Movable antenna (MA) technology is a recent development that fully exploits the wireless channel spatial variation in a confined region by enabling local movement of the antenna. Specifically, the positions of antennas at the transmitter and/or receiver can be dynamically changed to obtain better channel conditions for improving the communication performance. In this article, we first provide an overview of the promising applications for MA-aided wireless communication. Then, we present the hardware architecture and channel characterization for MA systems, based on which the variation of the channel gain with respect to the MA's position is illustrated. Furthermore, we analyze the performance advantages of MAs over conventional fixed-position antennas, in terms of signal power improvement, interference mitigation, flexible beamforming, and spatial multiplexing. Finally, we discuss the main design challenges and their potential solutions for MA-aided communication systems.

翻译：移动天线（MA）技术是一项最新进展，通过允许天线进行局部移动，充分利用限定区域内无线信道的空间变化特性。具体而言，发射端和/或接收端天线的位置可动态调整，以获得更优的信道条件，从而提升通信性能。本文首先概述了MA辅助无线通信的潜在应用场景；接着，介绍了MA系统的硬件架构与信道特性，并据此阐述了信道增益随MA位置变化的规律；随后，从信号功率提升、干扰抑制、灵活波束赋形及空间复用等角度，分析了MA相较于传统固定位置天线的性能优势；最后，讨论了MA辅助通信系统面临的主要设计挑战及其潜在解决方案。