• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Backscatter breakthrough runs near-zero-power IoT communicators at 5G speeds everywhere

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 25, 2021
in Science News
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Low-cost, low-power devices work over mmWave and use a single transistor to transfer high-volume data anywhere

IMAGE

Credit: John Kimionis, Nokia Bell Labs

The promise of 5G Internet of Things (IoT) networks requires more scalable and robust communication systems — ones that deliver drastically higher data rates and lower power consumption per device.

Backscatter radios ? passive sensors that reflect rather than radiate energy ? are known for their low-cost, low-complexity, and battery-free operation, making them a potential key enabler of this future although they typically feature low data rates and their performance strongly depends on the surrounding environment.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Nokia Bell Labs, and Heriot-Watt University have found a low-cost way for backscatter radios to support high-throughput communication and 5G-speed Gb/sec data transfer using only a single transistor when previously it required expensive and multiple stacked transistors.

Employing a unique modulation approach in the 5G 24/28 Gigahertz (GHz) bandwidth, the researchers have shown that these passive devices can transfer data safely and robustly from virtually any environment. The findings were reported earlier this month in the journal Nature Electronics.

Traditionally, mmWave communications, called the extremely high frequency band, is considered “the last mile” for broadband, with directive point-to-point and point-to-multipoint wireless links. This spectrum band offers many advantages, including wide available GHz bandwidth, which enables very large communication rates, and the ability to implement electrically large antenna arrays, enabling on-demand beamforming capabilities. However, such mmWave systems depend on high-cost components and systems.

The Struggle for Simplicity Versus Cost

“Typically, it was simplicity against cost. You could either do very simple things with one transistor or you need multiple transistors for more complex features, which made these systems very expensive,” said Emmanouil (Manos) Tentzeris, Ken Byers Professor in Flexible Electronics in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). “Now we’ve enhanced the complexity, making it very powerful but very low cost, so we’re getting the best of both worlds.”

“Our breakthrough is being able to communicate over 5G/millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies without actually having a full mmWave radio transmitter – only a single mmWave transistor is needed along much lower frequency electronics, such as the ones found in cell phones or WiFi devices. Lower operating frequency keeps the electronics’ power consumption and silicon cost low,” added first author Ioannis (John) Kimionis, a Georgia Tech Ph.D. graduate now a member of technical staff at Nokia Bell Labs. “Our work is scalable for any type of digital modulation and can be applied to any fixed or mobile device.”

The researchers are the first to use a backscatter radio for gigabit-data rate mmWave communications, while minimizing the front-end complexity to a single high-frequency transistor. Their breakthrough included the modulation as well as adding more intelligence to the signal that is driving the device.

“We kept the same RF front-end for scaling up the data rate without adding more transistors to our modulator, which makes it a scalable communicator,” Kimionis said, adding that their demonstration showed how a single
mmWave transistor can support a wide range of modulation formats.

Powering a Host of ‘Smart’ IoT Sensors

The technology opens up a host of IoT 5G applications, including energy harvesting, which Georgia Tech researchers recently demonstrated using a specialized Rotman lens that collects 5G electromagnetic energy from all directions.

Tentzeris said additional applications for the backscatter technology could include “rugged” high-speed personal area networks with zero-power wearable/implantable sensors for monitoring oxygen or glucose levels in the blood or cardiac/EEG functions; smart home sensors that monitor temperature, chemicals, gases, and humidity; and smart agricultural applications for detecting frost on crops, analyzing soil nutrients, or even livestock tracking.

The researchers developed an early proof of concept of this backscatter modulation, which won third prize at the 2016 Nokia Bell Labs Prize. At the time, Kimionis was a Georgia Tech ECE doctoral researcher working with Tentzeris in the ATHENA lab, which advances novel technologies for electromagnetic, wireless, RF, millimeter-wave, and sub-terahertz applications.

Key Enabler of Low Cost: Additive Manufacturing

For Kimionis, the backscatter technology breakthrough reflects his goal to “democratize communications.”

“Throughout my career I’ve looked for ways to make all types of communication more cost-efficient and more energy-efficient. Now, because the whole front end of our solution was created at such low complexity, it is compatible with printed electronics. We can literally print a mmWave antenna array that can support a low-power, low-complexity, and low-cost transmitter.”

Tentzeris considers affordable printing crucial to making their backscattering technology market viable. Georgia Tech is a pioneer in inkjet printing on virtually every material (paper, plastics, glass, flexible/organic substrates) and was one of the first research institutes to use 3D printing up to millimeter-frequency ranges back in 2002.

###

Other researchers who collaborated on this work included Apostolos Georgiadis and Spyridon Nektarios Daskalakis, both former visiting professors at Georgia Tech now on the faculty of Herriot-Watt University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences in Edinburgh.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation-EFRI, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sk?odowska-Curie grant agreement.

CITATION: J. Kimionis, et al., “A printed millimetre-wave modulator and antenna array for backscatter communications at gigabit data rates.” (Nature Electronics, 2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00588-8.

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.

The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees.

Its nearly 40,000 students, representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.

Media Relations Contacts: Anne Wainscott-Sargent (404-435-5784) ([email protected]) and Tracey Reeves ([email protected]).

Media Contact
Anne Wainscott-Sargent
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00588-8

Tags: Electrical Engineering/ElectronicsInternetResearch/DevelopmentTechnology/Engineering/Computer ScienceTelecommunications
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Effects of aging on the brain in type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes accelerates brain aging and cognitive decline

May 24, 2022
While the fetal clock develops, mom’s behavior tells the time

While the fetal clock develops, mom’s behavior tells the time

May 24, 2022

Data contradict fears of COVID-19 vaccine effects on pregnancy and fertility

May 24, 2022

Listening can be exhausting for older cochlear implant users #ASA182

May 24, 2022
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory

    Breakthrough in estimating fossil fuel CO2 emissions

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Hidden benefit: Facemasks may reduce severity of COVID-19 and pressure on health systems, researchers find

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • Discovery of the one-way superconductor, thought to be impossible

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Sweet discovery could drive down inflammation, cancers and viruses

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

VaccinesVirusZoology/Veterinary ScienceWeather/StormsWeaponryUniversity of WashingtonUrbanizationVaccineVehiclesVirologyUrogenital SystemViolence/Criminals

Recent Posts

  • Type 2 diabetes accelerates brain aging and cognitive decline
  • While the fetal clock develops, mom’s behavior tells the time
  • Data contradict fears of COVID-19 vaccine effects on pregnancy and fertility
  • Listening can be exhausting for older cochlear implant users #ASA182
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....