W18 – Next-Generation Movable and Reconfigurable Antennas for Wireless Networks

Steering committee:
Rui Zhang, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Robert Schober, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Dusit Niyato, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Zhiguo Ding, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
George K. Karagiannidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Naofal Al-Dhahir, The University of Texas at Dallas, U.S.A.

Workshop Co-chairs:
Lipeng Zhu, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
Wenyan Ma, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Xiaodan Shao, University of Waterloo, Canada
Qingqing Wu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Mingzhe Chen, University of Miami, U.S.A.
Yuanwei Liu, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

TPC Co-chairs:
Zhenyu Xiao, Beihang University, China
Changsheng You, Southern University of Science and Technology, China
Xianghao Yu, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Xidong Mu, Queen’s University Belfast, U.K.
Ata Khalili, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Guojie Hu, Rocket Force University of Engineering, China

Abstract: Next-Generation Movable and Reconfigurable Antennas (NGMRAs), encompassing movable antennas, fluid antennas, pinching antennas, holographic/metamaterial antennas, parasitic antennas, among others, are emerging as a key enabler for future wireless communication and sensing systems. Unlike traditional antenna architectures, NGMRAs offer dynamic control over antenna position, orientation, radiation pattern, frequency response, or polarization. These reconfigurabilities offer unprecedented spatial and electromagnetic degrees of freedom (DoFs), allowing systems to adapt to complex time-varying environments with enhanced flexibility and robustness. NGMRAs have  demonstrated significant potential to improve spectral efficiency, spatial resolution, and transmission reliability, while also enabling novel paradigms such as integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) and intelligent environment-aware operation. There has been a notable surge in research and development activities dedicated to NGMRAs, with academic researchers, industrial practitioners, and government agencies investing significant resources in exploring their potential applications and capabilities, as can be seen from the steady increase in the number of related publications on platforms such as IEEE Xplore, arXiv, and others. Despite increasing attention, the NGMRA field is still in its early stages. Key challenges remain in antenna movement and reconfiguration optimization, performance analysis, hardware-software co-design, and experimental validation. There is an urgent need for a dedicated forum to consolidate recent advances and foster collaboration across disciplines such as antenna design, signal processing, electromagnetic theory, communications theory, sensing theory, and artificial intelligence. This workshop aims to bring together academic and industrial experts to share new findings, identify research gaps, and accelerate the practical deployment of NGMRA-enabled systems.

Co-organizer’s Bios:

Lipeng Zhu: 

Lipeng Zhu is a Professor with the School of Interdisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology. His current research interests include movable antenna (MA)-enabled wireless communications, intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), millimeter-wave communications, airborne communications, and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). He was a recipient of the Beijing Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award in 2022, the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award from China Education Society of Electronics in 2022, the First Prize of Natural Science from Chinese Institute of Electronics in 2021, the Best Demo Award at IEEE/CIC ICCC in 2025, the Second Prize of the IEEE Communications Society Student Competition as the team leader in 2020, and the Exemplary Reviewer of the IEEE Transactions on Communications in 2022. He has been listed in the single-year ranking of World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University since 2021. He served as the lead guest editor for the IEEE Wireless Communications Special Issue on “Movable and Reconfigurable Antennas-Empowered Wireless Networks”, the guest editor for the Chinese Journal of Electronics Special Issue on “Movable Antenna Communication and Sensing Technologies”, the guest editor for the China Communications Special Issue on “LEO satellite access network (LEO-SAN)”, and the chair for a series of Workshops on “Intelligent Movable and Reconfigurable Antennas for Future Wireless Communication and Sensing” at IEEE Globecom 2024, ICC 2025, Globecom 2025, and ICC 2026. He has also served as the TPC member for many IEEE conferences/workshops. He serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications, the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, the IEEE Communications Letters, the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, and the IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology.

Wenyan Ma:

Wenyan Ma is a Research Fellow with the National University of Singapore. His research interests include movable antenna (MA)-enabled wireless communications, intelligent reflecting surface, and convex optimization. He was the recipient of the IEEE Communications Society Leonard G. Abraham Prize in 2025, the Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award from the Chinese Institute of Electronics in 2020, and the Best Paper Award from the Eleventh International Conference on Wireless Communications and Signal Processing in 2019. He was honored as the Exemplary Reviewer of the IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS in 2019 and 2020.

Xiaodan Shao:

Xiaodan Shao is currently a Research Fellow with the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. Her current research interests include six-dimensional movable antenna (6DMA), integrated sensing and communications, massive access, statistical signal processing and optimization methods. She was a recipient of the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award of China Institute of Communications i 2023 and the IEEE International Conference on Wireless Communications and Signal Processing (WCSP) Best Paper Award in 2020. She serves as a Guest Editor for Electronics and as an Associate Editor for IEEE Wireless Communications Letters.

Qingqing Wu:

Qingqing Wu is an Associate Professor with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research interest includes intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications, and MIMO transceiver design. He has coauthored more than 100 IEEE journal papers with 29 ESI highly cited papers and nine ESI hot papers, which have received more than 19,000 Google citations. He was listed as the Clarivate ESI Highly Cited Researcher in 2022 and 2021, the Most Influential Scholar Award in AI-2000 by Aminer in 2021 and World’s Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University in 2020 and 2021. He was the recipient of the IEEE Communications Society Asia Pacific Best Young Researcher Award and Outstanding Paper Award in 2022, the IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award in 2021, the Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award of China Institute of Communications in 2017, the Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Funding in SJTU in 2016, the IEEE ICCC Best Paper Award in 2021, and IEEE WCSP Best Paper Award in 2015. He was the Exemplary Editor of IEEE Communications Letters in 2019 and the Exemplary Reviewer of several IEEE journals. He serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Communications Letters, IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, IEEE Open Journal of Communications Society (OJCOMS), and IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology (OJVT). He is the Lead Guest Editor for IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications on UAV Communications in 5G and Beyond Networks, and the Guest Editor for IEEE OJVT on 6G Intelligent Communications and IEEE OJ-COMS on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Based Communications for 6G Wireless Networks. He is the workshop Co-Chair for IEEE ICC 2019-2022 workshop on Integrating UAVs into 5G an Beyond, and the workshop co-chair for IEEE GLOBECOM 2020 and ICC 2021 workshop on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Wireless Communication for Beyond 5G. He serves as the Workshops and Symposia Officer of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces Emerging Technology Initiative and Research Blog Officer of Aerial Communications Emerging Technology Initiative. He  is the IEEE Communications Society Young Professional Chair in Asia Pacific Region.

Mingzhe Chen:

Mingzhe Chen (IEEE Senior Member) is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Knight Foundation Chair in Data Science and AI in the Frost Institute of Data Science and Computing at University of Miami. His research interests include federated learning, reinforcement learning, virtual reality, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Internet of Things. He has published several top journal papers on the optimization of movable antenna and IRS/RIS-aided wireless communication/sensing systems. He has served as a co-chair for more than 10 IEEE flagship conference workshops on edge learning, wireless positioning, and semantic communications.

Yuanwei Liu:

Yuanwei Liu (IEEE Fellow) is a tenured full Professor with The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include advanced reconfigurable intelligent surface and antennas, non-orthogonal multiple access, near field communications, integrated sensing and communications, and machine learning. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of AAIA, a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher, an IEEE Communication Society Distinguished Lecturer, and an IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Distinguished Lecturers. He serves as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE ComSoc TC Newsletter, an Area Editor of IEEE TCOM and CL, an Editor of the IEEE COMST/TWC/TVT/TNSE/TCCN.

Paper submission deadline Extended: 8 February 2026
Acceptance notification: 18 March 2026
Final paper submission deadline Extended: 7 April 2026

Submission requirements: 5-page paper (without overlength charge) and up to 2 additional pages are allowed with the purchase of additional page charges in the amount of $100 USD per additional page at the time of registration and final paper submission.

Paper submission can be located here: https://vtc2026s-rr-wks.trackchair.com/