Science Daily April 12, 2019
The highest radiation efficiency antennas require size at the scale of the wavelength (here, >1 km), making portable transmitters extremely challenging. A team of researchers in the US (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, industry, SRI International) used a rod-shaped crystal of a piezoelectric material, lithium niobate, as their antenna. When they applied an oscillating electric voltage to the rod it vibrated, alternately shrinking and expanding, and this mechanical stress triggered an oscillating electric current whose electromagnetic energy then got emitted as VLF radiation. Switching the wavelength during operation allowed them to transmit with a large bandwidth achieving data transfer rates of more than 100 bits per second. The device bandwidth is greater than 83x thus increasing the transmitter bitrate while still minimizing losses. These results will open new applications for portable, electrically small antennas…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
SLAC develops novel compact antenna for communicating where radios fail
Posted in Antenna systems and tagged Communication technology.