Optically- Transparent EM Skin Meta-Atom for Next-Generation Smart Buildings

Wireless cellular systems at mmWave frequencies have been proposed to meet the increasing demand for mobile communication data rates. However, challenges arise in outdoorto-indoor scenarios featuring mmWave carriers due to signal degradation from building penetration losses. The possibility to integrate passive field manipulating devices into building walls to overcome such issues has been recently proposed in the Smart Electromagnetic Environment (SEME) framework. This work is aimed at illustrating some of the fundamental challenges within this scenario, particularly focusing on the design of meta-atom architectures ensuring high optical transparency and wide RF phase coverage for sustainable outdoor-to-indoor wireless communications.