Embodied Movable Antennas
Abstract
This paper introduces embodied movable antennas (MAs), a new MA architecture that rethinks the source of antenna mobility. Unlike conventional MAs that rely on dedicated antenna actuators, embodied MAs harness the mechanical degrees of freedom already present in physical agents to reconfigure antenna position and orientation. We distinguish two modes of embodied MAs: task-coupled and task-preserving. Focusing on the latter, we show how wireless channels can be reconfigured by exploiting task-equivalent host configurations without altering the prescribed physical task. Using a redundant robotic manipulator as a canonical realization, we characterize the intrinsically coupled antenna translation and orientation induced by task-preserving self-motion and derive an exact Fourier representation of the resulting multipath channel. Our analysis reveals that the wireless value of embodied mobility depends not merely on how far an antenna can move, but on which configurations remain feasible under the physical task and how their coupled motion interacts with polarization and multipath propagation. Building on this insight, we develop a cross-task antenna mounting design that enables wireless adaptation with a fixed physical installation. Numerical results demonstrate substantial communication gains through task-preserving motion. These findings establish mechanical redundancy as a new, quantifiable resource for wireless channel reconfiguration.
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BibTeX
@misc{cao2026embodied,
title = {{Embodied Movable Antennas}},
author = {Yewen Cao and Dengke Wei and Yulin Shao},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.42078},
eprint = {2610.42078},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.42078},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Embodied Movable Antennas
AU - Yewen Cao
AU - Dengke Wei
AU - Yulin Shao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.42078
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.42078
AB - This paper introduces embodied movable antennas (MAs), a new MA architecture that rethinks the source of antenna mobility. Unlike conventional MAs that rely on dedicated antenna actuators, embodied MAs harness the mechanical degrees of freedom already present in physical agents to reconfigure antenna position and orientation. We distinguish two modes of embodied MAs: task-coupled and task-preserving. Focusing on the latter, we show how wireless channels can be reconfigured by exploiting task-equivalent host configurations without altering the prescribed physical task. Using a redundant robotic manipulator as a canonical realization, we characterize the intrinsically coupled antenna translation and orientation induced by task-preserving self-motion and derive an exact Fourier representation of the resulting multipath channel. Our analysis reveals that the wireless value of embodied mobility depends not merely on how far an antenna can move, but on which configurations remain feasible under the physical task and how their coupled motion interacts with polarization and multipath propagation. Building on this insight, we develop a cross-task antenna mounting design that enables wireless adaptation with a fixed physical installation. Numerical results demonstrate substantial communication gains through task-preserving motion. These findings establish mechanical redundancy as a new, quantifiable resource for wireless channel reconfiguration.
ER -