Robust wireless communication using self-healing non-diffracting beams

The surge in wireless data traffic propelled by the Internet of Things, autonomous systems, and augmented reality calls for new microwave communication systems that can overcome the fundamental limitations of line-of-sight (LOS) propagation. To address this need, we propose a metamaterial-based platform that integrates non-diffracting beam dynamics with microwave communications to achieve robust obstacle-immune transmissions. We design and fabricate a multilayer dielectric metasurface operating across 15–25 GHz, which can modulate the phase and amplitude simultaneously and independently to generate non-diffracting beams. Through systematic near-field characterization and practical wireless testing in realistic environments, synthesized special beams demonstrate exceptional capabilities of obstacle circumvention and self-healing, maintaining up to 34.1% signal integrity at the propagation distance of 120 wavelengths even when obstructed by an obstacle as large as 16 wavelengths. Under LOS obstruction conditions, the proposed method achieves a 20.5 dB reduction in path loss and a 13 dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) over conventional Gaussian beams. The proposed metasurface platform exhibits strong potential for scalability into millimeter-wave and terahertz regimes. By unifying the self-recovering propagation with intrinsic obstruction resilience, this work paves the way for next-generation wireless infrastructure capable of reliable operation in highly cluttered environments.