Advancements in CPW-Fed Antennas: Review on Design Techniques and Performance Optimization for 5G and Beyond

This review comprehensively explores recent advancements in coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed antenna design, with a particular focus on performance optimization techniques applicable to 5G and future 6G wireless systems. The study investigates a wide array of design methodologies including the integration of stubs, slots, strips, corner truncation, substrate engineering, defected ground structures (DGS), defected substrates, metamaterials (MTM), frequency-selective surfaces (FSS), conductor-backed (CB) configurations, modified ground structures (MGS), metal reflectors, and MIMO architectures. A detailed parametric comparison reveals how these approaches significantly enhance key antenna parameters such as impedance bandwidth (up to 181%), gain (up to 13.1 dBi), axial ratio bandwidth, miniaturization (up to 72.7% size reduction), polarization purity, and frequency agility across multiple bands. Applications span 5G/6G mobile, biomedical, IoT, satellite, CubeSat, and vehicular systems. In particular, techniques like MIMO and metamaterial integration deliver high port isolation (≥15 dB), ultra-wideband (UWB) support, and enhanced diversity performance. This work provides a roadmap for selecting optimal design combinations tailored to specific wireless standards and platforms. Future research is encouraged to explore reconfigurable structures, AI-driven design automation, transparent and sustainable materials, and energy-harvesting integration for next-generation intelligent antenna systems.