Pinching-Antenna Systems (PASS): Architecture Designs, Opportunities, and Outlook

TL;DR

PASS introduces a flexible antenna system using dielectric waveguides and pinching antennas to overcome wireless limitations, offering high reconfigurability and bridging wired and wireless communication advantages.

Contribution

The paper presents the novel PASS architecture that combines dielectric waveguides and pinching antennas for improved reconfigurability and performance in flexible wireless systems.

Findings

PASS effectively mitigates free-space path loss and line-of-sight issues.

It offers high antenna reconfigurability and potential for diverse applications.

The paper compares PASS with conventional wireless systems highlighting its advantages.

Abstract

Flexible-antenna systems have recently attracted significant research attention due to their potential to intelligently reconfigure wireless channels. However, the current flexible-antenna systems still suffer from fundamental limitations, such as free-space path loss and line-of-sight blockage. This article introduces a novel flexible-antenna system, termed the Pinching-Antenna SyStem (PASS). PASS adopts the dielectric waveguides as the primary transmission medium and radiates signals into free space by flexibly pinching discrete dielectric particles, referred to as pinching antennas, along the waveguide. By combining the strengths of both wireless and wired communication, PASS effectively mitigates inherent wireless limitations while offering high antenna reconfigurability. This article reviews the key features of PASS in comparison with conventional wireless systems, analyzes its main advantages, and discusses potential designs, transmission architectures, and application scenarios. Finally, it outlines promising research directions and open challenges associated with PASS.