Reconfigurable Coupler Antenna for Wireless Networks

Abstract

The reconfigurable coupler antenna (RCA), also called the flexible coupler antenna (FCA), is a new technique that aims to improve the performance of wireless communication networks by reconfiguring the positions and rotations of low-cost couplers around fixed-position active antennas to harness mutual coupling. Specifically, different couplers can independently adjust their positions and/or rotations at the transceiver to reshape the induced currents on the couplers for radiation, thereby collaboratively achieving mechanical beamforming for directional signal enhancement or nulling. The position and/or rotation reconfiguration of passive couplers provides a new and cost-effective means of enhancing wireless communication performance, while significantly reducing the antenna and radio-frequency (RF) chain costs of conventional active arrays. The compact and low form-factor structure of the RCA makes it particularly appealing for devices with stringent size, weight, and power (SWAP) constraints. In this article, we provide an overview of RCA to reveal its promising capabilities in wireless networks, including its system modeling, practical implementation, and competitive advantages over existing techniques. We present a variety of RCA-enabled performance enhancements in terms of mechanical beamforming gain, path-loss reduction, fading mitigation, spatial multiplexing gain, interference suppression, and geometric gain. Furthermore, we elaborate on the design challenges of RCA as well as promising solutions, and discuss the key applications of RCA in wireless networks. Finally, numerical results are presented to verify the substantial capacity gains enabled by RCA-aided transmission in wireless networks.