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This communication presents a concept of a sub-6 GHz antenna-on-display (AoD) that can eventually be integrated into the transparent area of a display panel of various wireless devices for the first time in the literature. The transparency of the proposed microwave AoD is realized using metal mesh conductive film and features optical transparency, which is compatible with high-resolution liquid crystal display (LCD)/organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel requirements. To maximize the radiation efficiency despite the extremely thin substrate ($0.0048\lambda _{0}$), a traveling-wave antenna topology is inspired and further modified to incorporate the inherent structural limitations of modern-day high-resolution display panels. Eventually designed to operate in a leaky-wave mode, a novella dedicated feeding mechanism is introduced to minimize undesired coupling between the antenna structure and the display panel. The composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) unit cell employs a single shunt inductor topology to maximize the radiation efficiency. The measured 6 dB impedance bandwidth of the proposed microwave AoD is from 2.36 to 6.17 GHz, which is consistent with the fast wave region of the proposed unit cell. The measured realized gain of the microwave AoD consisting of 13 unit cells is 2.68 dBi at 5.5 GHz with a radiation efficiency of 62.5%. This is the first demonstration to ascertain that an AoD topology can be applicable at microwave applications while reducing the antenna-to-ground distance by approximately a factor of 20 compared to previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduced link margins caused by undesired blockage such as the user's hand and inherent limitations of beamsteering angles for planar antenna components constitute one of the most critical challenges for future mmWave mobile devices. This underscores the need for a new beamforming antenna strategy, which can enhance the foreside coverage with minimum compromise. This article provides a detailed overview of an mmWave beamforming antenna concept denoted as an optically invisible antenna-on-display (AoD), which can enhance the CDF, especially in the foreside direction of mobile devices such as cellular handsets. In contrast to existing antenna component strategies, the AoD is integrated within the view area of high-resolution OLED or LCD display panels of cellular handsets while remaining unnoticeable to the human eye through the use of nano-scale patterns. This allows the realization of highly precise beamforming in the foreside direction for large-screen mobile devices. The fundamental phased-array AoD strategy is introduced and compared with existing mmWave 5G beamforming antenna strategies for mmWave 5G NR cellular handsets. The operating mechanism of the mmWave 5G phased-array AoD component and its integration with existing wireless component architectures and a 537 ppi density OLED panel are considered. This concept is further refined by integrating a series of fabricated 28 GHz phased-array AoD components within a real-life mmWave 5G NR Android-based cellular handset prototype reported in the literature for the first time. The foreside beamforming characteristics at 28 GHz are experimentally studied followed by investigation of OTA measured EVMs using QPSK, 16- and 64-QAM mmWave 5G NR waveform signals in accordance with the 3GPP requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]