Communications

A breakthrough in communications research may have solved a key problem with one of the enabling technologies set to underpin future 6G networks.... Read more

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a novel chip architecture that enables the miniature acoustic devices inside smartphones to withstand more than 12 times higher power loads while maintaining cooler, more stable operation.... Read more

Earth's orbit is getting crowded. About 16,000 satellites currently circle our planet, supporting everything from GPS navigation and weather forecasting to banking, emergency services and internet communications.... Read more

In a new study presented at the IEEE International Conference on Communications in Glasgow, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and partners from around the world showcased the system, called Joint DAS and GNSS (JDG), which blends traditional satellite-based GPS with a lesser-known technology referred to as Distributed Acoustic... Read more

Amazon said Wednesday it will launch satellite internet services in South Africa, entering a market where rival Elon Musk's Starlink has struggled to secure regulatory approval.... Read more

Maintaining reliable communication during space missions is critical. Future missions—especially crewed missions to Mars—are expected to generate far more data than current systems can handle. NASA's existing radiofrequency (RF)-based Deep Space Network (DSN), a global system of ground stations, could become a bottleneck as data demands grow.... Read more

Princeton University researchers have found a way to extend the near-field range for sub-terahertz wireless systems using off-the-shelf hardware. By using multiple synchronized arrays, the team achieved advanced near-field capabilities that were previously thought to require much larger and more expensive systems. Technologies using this high-frequency radio spectrum promise to... Read more

FPAs are image sensors that convert infrared light into electrical signals to produce real-time thermal images and are widely used in applications such as surveillance, astronomy and industrial monitoring. Advances in cryogenic FPAs have enabled higher resolution, sensitivity and faster imaging, but they also require data rates exceeding 100 gigabits... Read more

Modern wireless communication systems prefer higher frequencies to meet the growing demand for faster data transfer. The 300-GHz band, which lies near the lower end of the terahertz range, is a promising candidate for future sixth-generation (6G) wireless systems because it can support very high data rates and minimize atmospheric... Read more

An MIT-led research program aimed at creating future microsystems capable of sustainably transmitting data with greater bandwidth and higher efficiency than is possible today has made several significant advances since it was established in 2022.... Read more

Finland on Tuesday pulled the plug on analog landline phone calls after almost 150 years, the latest country to push forward in a global transition toward digital infrastructure.... Read more

Preventing adversaries from interfering with communications is crucial to national security. Tactical satellite communications (SATCOM) focus on securing reliable communications channels against adversaries in contested environments. In support of this mission, a team from MIT Lincoln Laboratory is building a prototype antenna characterized by low size, weight, power and cost... Read more

Researchers at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH) at Lund University in Sweden have developed one of the world's most advanced test environments for the wireless communications of the future. Using the new test system, researchers have demonstrated for the first time that a distributed wireless network with 256 digitally beam-steered... Read more

A newly developed architecture for full-duplex wireless transceivers solves the long-standing problem of self-interference, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. They implemented an innovative switching strategy that isolates self-interference in the time domain by alternating transmission and reception faster than the wireless signal period, enabling effective simultaneous transmission and... Read more

In April, Galileo marked a step forward with the deployment of a new signal component, known as E5a Quasi Pilot, on 12 satellites of Europe's satellite navigation constellation. This upgrade makes Galileo signals easier to access, particularly on emerging mass-market, low-power devices used for Internet of Things and smart-city applications.... Read more

A compact aperture-adjustable antenna developed by researchers at Science Tokyo could improve high-speed wireless communication across the wide 5G millimeter-wave frequency bands without increasing power consumption. The system maintained strong performance across the 57–71 GHz band, improved signal strength by up to 62.2% at 57 GHz and 47.9% at 71... Read more

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Sharp Corp, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp, and TECHLAB Co, jointly reduced the total weight of a planar antenna for NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) applications by 47% (from 5.5 kilograms to 2.9 kilograms) through a new heat dissipation device design.... Read more

A Korean research team has developed the "intelligent core" of a 6G network capable of autonomous control through artificial intelligence (AI). This achievement marks the first realization of an "intelligent 6G core" in Korea and represents a significant milestone in advancing next-generation network infrastructure.... Read more

Since 2019, GPS signals across Europe, Greenland and Canada have experienced a huge spike in sudden, widespread signal blackouts. These have resulted in disruptions and degraded performance in navigation systems that airplanes and ships rely on to travel safely.... Read more

Basements, tunnels, large buildings—a weak Wi-Fi or mobile signal in these hard-to-reach places is frustrating. The usual solution is to add more electronics like routers, repeaters and base stations. Yet, as we move towards a 6G mobile network, this kind of complex infrastructure can be unsustainable and prohibitively expensive. Higher-frequency... Read more

The German consortium QuINSiDa has achieved a major step toward mobile quantum-secure communication. They demonstrated a one-of-a-kind free-space data transfer channel supporting, for the first time, LiFi and major quantum key distribution (QKD) implementations. Additionally, the system integrates key management (KMS), encryption, and monitoring, illustrating technological readiness.... Read more

In a step toward developing next-generation, AI-enabled 6G wireless networks, scientists have demonstrated a laser-driven engine made from an easy-to-manufacture ceramic material that uses white light to move information over large distances. While conventional LED-based visible light communication (VLC) systems typically operate over only a few meters, the novel photonic... Read more

Researchers at Tokushima University have demonstrated single-channel wireless transmission at 112 Gbps in the 560 GHz band using soliton microcombs, marking a significant step toward next-generation 6G communications.... Read more

Engineers at the University of California San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering and Qualcomm Institute have developed a more efficient, scalable way to handle satellite communication traffic, one that could significantly increase throughput by rethinking the ground station to work with satellites already in orbit.... Read more

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed an open-source "digital twin" of a wireless network, giving graduate students, startups and other innovators a free, easy-to-use way to test new technologies and get fast, realistic feedback. The platform could help accelerate the pace of wireless innovation.... Read more

Quantum technologies, devices that perform specific functions leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could soon outperform their classical counterparts on some tasks. Quantum emitters, devices that release individual particles of light (i.e., photons), are central components of many of these technologies, including quantum communication systems and quantum computers.... Read more

Modern communication networks must handle ever-growing volumes of data, driven by cloud services, connected devices, and real-time applications. At the same time, they face a critical constraint: keeping energy consumption as low as possible. Today, signal recovery and data processing rely mostly on electronic hardware—powerful, but energy-intensive and increasingly limited... Read more

Wireless communication is about to get stronger, clearer, and more secure, thanks to a new idea from UBC Okanagan researchers. Dr. Anas Chaaban and his team in the School of Engineering are exploring a method to improve the way stacked intelligent surfaces (SIS) can process electromagnetic waves more efficiently.... Read more

Modern life depends on fast and reliable wireless connections. Video calls, streaming services, virtual reality, and smart devices all place growing demands on networks that already serve billions of users. Most wireless data today travels through radio-based technologies such as Wi-Fi and cellular systems.... Read more

A new data transmission speed record of 450 terabits per second using an existing, commercially installed optical fiber link has been set by a team of engineers involving UCL researchers. The achievement was presented at the annual OFC optical fiber conference in March in Los Angeles, California, and breaks the... Read more

Researchers at Trinity have developed a new light-based technology on a tiny chip that could help make the data centers behind cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and global internet services faster and more efficient. In the new research, recently published in Nature Communications, the Trinity team reported one such promising advance... Read more

Imagine a world without internet, email, streaming services or social media. Imagine having to write letters or call everyone on a rotary dial phone to communicate. Imagine having to drive to a store to buy anything and everything. Unthinkable, right?... Read more

Swarms of pico-satellites could work together as a single large antenna for direct-to-smartphone communications, as reported by researchers from Japan. Instead of relying on a single large satellite with a phased-array antenna, the team showed that pico-satellites orbiting Earth in formation could each carry individual phased-array elements and be synchronized... Read more

When a nuclear plant reaches the end of its life or is damaged, it must be decommissioned. This process can take more than 20 years and includes decontamination, dismantling, and handling radioactive materials so the site can be reused. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, almost half of the... Read more

Korean researchers have confirmed that underground wireless communication is possible, moving beyond the terrestrial wireless communication they have primarily focused on until now. This opened up a new wireless channel for confirming the survival of buried people in the event of a collapse of an underground facility such as a... Read more

Researchers are developing satellite links that bring clear, real-time radio and data connections to flights over oceans, helping air traffic controllers keep routes safer and more efficient.... Read more

Researchers from IMDEA Materials Institute, in collaboration with China's Nanjing and Huazhong Universities, have developed a new acoustic metamaterial capable of transmitting complex sound signals directly between water and air. The advance, reported in the paper "High-dimensional multiplexed metamaterial for cross-media all-sound communication," introduces a novel approach that could significantly... Read more

While satellite navigation has become an essential part of modern life, it still struggles to work reliably indoors and in dense urban environments where high-rise buildings deteriorate signal propagation. In his doctoral dissertation at the University of Vaasa, Akpojoto Siemuri investigates how adaptive machine learning and advanced sensor fusion methods... Read more

While the world sprints toward ever faster mobile speeds, another connectivity story is quietly unfolding at the opposite end of the dial. Low-frequency spectrum—the radio bands below one gigahertz (GHz)—is emerging as a practical workhorse for long-range, low-power connectivity.... Read more

Engineers at UNSW Sydney and Monash have developed an innovative way of sending hidden information that's hard to intercept. Using a phenomenon known as "negative luminescence," the system works by making signals blend perfectly into the background of natural heat radiation, such as can be seen with a thermal camera.... Read more

Faster, more secure connections from space could one day make broadband on planes, ships and even remote roads as easy as turning on a light. The European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus Defense and Space, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and German payload manufacturer TESAT (as subcontractor) successfully... Read more

A new study examining digital behavior in Taiwan suggests that simply having internet access is no longer enough to ensure digital inclusion—a finding with growing implications for the United States as governments, schools, and employers continue shifting services online.... Read more

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) has developed a hybrid signal processing method that integrates an annealing-based quantum computer with classical computing for next-generation mobile communication systems. By implementing this method into a base station, simultaneous communications with 10 devices were successfully demonstrated through outdoor experiments, addressing... Read more

The fifth-generation mobile communication system, also known as 5G, is expected to evolve as a critical infrastructure supporting individual users, industrial applications, and social systems. This requires access to broader frequency resources, but concerns have emerged regarding future congestion even in the existing frequency bands, creating a strong need to... Read more

As researchers around the world race toward the realization of 6G wireless communication systems, the need for antennas that can dynamically adapt to ever-changing signal environments has never been greater. A key requirement of 6G is intelligent beam control, which enables signals to be steered, shaped, and optimized in real... Read more

An optimal combination of energy-efficient 5G network features—including AI systems that let mobile mast and antenna base stations go into sleep mode when usage is low, and phones that avoid unnecessary background network checks—could help cut indirect carbon emissions across the U.K. economy by around 25 million metric tons of... Read more

Researchers at Monash University and the University of Melbourne have developed a quantum-inspired approach to optical wireless communication that promises to make 6G networks faster, more reliable and energy-efficient. As the world moves toward 6G, devices and networks will need to handle more data, faster, and in smaller spaces than... Read more

It has long been considered common sense that a single device performs only one function. Just as tuning a radio to a different frequency changes the channel, systems that manipulate waves have traditionally been designed to operate at only one specific frequency, requiring different devices for different frequencies. Now, however,... Read more

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are vital for positioning autonomous vehicles, buses, drones, and outdoor robots. Yet its accuracy often degrades in dense urban areas due to signal blockage and reflections.... Read more

A new transceiver invented by electrical engineers at the University of California, Irvine boosts radio frequencies into 140-gigahertz territory, unlocking data speeds that rival those of physical fiber-optic cables and laying the groundwork for a transition to 6G and FutureG data transmission protocols.... Read more