A Survey on Reconfigurable and Movable Antennas for Wireless Communications and Sensing

TL;DR

RA and MA introduce additional DoFs to shape the electromagnetic channel, enabling enhanced performance for next-generation wireless networks and sensing. The paper provides a unified survey of fundamentals, architectures, and applications, comparing RA and MA across wireless communications and sensing/ISAC, and highlighting design challenges and performance trade-offs. It also discusses extensions to RIS/IRS, HMIMO, and hybrid RA/MA architectures, and outlines key future research directions with emphasis on efficient channel estimation and low-complexity movement strategies. The findings underscore the complementary strengths of rapid EM reconfiguration (RA) and large-scale spatial adaptation (MA), and suggest hybrid systems as a path toward highly adaptable, efficient, and capable wireless networks.

Abstract

Reconfigurable antennas (RAs) and movable antennas (MAs) have been recognized as promising technologies to enhance the performance of wireless communication and sensing systems by introducing additional degrees of freedom (DoFs) in tuning antenna radiation and/or placement. This paradigm shift from conventional non-reconfigurable/movable antennas offers tremendous new opportunities for realizing multi-functional, more adaptive, and efficient next-generation wireless networks. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on the fundamentals, architectures, and applications of these two emerging antenna technologies. First, we provide a chronological overview of the parallel historical development of both RA and MA technologies. Next, we review and classify the state-of-the-art hardware architectures for implementing RAs and MAs, followed by a detailed comparison of their distinct mechanisms, performance metrics, and functionalities. Subsequently, we focus on various applications of RAs and MAs in wireless communication systems, analyzing their respective performance advantages and key design considerations such as mode selection, movement optimization, and channel acquisition. We also explore the significant roles of RAs and MAs in advancing wireless sensing and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). Furthermore, we present numerical performance comparisons to illustrate the distinct characteristics and complementary advantages of RA and MA systems. Finally, we outline key challenges and identify promising future research directions to inspire further innovations in this burgeoning field.

Figures (13)

• Figure 1: Organization of this paper.
• Figure 2: Illustration of the historical development of RA and MA.
• Figure 3: Application scenarios of RA/MA-aided wireless networks. RA and MA can be applied in various wireless communication and sensing scenarios, including microwave, optical, and acoustic communications, as well as radar, imaging, and wireless sensor systems. Different implementation approaches for antenna movement and reconfiguration can be adopted, depending on specific performance requirements and hardware constraints.
• Figure 4: Classification and architectures of RAs. (a) Frequency-RA with continuous frequency tuning capability 2022-TAP-FeRA; (b) Pattern-RA with 3D beamforming capability HKUST_360; (c) Polarization-RA with multi-polarization generation capability 2020-TAP-contiounespol.
• Figure 5: Illustration of typical reconfigurable methods for RA arrays.