KCC Glass and POSTECH Win International Conference Paper Award for Joint Research on "Integrated Glass Antenna"

First-Ever Domestic Award in Academic-Industrial Paper Field
Achieves Both Antenna Transparency and Miniaturization

KCC Glass, in collaboration with Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has won the Best Paper Award for its jointly developed “integrated glass antenna” technology.

Representatives from KCC Glass and POSTECH, who received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE AP-S URSI International Conference Industry-Academic Paper Competition, are taking a commemorative photo. From left to right: Sungdae Cho, Director of KCC Glass; Sumin Kim, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at POSTECH; Wonbin Hong, Professor in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at POSTECH; Junghyo Lee, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at POSTECH; and Sangjin Park, Deputy General Manager of KCC Glass. KCC Glass

On July 20, KCC Glass announced that it had received the Best Paper Award at the “2026 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting,” held in Detroit, Michigan, USA from July 12 to 17, for a technology co-developed with Professor Wonbin Hong’s team from the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at POSTECH.

This marks the first time a Korean company has received the top award in this competition. The achievement is significant, as the team competed against global automotive and ICT companies such as Ford, General Motors (GM), Stellantis, Lenovo, and Meta.

The winning paper, titled “Surface Wave Interference Control Technology of Integrated Glass Antenna for V2X in Vehicles,” presents research results on vehicle glass-integrated antenna technology. The technology was jointly filed for a patent by KCC Glass and POSTECH in June.

The research team proposed a solution to address surface wave interference—a core challenge for automotive glass-integrated antennas, which have seen rapidly increasing demand due to the spread of autonomous driving and connected cars.

As V2X (Vehicle to Everything) communication expands, automotive glass-integrated antennas—which offer fewer limitations in terms of capacity and design—are drawing increased attention. However, surface wave interference, which arises from wide glass surfaces and metallic car components, has been identified as a key factor reducing communication performance.

The research team introduced a novel design that offsets surface waves from the initial stages by leveraging specific current distribution characteristics of circular patch antennas. A key feature of this technology is its simple structure, composed solely of a single metal layer—without the need for complex multilayer configurations, metal patterns, or connection vias.

The technology is compatible with existing glass production processes—including automotive laminated glass, heated glass, and Low-E (low emissivity) glass—meaning it can be mass-produced without additional facility investments. The team verified commercialization potential through 360-degree comprehensive performance testing on actual vehicle windshields.

KCC Glass projects that the application of integrated glass antennas can expand beyond vehicle use to areas such as architectural glass. By combining it with semiconductor glass substrate technology currently under development, the company expects to broaden its reach into defense sectors, including high-power radar applications.

At this conference, KCC Glass was also invited as a panelist in the autonomous driving technology session of the “Future G Summit 2026,” a conference session discussing next-generation wireless communication technologies, where it directly introduced its automotive glass antenna technology.

A KCC Glass official stated, “This award is a valuable achievement made possible by the synergy between KCC Glass’s materials and process technology and the research capabilities of academia in the field of vehicle-integrated glass antennas. We plan to continue developing next-generation, glass-based antenna technologies that span not only the global automotive market but also architecture and defense sectors.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.