SoloPoint Insights

New Technology Provides Solutions to Create Smooth Surfaces on Materials

As our reliance on our mobile devices grows, so grows our need for faster communication. A team of researchers recently announced that they have developed a new technique that will allow curved surfaces to appear flat to antennas.

This means that instead of bouncing around on surfaces, radio waves could travel in a much faster line and communication would be vastly improved as a result.

In this study, the researchers coated curved surfaces with a very thin coating that managed to “fool” antennas into thinking the surface was completely flat. This study has huge implications for the future of wireless antennas and communication on a large scale.

Professor of Antennas and Electromagnetics and study lead Yang Hao, said: “The design is based upon transformation optics, a concept behind the idea of the invisibility cloak. While the cloak is yet to be demonstrated ‘perfect’ in the free space, we have proved that it is possible for surface waves.”

“With the demands of telecommunications systems in airborne and ground-based vehicles growing year by year, it is necessary to create antennas with ever increasing efficiency, yet keeping the weight and volume as low as possible,” said co-author Dr Rhiannon Mitchell-Thomas from Queen Mary’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. “When electromagnetic waves encounter a bump in the surface, this alters their characteristics and decreases the efficiency of the antenna. Using this new technique, a bespoke surface wave antenna can be designed to fit the precise shape of the platform.”

Co-author Oscar Quevedo-Teruel also from Queen Mary’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science added: “This type of integrated antenna system can be applied for any frequency band from microwave to optics, leading to ultra-fast wireless communication over the surface in the near future.”

This is great news for engineers who are interested in communications technology. The amount of new jobs in this field will be increasing soon and there is always the opportunity for innovation. These positions allow engineers the ability to literally impact the lives of billions of people and change the world for the better.

Want more information about exciting advances in engineering? Ask the pros at Solopoint Solutions today!

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