News

Professor Yang Hao from the Centre for Electronics at Queen Mary University of London has co-authored a landmark paper in IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine celebrating 50 years of breakthroughs in antenna technology; from the early days of wire antennas to the cutting-edge smart, adaptive systems shaping 6G and beyond.

The article, titled "Highlights of Antenna Innovations (1974–2024): New Developments Over Recent Decades", offers a sweeping overview of how antenna research has evolved over half a century. Co-authored by John L. Volakis, Sembiam R. Rengarajan, Professor Yang Hao, and Michael Shields, the paper traces the field's transformation from bulky analog structures to compact, flexible, and intelligent antennas that now underpin every modern communication system; including smartphones, satellites, medical implants, and next-generation wireless networks.

Professor Hao's contributions focus on emerging technologies such as reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, dielectric lens antennas, and 3D-printed metamaterials, which are revolutionising wireless performance at millimetre-wave and terahertz frequencies. These innovations enable faster, more efficient, and adaptive communication systems, paving the way for applications in 6G networks, autonomous vehicles, and wearable healthcare devices.

Speaking about the paper, Professor Hao said:

"This article is both a reflection on how far antenna science has come and a look forward to where it's heading. We're entering an era where antennas are not just components but intelligent systems that actively shape how information moves through the world."

Published in June 2025, the paper is a milestone for the global electromagnetics community, highlighting Queen Mary's continued role at the forefront of antenna and wireless communication research.

Full paper at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10878284