Acoustic antennas
SEM of the acoustic antenna.
It is predicted that over 75 billion of IoT devices will be ready for connection by 2025, via antennas. There are clearly big opportunities for miniaturized antennas. However, the antenna miniaturization has been an open challenge for centuries, until recently. We have created small antennas that have size 100 times smaller than the state-of-the-art antennas through the innovation in their radiation and transmission mechanisms. We proposed a new acoustically actuated antenna concept: the use of acoustic waves to drive the oscillation of magnetic moment which radiates electromagnetic waves. We constructed and integrated our antennas by the combination of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and the magnetoelectric thin film materials onto silicon wafers. Such game-changing antennas no longer resonate with electromagnetic waves but radiate electromagnetic waves by the actuation of acoustic waves. Because acoustic waves have much smaller wavelength (as the acoustic wave velocity is much smaller than that of the light wave), we created an acoustic antenna, which operates at 2.5 GHz, miniaturizes the current antenna size over two orders of magnitudes. Our work would bring revolutionary advancement to IoTs, wireless communications, wearable and implantable bio-sensors.
Selected News report:
- “Mini-antennas could power brain-computer interfaces, medical devices”, Science doi:10.1126/science.aap7452
- “Ultra-small antennas point way to miniature brain implants”, Nature doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22507
- “Tiny Membrane-Based Antennas”, IEEE spectrum
Related publication:
