Movable Antennas Meet Low-Altitude Wireless Networks: Fundamentals, Opportunities, and Future Directions

Abstract: With the rapid development of low-altitude applications, there is an increasing demand for low-altitude wireless networks (LAWNs) to simultaneously achieve high-rate communication, precise sensing, and reliable control in the low-altitude airspace. In this paper, we first present a typical system architecture of LAWNs, which integrates three core functionalities: communication, sensing, and control. Subsequently, we explore the promising prospects of movable antenna (MA)-assisted wireless communications, with emphasis on its potential in flexible beamforming, interference management, and spatial multiplexing gain. Furthermore, we elaborate on the integrated communication, sensing, and control capabilities enabled by MAs in LAWNs, and illustrate their effectiveness through representative examples. A case study demonstrates that MA-enabled LAWNs achieve significant performance improvements over traditional fixed-position antenna-based LAWNs in terms of communication throughput, sensing accuracy, and control stability. Finally, we outline several promising directions for future research, including the MA-assisted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication/sensing, the MA-assisted reliable control, and the MA-enhanced physical layer security.