Communications

A new ultra-low-power method of communication at first glance seems to violate the laws of physics. It is possible to wirelessly transmit information simply by opening and closing a switch that connects a resistor to an antenna. No need to send power to the antenna.... Read more

Sophisticated antenna arrays paired with high-frequency wireless chips act like superpowers for modern electronics, boosting everything from sensing to security to data processing. In his lab at Princeton, Kaushik Sengupta is working to expand those powers even further.... Read more

After the introduction of the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks (5G), engineers worldwide are now working on systems that could further speed up communications. The next-generation wireless communication networks, from 6G onward, will require technologies that enable communications at sub-terahertz and terahertz frequency bands (i.e., from 100GHz to... Read more

3D-printed radio antennas that could help bring stronger mobile phone signals and faster internet connections to people living in remote communities have been developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield.... Read more

State-of-the-art methods of information security are likely to be compromised by emerging technologies such as quantum computers. One of the reasons they are vulnerable is that both encrypted messages and the keys to decrypt them must be sent from sender to receiver.... Read more

EPFL researchers have collaborated with colleagues at Harvard and ETH Zurich on a new thin-film circuit that, when connected to a laser beam, produces finely tailorable terahertz-frequency waves. The device opens up a world of potential applications in optics and telecommunications.... Read more

A questionnaire sent to South Australian households has found that more than half don't understand what a "smart city" means, despite Adelaide being one of the most wired cities in Australia with very fast internet speeds and networked sensors.... Read more

The evolution of next-generation cellular networks is aimed at creating faster, more reliable solutions. Both the next-generation 6G network and the metaverse require high transmission speeds. Visible light communication (VLC) is deemed an important ancillary technology to wireless communication.... Read more

When NASA docks two spacecraft in orbit, timing is critical. Their movements must be precisely synchronized with each other to prevent catastrophic failure, which means the computer networks that control their thrusters must not be disrupted for even a split second; instructions on exactly how and when to move must... Read more

Delta Air Lines will provide free Wi-Fi service on most of its U.S. flights starting in February, CEO Ed Bastian announced Thursday at the CES technology trade show.... Read more

For years, the idea of 6G was thought to be science fiction. Now, it's closer than ever before, but Josep Jornet, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern, says there's still room for improvement.... Read more

An ultra-wide-band receiver based on a harmonic selection technique to improve the operational bandwidth of 5G networks has been developed by Tokyo Tech researchers in a new study. Fifth generation (5G) mobile networks are now being used worldwide with frequencies of over 100 Hz. To keep up with the data... Read more

Several years ago, the government of Aotearoa New Zealand undertook an initiative to provide Internet access throughout the country. To observe the status of broadband adoption and usage in the rural areas, a group of final year research and development (R&D) undergraduate students with their supervisors conducted a statistical survey... Read more

A group of about 20 tech-savvy engineers and programmers gathered Saturday afternoon at a Philadelphia bookstore to celebrate the installation of an old-fashioned public pay phone.... Read more

New signal-processing algorithms have been shown to mitigate the impact of turbulence in free-space optical experiments, potentially bringing "free space" internet a step closer to reality.... Read more

Microsoft announced plans Wednesday to bring internet access via satellite to 10 million people, half of them in Africa, as part of efforts to bridge a digital divide with the developing world.... Read more

To meet the world's rapidly growing data consumption and increasing bandwidth requirements, satellite communications are shifting to higher frequencies. The W-band (75–110 GHz) is well suited for use in space, but technical components have been lacking so far.... Read more

In May 2022, the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload onboard a small CubeSat satellite was launched into orbit 300 miles above Earth's surface. Since then, TBIRD has delivered terabytes of data at record-breaking rates of up to 100 gigabits per second—100 times faster than the fastest internet speeds in most... Read more

Nearly three quarters of people over the age of 10 now own a mobile phone, potentially opening the way to broader internet use, the United Nations said Wednesday.... Read more

Photodiodes with high speed and efficiency are particularly advantageous to the exponential growth of data communication traffic. However, vertical detector design still faces difficulties in improving high responsivity while maintaining low dark current and high bandwidth.... Read more

A group of researchers from the Network Research Institute of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) led by Ruben Soares Luís, along with its partners, has achieved the first demonstration of a field deployed 15-mode optical fiber network, equivalent to 15 parallel fiber networks using a... Read more

Antennas that can couple guided waves emitted from different sources in free space and manipulate these waves are crucial to the development of numerous technologies, including wireless communication, optical communication and ranging systems. Metasurfaces, thin films made up of several elements, have shown promise for developing these types of antennas.... Read more

Researchers of Delft University of Technology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and VSL have developed an alternative positioning system that is more robust and accurate than GPS, especially in urban settings. The working prototype that demonstrated this new mobile network infrastructure achieved an accuracy of 10 centimeters.... Read more

On a street in Wusterhausen, around an hour's drive north of Berlin, a man paces intently, holding his mobile phone in front of him.... Read more

NIST, in collaboration with CU Boulder faculty, published a paper titled: "RF Josephson Arbitrary Waveform Synthesizer with Integrated Superconducting Diplexers" demonstrating results that show a significant step toward a broadband, integrated, quantum-based microwave voltage source with useful power above -30 dBm.... Read more

The world's first 55-mode transmission at a record data-rate of 1.53 petabits per second in any standard cladding diameter optical fiber was demonstrated. This novel 55-mode fiber enables ultra-high spectral efficiency with high-data-rate achieved using only the most common optical communications (C-) band. This demonstration shows the potential of multi-mode... Read more

Wednesday, November 9 saw the first fully-automated demonstration of AVATARs—autonomous emission-free waterways vessels—on the pond in front of the 3mE building.... Read more

Carlsbad, California's Viasat said Tuesday that it expects to begin launching its next-generation broadband Internet satellite constellation early next year—marking another delay in getting the terabyte-class satellites into orbit.... Read more

On the rooftop of an MIT Lincoln Laboratory building sits a 38-foot-wide dome-shaped radio antenna enclosure, or radome. Inside the climate-controlled environment, shielded from the New England weather, a steel structure supports a 20,000-pound, 20-foot diameter satellite communications (SATCOM) antenna. The antenna—called the Multi-Band Test Terminal (MBTT)—can rotate 15 degrees... Read more

Privacy advocates are demanding standards for mobile service providers' handling of sensitive customer information, especially location data, after a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into the top 15 carriers revealed a huge variation within the industry's data retention and consumer privacy protocols.... Read more

NIST released an interagency report on Advanced Communication Technologies Standards that provides a guide to the standards priorities and activities of Federal agencies with interests in communications technologies.... Read more

The future of satellite communications is almost upon us. SpaceX has signed a deal with T-Mobile to provide the carrier's customers with text services from its Starlink satellites anywhere in the U.S. starting next year.... Read more

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's the nation's fastest community-wide internet service, and it's making its way to a Tennessee city and convention center.... Read more

Royal Caribbean Group is bringing Starlink internet to its ships. The cruise line operator said it will implement the satellite internet service from Elon Musk's SpaceX on all Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises vessels, as well as any of those brands' new ships. The company had previously... Read more

For millions of people who participate in activities such as snorkeling and scuba diving each year, hand signals are the only option for communicating safety and directional information underwater. While recreational divers may employ around 20 signals, professional divers' vocabulary can exceed 200 signals on topics ranging from oxygen level,... Read more

Elon Musk's SpaceX and T-Mobile are teaming up in an attempt to connect mobile devices through a network of satellites, providing coverage to even the most isolated places.... Read more

An agreement signed yesterday looks to extend the use of ESA space technology along European roads. The Agency's Navigation Directorate has finalized a Memorandum of Intent with ERTICO, the organization for the European Road Transport Telematics Implementation Coordination, a public-private partnership focused on the development, promotion and connection of intelligent... Read more

A Sydney Harbor Tunnel explosion showcases the work of UNSW researchers using wireless signals and artificial intelligence to more accurately identify dangerous fire situations.... Read more

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have adapted their atom-based radio receiver to detect and display live color television and video games.... Read more

Satellite operator Eutelsat has sold six of its eight beams—used for data and mobile communications—to organizations including governments and other users. It is expected that the entire satellite capacity will be sold in the coming months.... Read more

Google is again sending a message to Apple: Fix the text messaging issues between Android devices and iPhones.... Read more

Colorado's soaring mountains and its sparsely populated rural areas make it difficult to provide high-speed broadband and wireless services consistently across wide swaths of the state.... Read more

The federal government is pledging $401 million in grants and loans to expand the reach and improve the speed of internet for rural residents, tribes and businesses in remote parts of 11 states from Alaska to Arkansas.... Read more

A research team led by Professor Song Min Kim of the KAIST School of Electrical Engineering developed a system that can support concurrent communications for tens of millions of IoT devices using backscattering millimeter-level waves (mmWave).... Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has enormously boosted the popularity of video communication—but sometimes poor transmission quality, dropouts, and connection failures during meetings or conference calls tax the participants' patience. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have developed a method for transmitting video conferences over very... Read more

French satellite operator Eutelsat said on Monday it was in talks with British counterpart OneWeb for a tie-up to create a "global champion" in broadband internet, rivaling US services like Elon Musk's Starlink.... Read more

If radars wore pants, a lot of them would still be sporting bell-bottoms.... Read more

The pace of change in telecommunications is increasing every year.... Read more

The big winner in a 2020 federal auction to build more broadband in rural America was a relatively small company started by a Minnesota entrepreneur. Since then, not much has gone right for the firm or the people waiting for better internet.... Read more

Dallas-based telecommunications giant AT&T is partnering with fast food chain McDonald's U.S. to bring high-speed business fiber internet to 750 restaurants.... Read more