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6G communication
Dynamic Metasurface Antennas:
- Revolutionizing
6G: A new programmable antenna, the dynamic metasurface antenna (DMA),
is set to revolutionize 6G technology with its digitally controlled FPGA,
enabling smart city applications and 3D holograms.
6G Network Advancements:
- Beyond
5G: The 6G network, expected to be a thousand times faster than 5G, is
under development with specifications to be finalized by 2028, promising a
commercial rollout in the early 2030s1.
Beamforming Technology:
- Enhanced
Precision: The DMA’s beamforming capability allows for precise
targeting of 6G signals, increasing reliability and speed while conserving
energy, with adjustments made in nanoseconds.
Potential Impact:
- Communication
and Sensing: The DMA could significantly improve communication, sensing,
and imaging, supporting large-scale indoor IoT networks and enabling
real-time object detection for applications like autonomous vehicles and
hospital patient tracking.
A new programmable antenna could pave the way for a new
generation of 6G devices, smart city-type applications and 3D holograms,
scientists claim.
Researchers have created a dynamic metasurface antenna (DMA)
that could be controlled by a digitally coded miniature processor that is
technically, a high-speed field programmable gate array (FPGA) — a type of
reconfigurable circuit integrated onto a chip.
This prototype, which is about the size of a matchbox, is
the world’s first to work with a 6G signal in the 60 GHz millimetre-wave
(mmWave) band — reserved for industrial, scientific and medical applications.
The findings are detailed in a new study accepted for publication in the near
future in the journal IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation.
The most advanced mobile communications standard today is 5G.
This network was first established in 2018 before becoming widespread in 2019.
Today, almost every new smartphone can connect to 5G networks in the U.S. and
globally.
6G — which could be a thousand
times faster than 5G — is next in line, with the technical
specifications still being decided, alongside the infrastructure and components
needed to make this network a reality. The final specifications for 6G are
expected in 2028, with commercial rollout likely to follow in the early 2030s,
according to the trade body GSMA.
“Our high-frequency
intelligent and highly adaptive antenna design could be one of the
technological foundation stones of the next generation of mmWave reconfigurable
antennas,” said lead author of the research, Masood Ur Rahman, senior
lecturer in autonomous systems and connectivity at the University of Glasgow,
in Scotland, in a statement.
One of the prototype antenna’s key features is beamforming.
This focuses the direction of the 6G signal precisely to the target device,
which increases reliability and speed while reducing power demands. This
process happens in nanoseconds. Here, the researchers used "metamaterial"
elements designed to resonate at around 60.5 GHz that can be fine-tuned without
the need for complex circuitry.
"The programmable beam control and beam-shaping of the
DMA could help in fine-grained mmWave holographic imaging as well as next-generation
near-field communication, beam focusing, and wireless power transfer,"
said Ur Rahman.
In the study, the researchers said this device could have a
major impact in communication, sensing and imaging.
One of the main challenges for 6G is that it is difficult to
obtain a signal inside a building. This new antenna could support large-scale
60GHz indoor Internet of Things (IoT) networks that encompass high transmission
rates and massive data throughput” the scientists said in their report. In
tests, the prototype reduced energy consumption by 88% and data collisions by
24%, compared to omnidirectional antennas.
Sensing via 6G also raises interesting possibilities. This
uses the properties of radio waves to detect objects in real-time, with
potential applications including tracking patients in a hospital or determining
the path of an autonomous car. Using this captured data might also lead to the
creation of 3D holographic models showing the movement of people and objects in
the local area, the scientists said.
Ur-Rahman said his team is just at the start of the journey,
and plans to improve the design so that the antenna offers greater flexibility
and more versatile performance. Eventually, Ur Rahman sees it as a key
component in 6G-enabled IoT and smart city environments.
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