A slow mobile internet connection can become a major curse in our ever-connected world. Don’t the gods of the internet know you need to play that game right now? Can’t they see that you’re trying to work on your commute? Thanks to a new radio wave-steering technology, your connection problems may be gone forever.
Here’s why your phone slows down on the go: You use up more data and use your phone to watch online videos, play games, or download apps when you move around . Ultimately, your ability to get online depends on your ability to send and receive strong-enough mobile communications signals, and for that, you need antennas to beam radio waves high enough to reach your device. is required.
Currently, service providers try to meet high demand by delivering signals to users at higher frequencies, explains James Churm, an engineering professor at the University of Birmingham. In the shlokas, But with higher frequencies comes another problem: high attenuation, or a decrease in signal strength.
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“If an antenna were to transmit data in every direction, the signal strength on the user’s phone would be negligible,” Churam says.
“To counter this problem, highly directional beams of radio waves are used to send signals in only one direction.”
But Churm and his team have another way to solve the problem efficiently. His innovation on classic radio antennas could accelerate both the Internet of Things and a new era of mobile communications that matter for communication in space and on Earth – 6G.
Ultimately, their device could make self-driving and autonomous vehicle technology a reality by providing strong-enough Internet signals to cars and other forms of transportation to enable tasks such as making complex decisions based on ever-changing traffic conditions .
“The antenna adjusts itself to follow the user.”
What’s new – Churm and his colleagues designed a new antenna that increases data transmission efficiency and opens up new frequencies for mobile communications. The antenna uses so-called “beam-steering” technology – the antenna can control the deflection of a radio wave which focuses the beam and increases transmission efficiency. In addition, it can follow a user around as efficiently as a satellite.
He presented the technology at the meeting of the International Union of Radio Science on June 3, 2022.
“This technology can be used to enable 5G systems on the base station side of things and 6G will benefit when it rolls around in the next few years,” Churam says.
“The Internet of Things has application areas, enabling interconnectivity in automated industrial systems as well as in the home,” he says.
“The technology can also be adapted for use in vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicular radar and satellite communications, making it suitable for next-generation use in automotive, radar, space and defense applications. makes good,” Churm said in a statement earlier on the research.
speed up data
The new Beam Steering device is housed inside an iPhone-sized gadget. Inside is a metamaterial, a unique material engineered to interact with waves in specific ways that is created from a sheet of metal with an array of tiny pores.
new antenna. University of Birmingham
“Our solution is not only more efficient at emitting radio waves, but it also requires a far less complex control system, which should go towards making the system more economical and ubiquitous,” says Churam.
The new device can provide continuous ‘wide-angle’ beam steering, allowing it to track a moving mobile phone user in the same way that a satellite dish is turned to track a moving object, but significantly. with increased speed.
The new beam steering gadget could be part of a solution to current data limitations. However, as the user moves around, they can move out of the antenna’s line of sight, as the antenna’s beam is intentionally narrow.
But Churm and his team thought about it this way: “The antenna adjusts itself to follow the user using beam steering techniques to keep service on the move,” he says.
“Beam steering allows the antenna to be switched between multiple users in a short period of time, as the base station’s data rates will be much higher than what the user’s device will be able to receive.”
The researchers said their device is now compatible with the 5G specifications used by mobile communications networks.
beam me up
5G has enabled faster mobile communications than ever before, but 6G may go a step further – and even into space. lupengyu/Moment/Getty Images
Swarna Kumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, explains that beam-steering helps improve wireless speeds for everyday users of cellular technologies. In the shlokas,
Unlike communication over wires such as Ethernet cables, where communication occurs between two devices at any point, the wireless medium is shared – meaning that each device using the same wireless service will, in theory, be every other. Can “speak” and “hear” the device.
“In a cellular context, this means that when base stations communicate, all phones can, in theory, hear their signals,” Kumar says.
“This makes it difficult for different pairing devices to communicate simultaneously because they will inevitably interfere, i.e. ‘talk to each other.'”
WiFi, 4G and 5G technology already use beam-steering to optimize speed. A common approach is using “dishes” (similar to satellite TV dishes) that focus signals directly along the points of the dish. But individual antenna elements get smaller and it becomes challenging to design them as the frequency of the signal increases.
“Imagine that in an entire restaurant, only one person is allowed to talk at a time. Beam-steering allows for parallel wireless ‘conversation’.”
“The team from Birmingham has developed a directional design at high frequencies (so-called mmWave frequencies) that is increasingly deployed for 5G and beyond,” says Kumar.
“A key innovation in their approach appears to be the effective use of smart materials to ensure that the antenna’s overall form factor is small while ensuring high performance.”
Kumar compares beam steering to a busy restaurant where many people are talking. Technically, everyone can hear each other, but people sitting at different tables can still have meaningful conversations. This is because humans can focus a conversation from a specific direction.
“Beam-steering is a similar idea—focusing the direction of the wireless signal toward the intended recipient,” Kumar says.
“Think of them as the wireless equivalent of horn speakers that direct wireless energy in a specific direction. The ‘stability’ of the beam allows the transmitter – called a cellular base station – to quickly change the direction of transmission depending on where the cellular phone is located. Allows to ‘run’.”
“This approach works for both broadcast and reception – the tower can likewise focus the reception in the direction of any cellphone receiving the signal.”
Just as focusing on sounds in a restaurant can help you understand conversations, beam steering can aid in cellular communication, says Kumar. By focusing on specific directions, the signals sent and received to the user are stronger, which means faster communication and faster speeds for users. In addition, beam-steering allows for multiple parallel interactions between multiple pairs of users without interference.
“The alternative would have been to turn-off – one device at a time – which is significantly slower,” says Kumar.
“Imagine that in an entire restaurant, only one person is allowed to talk at a time. Beam-steering allows for parallel wireless ‘conversation’ that provides enough speed for everyone involved.”
on the horizon…
For mobile networks, beam steering could allow for increased data speeds and reliability, explained Eric Black, chief technology officer at PivotalComware. In the shlokas, Pivotal Commware supplies telecommunications equipment.
Autonomous cars are a technology that makes sense. ponywang/e+/Getty Images
The technology can also improve phone battery life as less power is required to send and receive signals.
“The exact gain experienced depends on the underlying system design,” Black says.
“Carriers will build their networks on a combination of these differentiators. Some will opt for increased data rates and better power consumption, while others may focus on better range and coverage.
Adil Kidwai, head of product management at Internet technology company EdgeQ, said In the shlokas that beam steering can be helpful for extremely high data throughput applications, especially indoor 5G network mobility applications that require high data bandwidth.
For example, beam steering could be used for military applications where one needs to channel high burst, high bandwidth data in a very short time or distance, Kidwai says.
For you and me, beam steering can be used for virtual reality headsets for the metaverse, where high-bandwidth data transmission at extremely low latency is required for a seamless, immersive experience, Kidwai says.
Another potential application, Churam says, is to make autonomous and self-driving vehicle technology more efficient and ultimately safer for passengers.
Their beam-steering device and its technology could usher in “the next generation of automobile communications and radar,” he says, “enabling vehicles to communicate with each other with their surroundings in a way that is important for autonomous vehicles.” Be able to make context-based decisions.”
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