Wideband, Multiband, Tunable, and Smart Antenna Systems for Mobile and UWB Wireless Applications

With the advent of high data rate 3G and 4G wireless communication systems and the app-based use paradigm, wireless connectivity through multiple air interfaces has become a common requirement in the RF architecture of new generation mobile communication devices.Themodern wireless handset easily incorporates three or more antennas to enable cellular, Wi-Fi, and GPS connectivity, frequently over multiple bands. Multiple antenna systems are frequently designed to implement diversity or spatial multiplexing schemes, as in the case of WCDMA and LTE, to increase the resiliency and capacity of wireless links, and even to operate multiple voice/data links simultaneously. Concurrently, ultrawideband (UWB) systems used in short range communications, remote sensing, and through-the-wall radar imaging have introduced a new paradigm in antenna designwhere the mitigation of pulse distortion is of the essence, thus requiring a shift in antenna design approach and the introduction of novel radiating systems. This special issue is intended to reflect current R&D trends and novel approaches in the analysis and synthesis of antenna systems for the new generation of mobile communication devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers as well as for UWB communication systems and radars. A particular emphasis has been paid to the analysis and design of broadband, multiband, and reconfigurable antennas for wireless and UWB applications, as well as to the identification of integration techniques with the host platform. Important efforts have been devoted to the characterization of the radio channel for MIMO systems. The special issue is composed of 18 contributions that can be divided into the following 8 clusters.