Communications

A team of researchers at Nagoya University has discovered something surprising. If you have two tiny vibrating elements, each one barely moving on its own, and you combine them in the right way, their combined vibration can be amplified dramatically—up to 100 million times.... Read more

A paper published by Swinburne University of Technology shows how a kind of "optical ruler," or frequency comb, can greatly increase bandwidth in today's data-saturated world. Integrated optical frequency comb sources, or microcombs, have driven major advances in spectroscopy, metrology and more. Their potential in data transmission is especially promising,... Read more

Live and on-demand video constituted an estimated 66% of global internet traffic by volume in 2022, and the top 10 days for internet traffic in 2024 coincided with live streaming events such as the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match and coverage of the NFL. Streaming enables seamless, on-demand... Read more

The evolution of wireless communications and the miniaturization of electrical circuits have fundamentally reshaped our lives and the digital landscape. However, as we push toward higher-frequency communications in an increasingly connected world, engineers face growing challenges from multipath propagation—a phenomenon where the same radio signal reaches receiving antennas through multiple... Read more

South Korea's largest carrier SK Telecom started on Monday to replace mobile SIM chips for its 23 million users following a data breach, prompting alarmed customers to form long lines for the replacements.... Read more

Navigating drones in environments without reliable Global Positioning System (GPS) signals remains a significant challenge for modern aerospace technology. A new study addresses methods for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) localization in GPS-denied areas, exploring both absolute and relative localization techniques.... Read more

A team of researchers at Q-CTRL, a quantum infrastructure software-maker based in Sydney, Australia, has announced the successful demonstration of its newly developed quantum navigation system called "Ironstone Opal."... Read more

The UK government has announced £65 million in funding for a new system called Borealis which is intended to help the UK military defend its satellites against threats. Borealis is a software system that collates and processes data to strengthen the UK military's ability to monitor what's going on in... Read more

Scientists at Lancaster University have studied satellite images of the UK to produce the most accurate assessment yet on how much land solar farms occupy.... Read more

Chinese researchers have unveiled a new deep-sea tool capable of cutting through the world's most secure subsea cables—and it has many in the West feeling a little jittery.... Read more

Researchers from TU/e have transmitted data between the TU/e campus and the High Tech Campus over a 4.6 km distance using infrared light. This happened at the astonishing rate of 5.7 terabits per second, the equivalent of streaming 1.9 million Netflix shows in HD simultaneously. This is the fastest wireless... Read more

The US retail giant Amazon is preparing to launch Wednesday its first full batch of Project Kuiper satellites, marking a crucial milestone in the battle with Elon Musk's Starlink to provide high-speed internet.... Read more

When it comes to upgrading electrical and broadband infrastructure, new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that a "dig once" approach is nearly 40% more cost effective than replacing them separately.... Read more

Researchers have developed a new type of optical receiver, able to restore chaotic signals in free-space optical communication links distorted by atmospheric turbulence. Using a system of optical antennas integrated into a programmable photonic chip, the receiver can adapt in real time, maintaining the integrity of the signal even in... Read more

Global mobile communications that reliably reach every remote region, leaving no gaps on the map? Satellites play a key role in achieving this goal. In the future, however, not all satellites will be powerful enough to act as complete base stations. As part of the TRANTOR project, Fraunhofer IIS has... Read more

Amazon is preparing to launch its first full batch of Project Kuiper satellites next week, marking a crucial milestone in the tech giant's bid to compete with Elon Musk's Starlink.... Read more

Blockchain technology was unveiled nearly 35 years ago, but it first became prominent more recently—in 2009, with the introduction of Bitcoin—giving this "digital ledger" an everyday, consumer purpose. However, while blockchains have been used for payments, digital contracts, and supply chains, blockchain systems still achieve a low transaction rate with... Read more

An estimated 240 million calls are made to 911 in the U.S. each year, with wireless devices accounting for 80% or more of these calls. Making sure emergency calls connect and stay connected to 911 dispatchers is essential and could have life-threatening consequences. MSU researchers found that in certain situations,... Read more

The United Nations on Tuesday urged countries to boost protections amid a marked increase in efforts to interfere with satellite navigation systems like GPS that are critical for aviation and maritime safety.... Read more

There's a major difference between humans and current artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities: common sense. According to a new paper by Walid Saad, professor in the College of Engineering and the Next-G Wireless Lead at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, a true revolution in wireless technologies is only possible through endowing... Read more

High above the Arctic Circle, on the rugged terrain of Andøya, three ESA radionavigation engineers take a rare moment to unwind with a game of shuffleboard. Outside, sheep graze under the shimmering northern lights, a serene backdrop to their demanding mission: test how navigation technologies withstand interference signals. With 100TB... Read more

Plasmonic modulators are tiny components that convert electrical signals into optical signals in order to transport them through optical fibers. A modulator of this kind had never managed to transmit data at a frequency of over a terahertz (over a trillion oscillations per second).... Read more

Modern communication networks rely on optical signals to transfer vast amounts of data. But just like a weak radio signal, these optical signals need to be amplified to travel long distances without losing information.... Read more

Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel said Tuesday it has signed a deal with Elon Musk's Starlink to explore providing the U.S. satellite internet giant's services to customers in India, depending on government approval.... Read more

From music to film, subscriptions have become essential. The average number of subscriptions an American consumer maintains is four and a half, spending nearly US$1,000 a year. The average Canadian household pays for two and a half streaming TV platforms.... Read more

Korean researchers have succeeded in developing a core wired network technology that enables remote conferences, collaborations, and surgeries in a 6G environment. This technology will open up a hyper-immersive metaverse world in the future 6G world.... Read more

Researchers at the University of Twente, in collaboration with the City University of Hong Kong, have designed a cutting-edge programmable photonic chip in a thin-film lithium niobate platform, an important material in photonics. Published in Nature Communications, this work paves the way for next-generation high-performance radar and communication applications.... Read more

Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) are essential for a wide range of applications, from robotics and drones to augmented reality. While traditional technologies like WiFi and Bluetooth often fall short in accuracy, Visible Light Positioning (VLP) stands out as a promising alternative due to its high precision and low infrastructure costs.... Read more

An internet rights group on Tuesday raised alarm over reports the United States may steer billions of dollars to Elon Musk's Starlink by making changes to a rural broadband deployment program.... Read more

Applications such as self-driving vehicles, 6G mobile communications and quantum communications are pushing fiber optic networks to their limits. Fraunhofer researchers have joined forces with partners to devise clever ways to optimize data transmission. Optical switches with liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) mirrors shrink data packets down to size so... Read more

Programmable metasurfaces (PMs), also sometimes referred to as reconfigurable intelligence surfaces, are smart surfaces that reflect wireless signals, but can also dynamically manipulate electromagnetic waves in real-time. These surfaces are highly advantageous for the development of many cutting-edge technologies, including advanced sensing and wireless communication systems.... Read more

The world's largest wireless technology showcase kicked off on Monday, with excitement over AI's potential to transform gadgets clashing with concerns over trade tensions fueled by the United States.... Read more

Quantum technology is no longer confined to the lab—it's making its way into our everyday lives. Now, it's about to transform something even more fundamental: how we navigate the world.... Read more

Wireless connections are common in most households today. From your lights to your heating, everything can be connected and controlled through Wi-Fi. However, wireless technology is inherently vulnerable to the threat of jamming.... Read more

A new study reveals advanced methods for improving orbit determination (OD) of large constellations of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, utilizing Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations and inter-satellite ranging. These innovations promise to significantly boost the accuracy and computational efficiency essential for satellite communication, remote sensing, and navigation augmentation.... Read more

Three innovative design techniques substantially enhance wireless transmitter performance and can boost power efficiency and elevate data rates concurrently, as reported by the researchers from Science Tokyo, Japan. This effectively aligns with the growing demand for speed and efficiency, accelerating the widespread deployment of wireless devices. This enables synergistic operation... Read more

The University of Oulu's 6G research program was the first in the world to publish a 6G White Paper in 2019. It was jointly prepared by several dozen experts. In the following two years, several papers on different aspects complemented the series. In total, the scientific vision papers have been... Read more

With the exponential rise in drone activity, safely managing low-flying airspace has become challenging—especially in highly populated areas. Just last month, an unauthorized drone collided with a "Super Scooper" aircraft above the Los Angeles wildfires, grounding the aircraft for several days and hampering firefighting efforts.... Read more

Sixth-generation, or 6G, cellular networks are the next step in wireless communication, and electromagnetic terahertz waves are seen as crucial to its development. However, terahertz waves, with their higher frequency and shorter wavelength, are subject to greater interference from electromagnetic noise, making clear and secure transmission a challenge.... Read more

As 5G and 6G networks expand, they promise a future of incredibly fast and reliable wireless connections. A key technology behind this is millimeter-wave (mmWave), which uses very high-frequency radio waves to transmit huge amounts of data. To make the most of mmWave, networks use large groups of antennas working... Read more

Absorbing layers have been fundamental to advancements in technologies like energy harvesting, stealth systems, and communication networks. These absorbers efficiently capture electromagnetic waves across broad frequency ranges, enabling the development of sustainable, self-powered devices such as remote sensors and internet of things (IoT) systems.... Read more

In fall 2024, NASA developed and tested a 3D-printed antenna to demonstrate a low-cost capability to communicate science data to Earth. The antenna, tested in flight using an atmospheric weather balloon, could open the door for using 3D printing as a cost-effective development solution for the ever-increasing number of science... Read more

In recent years, electronics engineers worldwide have been trying to develop new hardware that could further boost the speed and efficiency of wireless communications. Digitally programmable metasurfaces, advanced artificial materials engineered to manipulate the properties of electromagnetic waves, have been found to be particularly promising for the transmission of wireless... Read more

A new study has introduced an advanced method for visual-inertial navigation, utilizing a single Ultra-Wideband (UWB) anchor with an unknown position to achieve exceptional positioning accuracy and robustness in environments lacking Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals.... Read more

AT&T is trying to address one of the biggest frustrations for wireless phone and internet customers—losing service to outages and still paying for it.... Read more

Look up: Can you see the sky?... Read more

Researchers have found a low-power, inexpensive way for large numbers of devices, such as machines in factories and equipment in labs, to share information by efficiently using signals at untapped high frequencies.... Read more

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using non-weather data from the nationwide weather radar network to understand how to track non-meteorological events moving through the air for better emergency response. Weather reports on the news show colorful, near-time representations of clouds and precipitation moving over... Read more

Researchers have developed a new radar signal–processing technology that can dramatically enhance the resolution of existing low-resolution radars. This technology enables precise object recognition using existing hardware specifications without the need for bandwidth expansion.... Read more

A groundbreaking advancement in technology is paving the way for mobile phones and other electronic devices to recharge simply by being kept in a pocket. This innovative system enables wireless charging throughout three-dimensional (3D) spaces, encompassing walls, floors, and air.... Read more