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Abstract Low latency beamforming using phased antenna arrays is the key for practical deployment of envisioned millimetre wave (mmWave) Gbps mobile networks. This work aims towards reducing the overhead of the exhaustive sector‐level sweep phase of the analog beamforming adopted in the IEEE 802.11ad standard. This work is the first to propose the use of reconfigurable antenna single RF chain in the sub‐6 GHz new radio (NR) band to aid codebook‐based beam selection in the mmWave band of the NR. We exploit the congruence between the spatial propagation signatures of signals at both mmWave and sub‐6 GHz frequencies to reduce the beam search space. The simulation results show a significant reduction in mmWave beam search overhead up to on average and with an average gain loss of 3dB. 

Flexible antennas have the potential to transform wearable and fabric‐based wireless sensing technologies. The antenna discussed in this study is part of a sensing system that uses the back‐scattered power level as the decision metric. For a good wireless sensor, it is necessary to offer a feasible read range and maintain good distinctions in the back‐scattered power levels between the different states (i.e. level of stretch) of the antenna. Moreover, effects due to human body proximity should be minimised. For these reasons, the radiation efficiency is a crucial parameter to investigate. This study presents the radiation efficiency measurement of the proposed flexible knitted ‘Bellyband’ antenna at two different levels of stretch in a reverberation chamber. This work validates the reverberation chamber measurements through comparison with simulations and anechoic chamber measurements at 900 MHz. Moreover, this work demonstrates how the approach can be used to quantify bellyband antenna efficiency in the vicinity of a human body. Finally, the efficiency results were used to predict the read range of Bellyband radio frequency identification technology.