A General EM-Based Channel Model for Reconfigurable Antenna Systems

2026-04-24

AI Summary

Existing channel models struggle to accurately capture the impact of antenna configurations on signal propagation in reconfigurable antenna systems, often neglecting polarization effects or relying on oversimplified assumptions. This work proposes a general electromagnetic channel model based on spherical vector wave expansion (SVWE), which, for the first time, fully incorporates antenna position, orientation, and polarization effects, rendering it applicable to a wide range of reconfigurable antennas. The model is rigorously derived from electromagnetic field theory and validated against commercial simulation software, demonstrating excellent predictive accuracy. Experimental results further reveal that dynamically optimizing antenna orientation can enhance communication rates by up to 70% compared to fixed configurations.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Search and Optimization: Algorithm Configuration
• Machine Learning: Hardware-aware ML

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

Reconfigurable antenna systems (RASs), such as fluid antennas and movable antennas, are poised to play a pivotal role in sixth-generation (6G) systems by dynamically adapting the antenna elements for system performance enhancement. However, unlocking their full potential requires channel models that accurately capture the influence of antenna configurations on the radiation, propagation, and reception of signals. Existing channel models suffer from several limitations, such as neglecting polarization effects, being restricted to specific antenna types, or relying on oversimplified assumptions. In this paper, we propose a general electromagnetic (EM)-based channel model grounded in spherical vector wave expansion (SVWE). The proposed EM-based channel model captures the impact of antenna position and orientation on the channel gain, thereby making it particularly well-suited for RASs. The effectiveness and accuracy are validated through comparisons with commercial simulation software, demonstrating excellent agreement in predicted channel gains. Moreover, it is shown that antenna orientation is a critical factor governing communication performance, and that dynamically adjusting the antenna orientation yields up to 70% improvement in achievable communication rate compared to a fixed-antenna configuration.

Problem

• Reconfigurable Antenna Systems
• Channel Modeling
• Electromagnetic Model
• Antenna Orientation
• 6G

Innovation

• reconfigurable antenna systems
• electromagnetic-based channel model
• spherical vector wave expansion
• antenna orientation
• 6G communications