Engineered Electromagnetic Metasurfaces in Wireless Communications: Applications, Research Frontiers and Future Directions

Surface electromagnetics (SEM), as a sub-discipline of electromagnetic (EM) science, is strongly linked with the ability to manipulate an arbitrary EM wavefront. This exceptional capability of manipulating the surface-bound and free-space EM waves for the guidance and control of anomalous reflection, refraction and transmission has catapulted an abundance of new research frontiers. This has resulted in the realization of many novel applications for modern real-life platforms and the introduction of several new modelling techniques and engineering approaches to give rise to some unconventional devices. Consequently, EM engineered metasurfaces, due to numerous emerging applications, are beginning to revolutionize the EM industry. Recently, the practical usage of metasurfaces has gained a substantial amount of interest and traction for a wide range of applications in microwave, millimetre-wave (mmWave), Terahertz (THz) and even optical wavelengths. This tutorial is aimed at presenting a plethora of EM metasurface applications and research frontiers to illustrate a broader impact of SEM in real-world platforms, advanced communication systems and new devices.