Electromagnetically Reconfigurable Fluid Antenna System for Wireless Communications: Design, Modeling, Algorithm, Fabrication, and Experiment

This paper presents the concept, design, channel modeling, beamforming algorithm development, prototype fabrication, and experimental measurement of an electromagnetically reconfigurable fluid antenna system (ER-FAS), in which each FAS array element features electromagnetic (EM) reconfigurability. Unlike most existing FAS works that investigate spatial reconfigurability by adjusting the position and/or orientation of array elements, the proposed ER-FAS enables direct control over the EM characteristics of each element, allowing for dynamic radiation pattern reconfigurability. Specifically, a novel ER-FAS architecture leveraging software-controlled fluidics is proposed, and corresponding wireless channel models are established. Based on this ER-FAS channel model, a low-complexity greedy beamforming algorithm is developed to jointly optimize the analog phase shift and the radiation state of each array element. The accuracy of the ER-FAS channel model and the effectiveness of the beamforming algorithm are validated through (i) full-wave EM simulations and (ii) numerical spectral efficiency evaluations. These results confirm that the proposed ER-FAS significantly enhances spectral efficiency in both near-field and far-field scenarios compared to conventional antenna arrays. To further validate this design, we fabricate prototypes for both the ER-FAS element and array, using Galinstan liquid metal alloy, fluid silver paste, and software-controlled fluidic channels. The simulation results are experimentally validated through prototype measurements conducted in an anechoic chamber. Additionally, several indoor communication experiments using a pair of software-defined radios demonstrate the superior received power and bit error rate performance of the ER-FAS prototype.