75 Years of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society:
Foundations, Innovations, and Future Perspectives
To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S), the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation presents a Special Section of nine invited articles, capturing the foundations of the antennas and propagation field and the directions shaping its future.
The nine contributions span the breadth of antennas and propagation research, from fundamental antenna theory and optimization methods to ultra-wideband arrays, propagation modeling, and 6G systems, as well as advances in additive manufacturing, metamaterials and metasurfaces, intelligent surfaces, and radar sensing.
Audio summaries of all nine articles are now available on Spotify, offering a convenient way to engage with each contribution at your desk or on the go. For an introduction to the collection as a whole, listen to the curated audio overview, offering a guided tour through the collection and the ideas that connect it.
Fundamentals of Antenna Bandwidth and Quality Factor
This review article presents robust, field-based antenna quality factors consistent with input-impedance methods and independent of coordinates or extra reactances. It improves lower bounds beyond Chu/CR limits, relates maximum gain to minimum Q for spherical antennas, and shows how dispersive tuning can further reduce Q.
A Comprehensive Review of Optimization Techniques in Electromagnetics: Past, Present, and Future
This review article highlights the vital role of modern optimization techniques in addressing complex, multi-parameter challenges in antenna and electromagnetic device design. Through a structured overview and practical insights, it guides researchers and engineers toward enhanced performance and innovation in advanced electromagnetic and optical systems with diverse applications.
A Comprehensive Review on Tightly Coupled Dipole Arrays
This review article presents tightly-coupled dipole arrays (TCDAs) as a leading ultra-wideband antenna solution for addressing growing spectrum congestion. By replacing multiple narrowband antennas with a single low-profile, efficient UWB aperture, TCDAs reduce system size, weight, power, and cost. The review covers their operating principles and key advances from the early 2000s to today.
Development and Field Testing of a UAS-Based Software-Defined Radar for Measuring Freshwater Bathymetry
River bathymetry plays a critical role in hydrological and environmental applications, including flood forecasting and inundation mapping. Our work develops a low-frequency ultra-wideband radar system that provides a new, versatile, low-cost, and agile solution for riverbed mapping, as well as other environmental monitoring applications such as soil moisture retrieval and permafrost active-layer monitoring
Review of Wireless Propagation Research — Past, Current, and Future Developments
Propagation models are the foundational building block of wireless systems. Propagation varies with frequency, environment, and application, such as indoor, outdoor, mobile, or space links. Therefore, designing any new wireless system begins with studying propagation behaviour, usually through channel measurements and modelling to ensure reliable communication performance.
Antenna Technologies for 6G - Advances and Challenges
This review article presents key antenna technologies that are expected to play main roles in 6G. It provides an overview of current progress made in both the antennas and communications communities, outlines unmet challenges, and discusses potential solutions and future research directions.
Additively Manufactured FHE-Enabled Antennas and Reconfigurable/Phased Antenna Arrays for Communications, Sensing, and Energy Harvesting
This review article focuses on additively manufactured RF electronics and showcases innovations in printed phased arrays, morphing and origami antennas, and flexible energy-harvesting modules, enabling scalable, cost-effective, and sustainable communication ecosystems for 5G, IoT, smart cities, and beyond. It concludes with a vision for AM-enabled systems that seamlessly integrate communication, sensing, and energy harvesting into adaptive, multifunctional platforms.
Metasurfaces and Metamaterials for Electromagnetics
In the past two and more decades, metamaterials have been pushing forward a new paradigm for electromagnetics research, highly relevant to the antennas and propagation community, enabling several breakthroughs in the control over electromagnetic waves. In this review, we discuss the history, recent progress and impact of metamaterials and metasurfaces at large.
The Development of Intelligent Metasurfaces: From 2D to 3D
This review article focuses on intelligent metasurfaces, that offer innovative approaches to revolutionize wireless communications by manipulating the properties of electromagnetic waves. The development of reconfigurable, stacked, and flexible 3D metasurfaces opens up new possibilities for adapting wireless propagation and enabling signal processing in the wave domain.