Pinching-antenna System Design Achieves Reliable Communication under Random LoS and NLoS Channels

Pinching antennas represent a promising advance in flexible antenna technology, dynamically adapting to changing wireless conditions, but current designs often assume ideal signal propagation environments. Yanqing Xu, Yang Lu, and Zhiguo Ding, along with Tsung-Hui Chang from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, address this limitation by investigating a pinching-antenna system operating under realistic, randomly varying conditions where signals experience both direct line-of-sight and scattered non-line-of-sight paths. The team develops innovative design methods that simultaneously optimise both the overall data transmission rate and the reliability of the connection for multiple users, even when faced with unpredictable signal blockage. By exploiting the inherent properties of the system, they create efficient algorithms that guarantee optimal performance, and simulations demonstrate that these pinching antennas significantly outperform traditional fixed designs in challenging real-world scenarios.

Pinching Antennas Boost Wireless Performance and Reliability

Scientists have achieved significant breakthroughs in the design of multiuser pinching-antenna systems, demonstrating substantial performance gains even under challenging wireless conditions. The research focuses on systems utilizing position-adjustable radiating elements along dielectric waveguides, enabling dynamic reshaping of wireless channels. Extensive simulations validate the effectiveness of proposed methods, showing that pinching-antenna systems significantly outperform conventional fixed-antenna designs in both long-term throughput and reliability. These systems dynamically adjust to improve signal quality and coverage.

The team investigated two complementary design metrics: average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), characterizing long-term throughput and fairness, and an outage-constrained metric ensuring a prescribed reliability level. Based on the average SNR metric, scientists formulated a max-min average SNR optimization problem to balance user link qualities through antenna placement. Analysis revealed that this problem possesses a structure allowing for a globally optimal, low-complexity solution, updating the SNR threshold with simple calculations. Furthermore, researchers developed a solution for outage-constrained scenarios, maximizing guaranteed SNR thresholds while maintaining per-user outage constraints.

They derived a closed-form expression for the instantaneous SNR distribution under realistic wireless conditions, simplifying the problem and leading to another globally optimal, low-complexity algorithm. Experiments demonstrate that pinching antennas achieve substantial performance gains, particularly in larger coverage regions and under stringent reliability requirements. The results show that the proposed algorithms deliver significant improvements in both long-term and reliability-oriented metrics, even under severe signal blockage and fading. These advancements pave the way for more robust and efficient wireless communication systems capable of adapting to dynamic and unpredictable environments.

Efficient Optimisation of Pinching Antenna Systems

This research demonstrates significant advances in the optimisation of pinching-antenna systems for multiuser wireless communication. Scientists have developed novel algorithms to maximise both the long-term throughput and the reliability of these systems, accounting for realistic wireless channels that include both direct line-of-sight and scattered signals. The team formulated two optimisation problems, one prioritising fairness in average signal strength and the other ensuring a guaranteed signal quality even with fluctuating channel conditions. Notably, the researchers exploited inherent properties of these problems to create efficient, low-complexity algorithms that achieve globally optimal solutions.

These algorithms require only simple calculations, making them suitable for practical, real-time implementation and scalable to larger networks. Simulation results confirm that pinching-antenna systems, when optimised using these methods, substantially outperform conventional fixed-antenna designs, even in challenging wireless environments with signal blockage and fading. This work provides a unified framework for designing robust and adaptive wireless systems, highlighting the potential of pinching antennas for next-generation communication networks.

Pinching Antennas for 6G ISAC Systems

Scientists are exploring pinching antenna systems (PASS) as a promising technology for future 6G wireless communication and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). PASS utilizes dielectric waveguides to create antennas, offering the ability to mechanically adjust the waveguide and alter the antenna’s radiation characteristics. This adaptability provides advantages in terms of flexibility, cost, and potential performance improvements. A key theme of this research is the flexibility and adaptability of PASS, capable of dynamically adjusting to changing channel conditions and user demands. The technology is well-suited for ISAC because the waveguide manipulation can be used for both transmitting and receiving signals, as well as for sensing applications like radar and target detection.

The team investigated how PASS can mitigate the challenges of line-of-sight blockage in urban environments, a significant limitation of traditional antenna systems. Researchers analysed the impact of signal loss within the dielectric waveguide and developed strategies to minimize it, ensuring efficient signal transmission. They also explored the use of multiple waveguides to enhance performance and sensing capabilities. The team conducted detailed performance analysis of PASS in various scenarios, demonstrating its ability to improve spectral efficiency, coverage, and reliability in future 6G networks. This work provides a comprehensive overview of PASS, highlighting its potential benefits and challenges, and identifying key areas for future research.