Perhaps the future of cellular data transmission could lie in “bending” light rays in the atmosphere to provide 6G wireless networks at ultra-fast speeds, bypassing the need for line of sight between transmitter and receivers.
In a new study published March 30 in Nature's Communications Engineering, researchers explain how they developed a transmitter that can dynamically adjust the waves needed to support future 6G signals.
The most advanced cellular communications standard is 5G, the sixth generation network is expected to be thousands of times faster and is scheduled to begin rolling out in 2030, according to global trade body GSMA.
Unlike 5G, which operates mostly in the sub-6 gigahertz (GHZ) bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, 6G is expected to operate in the sub-terahertz (THz) range between 100 GHz and 300 GHz, the THz bands just below infrared. Red.
The closer this radiation is to visible light, the more likely the signals are to be blocked by physical objects. One of the main challenges facing high-frequency 5G and future 6G networks is that signals need a direct line of sight between the transmitter and the receiver.
But in experiments, scientists have shown that you can effectively "bend" high-frequency signals around obstacles such as buildings.
“This is the world's first curved data link, and is a critical milestone in achieving the 6G vision of high data rate and high reliability,” said Edward Knightley, co-author of the study and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University.
The photons, or particles of light, that make up THz radiation in this region of the electromagnetic spectrum, generally travel in straight lines unless space and time are distorted by enormous gravitational forces, the kind exerted by black holes.
But the researchers found that the self-accelerating beams of light first demonstrated in a paper from 2007 form special configurations of electromagnetic waves that can bend to one side as they move through space.
By designing transmitters with patterns that manipulate the strength, intensity and timing of the signals carrying the data, the researchers made waves that work together to create a signal that remains intact even if its path to the receiver is partially blocked.
They found that a light beam could be formed that adapted to any object in its path by scrambling the data into an unobstructed pattern.
So, as the photons continue to travel in a straight line, the T Hz signal is effectively bent around the object.