Massive MIMO Cybersecurity Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
- Only 13 families total. a decade of filing across physical layer security, authentication and anti-jamming has produced a corpus small enough that no single assignee holds more than a handful of records.
- Filing peaked in 2024 at four records, then the field went flat. the midpoint year (2022) sits at just one filing, so any growth story here is thin and recent rather than sustained.
- China and India each account for five filings, the US three. receiving-office activity is split across three jurisdictions with none dominant, unlike most wireless-security niches where one office concentrates volume.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 records) with 2024 (4) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 13 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Massive MIMO cybersecurity sits at the intersection of large-scale antenna array design and network-layer defence: physical layer security, authentication, and anti-jamming techniques applied specifically to systems using dozens or hundreds of antenna elements. The search corpus behind this page pulls records where massive MIMO or large-scale antenna terminology appears in the title or abstract alongside security-specific language in the claims and description, filtered to IPC classes covering wireless communication security, cryptographic techniques, and secret communication.
At 13 total families, this is a niche rather than a crowded field. That has two practical consequences: filing here is still relatively cheap to enter, but the small sample also means any single well-drafted claim can cover a meaningful share of the addressable space.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 13-family corpus: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend (2017–2026)
Filings were at zero as recently as 2017, rose unevenly, and peaked at four records in 2024 before easing off. The 2022 midpoint of one filing shows this was not a steady climb — it is a late, small burst concentrated in the last few years. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent year on this chart understates real activity and should be read as a floor, not a ceiling.
IPC subclass composition
H04W (wireless communication networks) touches all 13 records, and H04B (transmission, general) covers 11 — confirming that nearly every filing frames its security claim around the antenna/transmission layer rather than treating security as a bolt-on. H04L (digital information transmission) appears in 8 records, pointing to a meaningful minority that claims security at the protocol or cryptographic layer instead. The handful of records touching A61P, G01N, G06K and G06N are likely misclassified or represent cross-disciplinary edge cases rather than a distinct sub-trend.
Shares are the percentage of the 13 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Massive MIMO Cybersecurity with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about massive mimo cybersecurity and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this corpus
SDR-based massive MIMO with V-RAN cloud architecture and SDN-based network slicing
A telecommunications network comprises at least one core network interface for providing interconnection to a core network. At least one base station interface provides communications to at least one user device. At least one server defines a configurable network interconnecting the at least one core network interface and the base station. The configurable network comprises a cloud based virtual radio access network (VRAN). The at least one server defines logically independent network slicing for the configurable network that selects a first network slice responsive to use of the configurable network by a first application and selects a second network slice responsive to use of the configuraAbstract text as filed; truncated where the source record itself is truncated.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN118282442A | 智能反射面辅助的Massive MIMO的资源分配方法及系统 | 4 |
| 2 | CN114143790A | 大规模天线Cell-free IRS物理层安全方法 | 4 |
| 3 | US11997500B2 | SDR-based massive MIMO with v-RAN cloud architecture and SDN-based network slicing | 2 |
| 4 | CN111866877A | 一种基于记忆的5G物理层安全鉴权方法 | 2 |
| 5 | US11457365B2 | SDR-based massive MIMO with V-RAN cloud architecture and SDN-based network slicing | 1 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate references within this searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current technical importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (5 of 5 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say
Three findings that shape how to read this corpus, drawn directly from the filing, citation and co-assignee data.
A late, small burst — not sustained growth
Filings sat at zero in 2017 and only one at the 2022 midpoint before climbing to four in 2024. That shape reads as a recent surge of interest rather than a maturing field with a long filing history behind it.
No single office dominates
China and India each account for five filings and the US three, out of 13 total. That three-way split is unusual for wireless security niches, where filing activity typically concentrates in one or two offices.
Filing is mostly solo, with a few tight academic clusters
Ten co-assignee pairs exist across 13 families, and the strongest links are repeat pairings around a small set of individual academic inventors rather than corporate joint ventures. This points to university-led research groups, not industry consortia, as the main collaborative unit here.
Nearly every filing claims at the antenna/transmission layer
All 13 records touch H04W and 11 touch H04B, while only 8 extend into H04L. Most applicants are anchoring their security claims in the wireless transmission layer itself rather than in a separate cryptographic or protocol layer.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to massive mimo cybersecurity, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and how much momentum they have
With only 13 families spread across a handful of assignees, this is not a field with an entrenched leader. Recent-year momentum is flat or negative for every named assignee in the dataset — a sign the 2024 peak has not carried into fresh filings yet, or that publication lag is masking activity still in the pipeline.
A fragmented field, mostly single-digit filers
No assignee in this dataset holds a filing count large enough to be called a leader. The corpus reads as a set of independent research efforts rather than a race between a small number of well-funded incumbents.
Momentum has stalled across the board
Every named assignee shows zero filings in the most recent year, with some recording a full year-over-year drop. Given the 18-month publication lag, some of this may simply not have surfaced yet — but it is not evidence of accelerating activity either.
Academic co-filing, not corporate alliances
The strongest co-assignee links all run through the same individual inventor paired with different co-authors, consistent with a university lab producing several related filings rather than a formal industry partnership.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| NXGen Partners IP, LLC | 0 | — |
| Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications | 0 | -100% |
| Harbin Engineering University | 0 | — |
| Lovely Professional University, India | 0 | — |
| Beijing Research Institute of Telemetry | 0 | -100% |
| Minzu University of China | 0 | — |
| VIT AP UNIV | 0 | — |
| SABYASACHI PRAMANIK | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
This landscape is a starting point for freedom-to-operate and whitespace work, not a substitute for it.
Run a full freedom-to-operate check
The 13 families here are a filtered search corpus, not an exhaustive FTO review. Any product decision should trigger a dedicated clearance search against the specific claim language you plan to implement.
Explore Patsnap EurekaWatch the under-claimed branches
IRS-assisted physical layer security and cell-free authentication show little dedicated claim coverage today. That can close quickly once one well-resourced filer moves in.
Explore Patsnap EurekaTrack publication-lag-affected years separately
Because the most recent 12-18 months of filings are systematically undercounted, re-run this trend analysis periodically rather than treating the current peak year as final.
Explore Patsnap EurekaCommon questions about massive MIMO cybersecurity patents
This dataset identifies 13 total patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine massive MIMO or large-scale antenna terminology with physical layer security, authentication, or anti-jamming claims. That makes it a small, niche corpus rather than a crowded field. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the true current total is likely somewhat higher once the most recent filings clear examination and publish.
No single assignee dominates this corpus — the 13 families are spread across several universities and companies, none holding enough filings to be called a clear leader. Recent-year momentum data shows every listed assignee at zero filings in the latest year, which suggests the field has not yet consolidated around a dominant player. This is consistent with a research-stage technology area rather than one with established commercial incumbents.
Physical layer security uses the physical characteristics of a wireless channel — such as the spatial diversity that massive MIMO's large antenna arrays provide — to prevent eavesdropping or unauthorized access, rather than relying solely on cryptographic protocols at higher layers. In this patent corpus, physical layer security claims frequently pair with IRS (intelligent reflecting surface) or cell-free architecture concepts, based on the most-cited records. It is one of three security angles this landscape covers, alongside authentication and anti-jamming.
The filing trend is flat to declining rather than steadily growing. Filings were at zero as of 2017, sat at just one at the 2022 midpoint, then peaked at four records in 2024 before easing off toward the most recent year. Given the typical 18-month publication lag, the most recent year's low count is likely understated, but the overall shape does not show sustained year-over-year growth.
Based on the IPC composition, most filings claim security at the wireless transmission layer (H04W, H04B) with a smaller share extending into digital transmission and protocol-layer claims (H04L). Sub-areas such as IRS-assisted physical layer security, cell-free MIMO authentication, and AI-driven anti-jamming for large-scale arrays show limited dedicated claim coverage in this corpus. These are reasonable areas to investigate further for freedom-to-operate before committing to a filing strategy there.
Research Massive MIMO Cybersecurity in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole massive mimo cybersecurity corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.