Transparent Antennas for 5G Wireless Connectivity: Bridging Aesthetics and Performance

Authors

Kumar S., Polesel J., Bouton O., Turcanu I.

Reference

IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops INFOCOM Wkshps 2025, 2025

Description

Transparent antennas integrate seamlessly with surfaces such as glass, offering aesthetic and functional benefits. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding their practical evaluation when integrated into an end-to-end 5G system. To bridge this gap, we demonstrate the performance of a transparent dipole antenna on glass compared to a conventional antenna in the C-band. We establish an end-to-end link in controlled 5G tests using OpenAirInterface5G as the gNB and a 5G Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) User Equipment (UE). Physical layer metrics such as Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) as well as application-layer metrics such as uplink and downlink throughput demonstrate performance comparable to conventional antennas.

Link

doi:10.1109/INFOCOMWKSHPS65812.2025.11152927