RF & Microwave

Scientists Use Distant Sensor to Monitor American Samoa Earthquake Swarm

Residents of the Manu’a Islands in American Samoa were feeling the earth shake, raising concerns of an imminent volcanic eruption or tsunami. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey used machine learning and a technique called template matching on shaking data recorded from a single seismic sensor located 250 kilometers away to locate the source of the shaking. Read on to learn more.

How Much Do You Know About Electromagnetic Interference?

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is when an external source disrupts an electrical device's operation. EMI, which can be caused by natural or man-made sources, can be used intentionally for radio jamming. How much do you know about EMI? Find out with this quiz.

A Quick and Easy Way to Produce Anode Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries Using Microwaves

A research team led by Dr. Daeho Kim and Dr. Jong Hwan Park at the Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center of the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute has developed a groundbreaking process technology that enables ultrafast, 30-second preparation of hard carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries, using microwave induction heating. Read on to learn more.

Exploring Earth Science with a New Navigational System

NASA and its partners recently tested an aircraft guidance system that could help planes maintain a precise course even while flying at high speeds up to 500 mph. The instrument is...

Intel's Progress on Developing Next-Generation Computer Chips for Defense Applications

Watch this video from Aerospace & Defense Technology to learn how Intel has been advancing the development of prototype computer chips for defense applications in recent years, as well as insights about their Intel18A technology.

Brain-Inspired Wireless System Gathers Data from Salt-Sized Sensors

The Brown University research team created a novel approach for a wireless communication network that can efficiently transmit, receive, and decode data from thousands of microelectronic chips that are each no larger than a grain of salt. Read on to learn more about it.

RFID Range Extension and Priority Data Forwarding

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed an adaptable RFID system that optimizes transmission for priority data as targets move in and out of passive coverage areas. The method extends the range, and reduces data latency, of ultra-low power battery-assisted passive RFID sensor tags. Read on to learn more.

Transmitting Power Through the Body

To free wearable tech from their burdens, researchers developed Power-over-Skin, which allows electricity to travel through the human body and could one day power battery-free devices from head to toe.

Engineers Enable a Drone To Determine Its Position in the Dark and Indoors

In the future, autonomous drones could be used to shuttle inventory between large warehouses. A drone might fly into a semi-dark structure the size of several...

Autonomous Navigation for Drones

Researchers have introduced a new approach, MiFly, that enables a drone to self-localize in indoor, dark, and low-visibility environments.

Dronetag's New Pocket-Sized Drone Detection System

Lukáš Brchl, CEO and Founder of Dronetag is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast.

How Much Do You Know About Microwave Heating?

Almost everyone has a microwave oven, but do you really understand how they work? How much do you know about microwave heating? Test your knowledge with this quiz.

A New Way to Stretch Diamond for Better Quantum Bits

A future quantum network may become less of a stretch thanks to researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago, and Cambridge University. By “stretching” thin films of diamond, they created quantum bits that can operate with significantly reduced equipment and expense. Read on to learn more.

Navigating the Transition: Understanding RSS-102 Issue 6 Updates and Implications

Radio equipment marketed or sold into Canada must be certified with ISED Canada, the Canadian equipment authorization regulator. Radio transmitter equipment must be certified to the latest issue of Radio Standards Specifications (RSS). How well do you understand RSS-102 Issue 6 updates and its implications? Take this quiz to find out.

Nanoscale Device Points the Way to Future Wireless Communication Channels

In a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, a team of Caltech engineers reports building a metasurface patterned with miniscule tunable antennas capable of reflecting an incoming beam of optical light to create many sidebands, or channels, of different optical frequencies. Read on to learn more.

Enabling High-Capacity Space Communication

Researchers have achieved data rates as high as 424Gbit/s across a 53-km turbulent free-space optical link using plasmonic modulators — devices that uses special light waves called surface plasmon polaritons to control and change optical signals. The new research lays the groundwork for high-speed optical communication links that transmit data over open air or space. Read on to learn more.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a 3D microwave antenna, smart CCTV systems trained to spot blockages in urban waterways, and a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves.

Looking to Kirigami to Shape Modern Wireless Technology

Researchers showed how kirigami — a variation of origami — can transform a single sheet of acetate coated with conductive MXene ink into a flexible 3D microwave antenna whose transmission frequency can be adjusted simply by pulling or squeezing to slightly shift its shape.

All-Electric, High-Heat Thermochemical Reactor

Professor Jonathan Fan and his team at Stanford Engineering have designed and demonstrated a new type of thermochemical reactor that can generate the immense amounts of heat required for many industrial processes by using electricity instead of burning fossil fuels.

‘Impossible’ Millimeter Wave Sensor Has Wide Potential

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a proof-of-concept sensor that may usher in a new era for millimeter wave radars. They call its design a “mission impossible” made possible. Read on to learn more.

Streaming Video Over Legacy Military Tactical Networks

Joshua Cryer, President and CEO of Reticulate Micro, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology Podcast.

Photonics-Based Wireless Link Breaks Speed Records for Data Transmission

The researchers anticipate that with multiplexing techniques (where more than one channel can be used) and more sensitive receivers, the data rate can be increased to 1 terabit per second, ushering in a new era of near-instantaneous global communication. Read on to learn more.

Unlocking the Next Generation of Wireless Communications

With a goal to revolutionize cellular communications, Penn engineers have developed an adjustable filter that can successfully prevent interference, even in higher-frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Read on to learn more about the matter.