Associate
professor Andrea Alù and his team have designed a non-reciprocal antenna
that can
independently control incoming and outgoing radio-wave signals with greater
efficiency.
Cockrell School of Engineering
(March 14, 2016) Researchers
in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have
designed an antenna that is able to process incoming and outgoing radio-wave
signals more efficiently and without the need for separate bulky and expensive
electrical components commonly used in antenna systems. This new technology
could lead to significantly faster, cheaper and clearer telecommunications in
the future.
Andrea Alù, associate professor in the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, along with postdoctoral fellows Yakir
Hadad and Jason Soric, discuss their non-reciprocal antenna’s design and
capabilities in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their
article will be published online this month.
The research team’s breakthrough design is an antenna that
can break reciprocity, or the natural symmetry in radiation that characterizes
conventional antennas. In textbooks, the angular patterns for antenna
transmission and reception have been assumed to be the same — if the antenna
opens a door to let signals out, signals can come back through that same door
and leak toward the source. By breaking reciprocity, the UT Austin researchers’
new antenna can independently control incoming and outgoing signals with large
efficiency.
The main advantage of this technological advancement is the
possibility of sending out a signal while keeping out noise and echoes that
come back toward the antenna, enabling faster data rates and improved connections
while requiring less bulky antenna systems. Beyond telecommunications, the new
antenna technology may be applied to sensors used in applications as diverse as
health care and weather tracking, allowing the sensors to pick up stronger
signals for more accurate data collection.