IEEE Spectrum January 28, 2018 An international team of researchers (China, Taiwan) has developed a 28 GHz beam-steering antenna array that can be integrated into the metallic casing of 5G mobile phones. The array antenna has 16 cavity-backed slot antenna elements that are implemented via the metallic back casing of the mobile device, in which two eight-element phased arrays are built on the left- and right-side edges of the mobile device. Each eight-element phased array can yield beam steering at broadside and gain of >15 dBi can be achieved at boresight. The measured 10 dB return loss bandwidth of the […]
Category Archives: Communications technology
DARPA Seeks to Improve Military Communications with Digital Phased-Arrays at Millimeter Wave
DARPA News January 24, 2018 DARPA is launching the Millimeter-Wave Digital Arrays (MIDAS) program which aims to develop element-level digital phased-array technology that will enable next generation DoD millimeter wave systems. Research efforts will focus on reducing the size and power of digital millimeter wave transceivers, enabling phased-array technology for mobile platforms and elevating mobile communications to the less crowded millimeter wave frequencies. MIDAS is focused on two key technical areas. The first is the development of the silicon chips to form the core transceiver for the array tile. The second area is focused on the development of wide-band antennas, […]
Scientists realize strong indirect coupling in distant graphene-based nanomechanical resonators
Nanowerk January 28, 2018 The main problem using nanomechanical resonators as information carriers is the realization of tunable phonon interaction at long distance. An international team of researchers (China, USA) reports the experimental observation of strong indirect coupling between separated mechanical resonators in a graphene-based electromechanical system. The coupling is mediated by a far-off-resonant phonon cavity through virtual excitations via a Raman-like process. By controlling the resonant frequency of the phonon cavity, the indirect coupling can be tuned in a wide range. The results may lead to the development of gate-controlled all-mechanical devices and open the possibility of long-distance quantum […]
Researchers use sound waves to advance optical communication
Physorg January 22, 2018 There are several problems with using magnetically responsive materials to achieve the one-way flow of light in a photonic chip. Researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, produced a non-reciprocal modulator by means of indirect interband scattering. They broke the time-reversal symmetry using a two-dimensional acoustic pump that simultaneously provides a non-zero overlap integral for light–sound interaction and satisfies the necessary phase-matching. Their device is 200 by 100 microns in size, made of aluminum nitride. Sound waves, produced using tiny electrodes written directly onto the aluminum nitride, compel light within the device to travel only in […]
Scientists create high-speed coding system
Physorg January 23, 2018 Researchers in Russia have proposed and demonstrated a scheme for optical encoding of information based on the formation of wave fronts that works with spatially incoherent illumination. They used a liquid-crystal phase light modulator as the encoding element, where pre-synthesized diffraction optical elements are displayed. The camera’s image sensor detects the optical convolution of the image that is produced by the amplitude modulator with the pulse response of the diffractive element, derived on the phase modulator. They successfully encoded and decoded the images of QR codes with a size up to 129×129 elements. The percentage of […]
Pulses of light to encrypt data and protect security of cryptocurrencies
Physorg January 11, 2018 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Southern California, Mexico) report a new strategy to fabricate near-infrared frequency combs based on combining high-Q microcavities with monomolecular layers of highly nonlinear small molecules. The functionalized microcavities demonstrate high-efficiency parametric oscillation in the near-IR and generate primary frequency combs with 0.88-mW thresholds, improving optical parametric oscillation generation over nonfunctionalized devices by three orders of magnitude. This organic-inorganic approach enables otherwise unattainable performance and will inspire the next generation of integrated photonic device platforms… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Developing a secure, un-hackable net
Physorg January 11, 2018 A method of securely communicating between multiple quantum devices developed by researchers in the UK does not rely on assumptions, but instead it uses the quantum laws of physics to ensure security, which would need to be broken to hack the encryption. They report on a way of communicating securely between three or more quantum devices, irrespective of who built them. The method works by using the network’s structure to limit what an eavesdropper can learn. They used machine learning and causal inference to develop the test for the un-hackable communications system. This approach distributes secret […]
Engineers reinvent the inductor after two centuries
Nanotechweb January 15, 2018 An international team of researchers (USA – UC Santa Barbara, Japan, China) has made high-performance inductors from intercalated graphene that work in the 10-50 GHz range due to the mechanism of kinetic inductance rather than magnetic inductance. The new inductors, which have both small form-factors and high inductance values, of around 1-2 nanoHenry are a third smaller in terms of surface area than conventional devices but with the same performance. They might thus be used in ultra-compact wireless communication systems for applications in the IoT, sensing and energy storage/transfer. It also highlights a practical application for […]
FAU to develop novel real-time undersea wireless communications and surveillance technology
Eurekalert January 11, 2018 The current state-of-the-art approaches for undersea localization and tracking are expensive and power-intensive. Under an NSF grant, researchers at Florida Atlantic University will develop novel optimal algorithms for oceanic-scale 3D acoustic underwater localization and tracking, software and hardware technology to create and maintain a programmable software-defined undersea acoustic testbed comprising of four nodes. The new technology is expected to resolve interoperability issues in heterogeneous network deployments that include real-time interaction between undersea, water-surface, aerial, and satellite communication nodes… read more.