm.edu.my
*
Centre for Telecommunication Research & Innovation (CETRI), Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Technology (FTKEE), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
76100, Melaka, Malaysia
#6
inamabbasi@utem.edu.my

Abstract — A wireless devices has continuous technology However, there are challenges in order to serve these
improvement to provide a better and interesting services. The systems. Related to the main component for a wireless device
next generation, 6G is expected to support the gigantic amount
2020 IEEE International RF and Microwave Conference (RFM) | 978-1-7281-8209-4/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/RFM50841.2020.9344731

of data traffic to cope the rise of connection wireless device. As
a solution, a large bandwidth is supposed to be focused and a
better gain is required. Then, a new frequency region that is at
THz band is utilized. Since 6G technology is very new and not
be defined yet, the previous work on 6G is reviewed to make a
clear decision on antenna design specification. An antenna at
300 GHz for 6G application is also proposed and analysis of gain
improvement is presented in this paper. The simulated results
of single element 6G antenna have wider bandwidth of 86.66
GHz from 278.56 GHz to 367.33 GHz at -10 dB level, directive
radiation pattern at E-plane and H-plane, and higher gain of
5.41 dBi.
Index Terms — 6G, 6G antenna, high data rate, wider
bandwidth, higher gain
I. INTRODUCTION
Today, many new wireless devices are rapidly being
developed. Various parties including scientist, researcher,
and engineer are always looking for way to improve and
transform these wireless devices into greater service and
experience. Due to that, sixth generation (6G) is predicted to
be commercialized in the early 2028 or massively used
around 2030. Even it is not being defined clearly, several
white papers have been released by University of Oulu
Finland [1], and Samsung Research [2], respectively. Then
many industries and research institutes has declared to work
and conduct research in 6G [3].
Generally, in [4] reported that 6G is an intelligent
information system that is driven with modern artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies. In other word, it is
revolutionizing the wireless evolution from “connected
things” to “connected intelligence”. Based on the white
papers aforementioned, this next generation technology
provides enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable
and low latency communications (URLLC), and massive
machine-type communications (mMTC). Besides, extended
reality (XR), hologram, digital replica, three-dimensional
(3D) mapping, positioning, and sensing are also observed.
that is antenna, a very high data rate needs to be achieved to
support the data traffic of these operations and connected
things which may increase to hundreds of devices per cubic
meter. A user should have possibility to transmit data up to 1
Tbps. In another case, 0.58 Tbps is required to produce a
hologram over a mobile device which is containing one micro
meter pixel size on a 6.7 inch display, or said that 11.1
Gigapixel.
The high data rate can be acquired from a wider bandwidth.
While for obtaining bandwidth above 100 GHz, it can be
realized at terahertz (THz) frequency. Thus make future
generation have to extend into THz region [5]. Nevertheless,
the higher the frequency, the smaller the wavelength. Thus,
bring this frequency region has antenna size from micrometer
to millimeter. It is a crucial issue to fabricate and to measure
a tiny antenna since a suitable material, technology,
equipment and facilities need to be well considered.
The implementation of THz frequency has indirectly
shrunk the size of the 6G cells from small cells to “tiny cells”.
The radius is only a few tens of meters. Conversely, this
region faces free space loss or molecular absorption. Whilst,
in [6] survey that some implications of THz on antenna
design can be occurred. The implications are ohmic losses of
the perfect electrical conductors (PEC) extensively increases
with an increase in the frequency range while dielectric and
metallic interfaces can sustain surface plasmon polaritons
(SPP) waves. Apart from providing ultra-high data rates,
implementing a technique of gain improvements can be
utilized to overcome these losses and once again the material
for designing antenna need to be emphasized. The white
paper also cleared up that additional antenna gain or antenna
array is required especially for the positioning accuracy.
In this paper, a review on the previous work of antenna
design through the frequency selection, fabrication
technique, material implementation, and performance for 6G
applications are presented. Then, a simulated antenna design
is proposed at 300 GHz for 6G applications. The antenna
consists of graphene as radiator and flexible polyimide film
as a substrate. The gain of the proposed antenna also is

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improved with a technique of additional substrate and air gap.
The organisation of this paper as follows. Section II presents
the overview of 6G antenna based on previous work. Next,
Section III exhibits the proposed antenna design, simulated
results, and analysis of gain enhancement. The last part is
Section IV concludes the overall studies.
II. OVERVIEW OF THE 6G ANTENNA
In [6], the paper mentioned several important trends in the
antenna and radio frequency (RF) system towards 6G. One of
the trends is transformation of antenna from microwave
region into THz frequency band to achieve wider coverage.
Then, the improvement of antenna performance using new
material and metamaterials can also overcome the problem of
smaller antenna production and interference resistance,
besides ability to control the electromagnetic waves. Next is
three-dimensional (3D) multiple input multiple output
(MIMO) for new evolution of antenna propagation channel,
and the last is new method and indicator for measuring 6G
antenna. Several previous works on 6G antenna have been
thoroughly overviewed such as antenna types, frequency
selection, material usage, fabrication process, improvement
technique, and exhibited performance.
As in [7], the paper investigated a circularly polarized (CP)
conical horn antenna for the WM-864 frequency (220 GHz-
330 GHz) band. The conical horn is a brass block which is
manufactured by wire-cutting electrical discharge machining
(EDM) technique. The measurement of 300 GHz CP conical
horn antenna shows reflection from 270 GHz to 330 GHz
with coefficient (S11) less than í15 dB, thus has impedance
bandwidth of 60 GHz, while right hand circular polarized
(RHCP) directivity is 18.3 dBic at 312 GHz, and the 3-dB
axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is 7 GHz which is from 309 GHz
to 316 GHz.
Following this, the [8] proposed a wide band directional
antenna with common-mode current suppression
characteristics using two radiating chokes. The radiating
chokes contains in antenna that known as wideband, high-
efficiency electromagnetic structure (WHEMS). The antenna
made by Rogers 3003 is fabricated through surface metal
etching and plated vias. The measured result obtains
bandwidth of 11 GHz from 60 GHz to 71 GHz below than -
10 dB level, the gain in range 8 dBi to 10 dBi for 60 to 75
GHz, and measured radiation efficiency is 95 %. The
measured 3-dB beamwidth of E-plane and H-plane are 50°
and 45°, respectively.
The next paper provided a specific review on Low-THz
wideband, high gain antenna, and manufacturing processes
for 6G [9]. The paper came up with a wideband high gain
resonant cavity antenna (RCA) that work at 300 GHz. Even
though, the antenna is fabricated ten times larger than 300
GHz, that is 30 GHz. It is made by metal binder jetting and
fabricated through 3D printing. The measured results show
that frequency from 29.5 GHz to 32.5 GHz has below than -
10 dB level, realized gain is from 13 dBi to 16 dBi for 28 GHz
to 31 GHz, radiation efficiency near to 88%, and 3-dB
beamwidth is 10 %.
The last paper reviewed is [10]. The paper explored the
realization of an all-dielectric Huygens’ metasurface at
frequency of 120 GHz. A planar transmit array antenna is
designed by implementing Huygens’ unit cell for
beamforming. The antenna is fabricated through laser-
drilling. The measured result exhibits that the bandwidth is
from 119 GHz to 128 GHz at -10 dB, and gain in range of 32
dB to 34 dB for the said bandwidth.

TABLE I
SUMMARY OF 6G ANTENNA PREVIOUS WORK
Ref. Antenna Frequency Material Fabrication Results
No Bandwidth Gain / Others
Directivity
[7] CP horn 300 GHz brass block wire-cutting 60 GHz 18.3 dBic AR bandwidth : 7
antenna EDM GHz
[8] WHEMS 60 GHz – Rogers surface metal 11 GHz 8 dBi – 10 Radiation
75 GHz 3003 etching and dBi efficiency : 95%
plated vias
3-dB beamwidth of
E-plane and H-
plane :50° and 45°
[9] RCA 300 GHz metal 3D printing 2 GHz 13 dBi – Radiation
Then 16 dBi efficiency : 88%
downscaled (20 GHz if
to 30 GHz not 3-dB beamwidth :
downscaled) 10 %
[10] Transmit 120 GHz all dielectric laser-drilling 9 GHz 32 – 34 dB -
array

The detail of previous work is arranged in Table I. There is 6G. These antennas are plasmonic nanoantennas at 474 THz
another type of antenna that is proposed by other paper for which is from gold and silicon dioxide [11], 3x3 dipole lens

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antenna at 300 GHz [12], metasurface antenna [13], gridded frequency compared to the other material besides has
parasitic patch stacked microstrip antenna at 60 GHz and it is excellent control characteristics through bias voltage and has
made by Taconic TLY and Arlon Cluclad [14], microstrip complex conductivity. The proposed antenna is designed,
array antenna at 116.9 GHz using Rogers 3003 [15], and simulated, and optimized in CST Microwave Studio to obtain
optical beam scanning antenna [16]. All the result given are at frequency of 300 GHz. The simulated result shows that the
in simulation and has different purpose of study, thus the reflection coefficient magnitude is -45.63 dB at 300 GHz and
information is not as detail as in Table I. gives impedance bandwidth of 53.15 GHz from 275.63 GHz
to 328.78 GHz at -10 dB level. It is shown in Fig. 2. Then,
Fig. 3 shows simulated normalized radiation pattern at E-
III. ANTENNA DESIGN AND ANALYSIS
plane and H-plane with gain of -2.566 dBi.
A. Antenna Design
The paper selects operating frequency of 300 GHz. It is due
to THz electromagnetic waves are located at 0.1 THz to 10
THz. According to IEEE standard, the THz wave is defined
at 0.3 THz to 10 THz [17]. Besides, the ITU World
Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) has used
for fixed and land mobile services in the range of 275 GHz to
450 GHz. Whilst, THz wireless communication standard
IEEE 802.15.3d-2017 defines exchange point-to-point at the
lower THz frequency range of 252-325 GHz.
The proposed antenna design is shown in Fig. 1. A Fig. 2. Simulated reflection coefficient magnitude.
microstrip patch antenna has overall width, Ws and length, Ls
at 0.55 mm and 0.484 mm, respectively. The patch width, Wp
is 0.3 mm, and patch length, Lp of 0.234 mm. The patch
antenna is made by graphene, with the resistivity of 0.003
ȍ.cm to 0.008 ȍ.cm, and 100 nm thick. While, the substrate
antenna is a flexible polyimide film that has dielectric
constant, İr of 3.4 at 1 kHz and thickness of 25 ȝm. A fully
ground plane at the next layer of substrate uses the same
material as radiating patch. The antenna is fed by 50 Ohm
feedline that has width, Wf of 0.0469 mm. The optimization
of antenna parameter length is summarized in Table II.

Fig. 3. Simulated radiation pattern of the proposed antenna at E-

plane and H-plane has nearly same pattern.

From the simulated result, the bandwidth is greater than

previous work except in [7]. The work has bandwidth of 70
GHz compared to this antenna is 53.15 GHz. The simulated
gain obtained also is quite low, thus a gain improvement
needs to be explored.
B. Gain Enhancement
The simulated gain obtained is very low. Thus one of
techniques that can improve it is through air gap [18]. The
Fig. 1. The radiating patch and ground plane are represented by previous antenna design is added a layer from the same type
grey colour, while substrate is represented by yellow colour. of substrate used, flexible polyimide film as shown in Fig. 4
(a) and air gap, ha is varied in between of two substrates to
TABLE II observe the gain improvement. Fig. 5 shows that gain of the
SUMMARY OF ANTENNA PARAMETER LENGTH single antenna is improved in the variation of air gap
Description Parameter Length thickness. Even though the gain is increasing drastically from
Substrate width Ws 0.55 mm -2.566 dBi to more than 2.0 dBi, but the matching of the
Substrate length Ls 0.484 mm antenna become worsen and resonant frequency is tuned
Patch width Wp 0.30 mm towards higher.
Patch length Lp 0.234 mm The proposed antenna is added again with flexible
Feedline width Wf 0.0469 mm polyimide substrate but in a small size in the same layer of air
gap as shown in Fig. 4 (b). The additional layer of substrate
Graphene is considered as radiating patch due to ability to makes the antenna size and feeding being optimised again to
maintain surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves [17] at THz obtain 300 GHz and 50 Ohm impedance matching. The final

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simulated result obtained after the gain enhancement are
shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. The measured reflection
coefficient magnitude is -36.71 with bandwidth from 278.56
GHz to 367.33 GHz at -10 dB level. It shows that, the
bandwidth is greater than the previous work after air gap and
substrate is added that is 86.66 GHz. The simulated radiation
pattern of antenna shows directive pattern compared to the
previous simulated result as in the Fig. 3. The simulated gain
also improved that is 5.41 dBi.
(a) (b)
Fig. 4. (a) The antenna is added with a layer of substrate and air
gap, and (b) The antenna is added two layers of substrate and air
gap.
Fig. 5. The increase the air gap, the increase the simulated gain.
Fig. 6. The greater bandwidth is obtained after two substrates and
air gap is added.
Fig. 7. The radiation pattern at E-plane and H-plane are directive
compared to the previous simulated result.
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IV. CONCLUSION
As the conclusion, the previous work of 6G antenna has
been reviewed and presented completely. Each work has
different objective, so there have different indication of
frequency selection, antenna types, material, fabrication, and
improvement technique. A microstrip patch antenna for 6G
application has successfully designed and simulated. The
simulated result has achieved the operating frequency of 300
GHz, and wide bandwidth of 53.15 GHz. However, a very
low gain is obtained. Then, a technique of gain improvement
has been applied where give the simulated bandwidth greater
than previous that is 86.66 GHz and higher simulated gain
achieved with 5.41 dBi.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by UTHM Contract Grant
(Vot H610).
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