Patent Application
20240088928
This invention was made with government support under grant N00014-20-C-1067 awarded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The government has certain rights in the invention.
The present description relates generally to producing high-frequency spin-waves with ultra-small wavelengths based on interfacing large waveguides to magnetic thin films and more particularly to a short-wavelength spin wave transducer.
Size limitations on circuitry, or how small circuits can be produced, are primarily based on higher densities of transistors. Transistors are miniature semiconductors that regulate and control the flow of voltage and current in electrical signals. As circuitry becomes increasingly miniaturized, manufacturers are placing the same number of transistors in smaller areas, accelerating loss of energy due to heat generation.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a system including: a passive antenna configured to capture a signal beam; and a receiver configured to: receive the signal from the antenna; amplify the received signal; and output a binary response based on a comparison of the amplified signal to a threshold value, wherein the antenna directs the signal beam to the receiver without consuming power.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a method including: providing a signal receiver, the signal receiver including: a detector configured to receive, as input, a signal and to provide, as output, an envelope based on the signal; an amplifier configured to amplify the envelope; and a comparator configured to generate a binary output based on a comparison of the amplified envelope to a threshold value; and positioning a passive antenna in front of the signal receiver, the passive antenna configured to capture the signal and to direct the signal to the signal receiver without consuming power.passive pre-amplified wave detectors for ultra-low-power wireless communications
As carrier frequencies continue to rise and free space path loss requires higher antenna directivity, receiver topologies employing multiple active antennas (e.g., phased arrays) are becoming ubiquitous. These receivers not only require distribution of a local oscillator (LO) across the array for demodulation of dense quadrature modulation constellations and but also require the use of high-dynamic range analog chains and high-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Both of these requirements raise power consumption and thermal dissipation challenges that have not yet been fully addressed.
An alternative approach to address the rise of carrier frequencies is to embrace non-linear systems and simple modulation schemes, reducing per-antenna spectral efficiency and sensitivity but achieving significantly better energy efficiency. One such system would utilize a diode-based millimeter-wave detector as an ultra-low-power receiver for on-off-keying (OOK) millimeter-wave waveforms, which are relevant to 5G and 6G, (and beyond) systems. However, the conversion efficiency of such a detector is proportional to the received power, which itself decreases over distance. As such, a power decrease of 1/R2 (where R indicates a distance) is similarly applied for conversion efficiency, which results in an overall reduction of 1/R4 in detected signal strength. Accordingly, long-range communication is not possible with current configurations.
One attempt to address this extreme loss of power is to pre-amplify the diode detector with a millimeter-wave amplifier. However, the energy costs associated with operating such an amplifier almost entirely offset the energy savings from using the ultra-low-power receiver.
In light of these deficiencies, the present disclosure describes a system that positions a passive antenna in front of the diode detector or other non-linear receiver. This passive antenna provides significant gain without requiring additional power and preserves the initial energy savings.
The following disclosure of example methods and apparatus is not intended to limit the scope of the description to the precise form or forms detailed herein. Instead, the following disclosure is intended to be illustrative so that others may follow its teachings.
As shown, each receiver 130 is spaced d from an adjacent receiver 130, with the distance d based on the refraction (or beam-steering) capability of the antenna 110, such that each receiver 130 corresponds to an angle of signal beam steered by the antenna 110. In this way, the system 100 is designed such that any signal beam captured by the antenna 110 is directed to a receiver 130. This addresses the uni-directional nature (e.g., angular sensitivity) of each receiver 130, as a receiver 130 may otherwise be restricted to detecting signals having a particular beam angle.
The receiver 130 is shown to include a detector 131, an amplifier 132, and a comparator 133. The detector 131 may be an envelope detector, such as a diode, that is suitable for OOK modulation. The detector 131 may receive, as input, the signal that has been amplified by antenna 125 and provide, as output, an envelope (e.g., an outline of the sinusoidal signal). Particularly for OOK applications and for those at especially long ranges, the detector 131 may be a square-law diode detector that provides an output envelope directly proportional to a provided power, which may further boost the received signal at lower frequencies. The amplifier 132 may be a baseband amplifier configured to buffer the signal, and may receive, as input, the envelope from the detector 131 and provide, as output, an amplified envelope signal. The comparator 133 receives, as input, this amplified envelope signal and provides, as output, a binary indication of whether the amplified envelope signal is greater than a pre-defined threshold—shown in
Although reference is made throughout to the receiver 130 utilizing a diode for detector 131, this disclosure should not be read as limited to the use of diodes and should be read as extending to any suitable non-linear detector. In addition, the system 100 described herein may also be used with a linear detector, although the energy savings may not be as large given the significantly higher power cost of linear detectors.
The system as described herein has many possible uses. In a first use case, the system 100 may be included as part of a fixed wireless access (FWA) setup in which the signal generator and the receiver (e.g., the system 100) are both in fixed positions—or are at least fixed relative to each other. This particular use case renders the angular-sensitivity of the system 100 moot, as the relatively-fixed positions of the generator and receiver mean that there is no need for the system 100 to anticipate signals from multiple angles. These setups may be found for backhaul links and sight-to-sight links.
In a second use case, the system 100 may be included as part of a sensor array for detecting incoming objects (e.g., projectiles). In this use case, the system 100 may be supplemented by a signal generator, with the system 100 detecting when the generated signal bounces back to the system 100 from an object. Because the angle of the received signal is important in such a use case, multiple systems 100 may be arranged as an array, with each system 100 having its antenna 110 positioned at different angles. Due to the power-savings of the system 100, many multiples of systems 100 can be utilized while still remaining below the power consumption of current detectors.
In a third use case, the system 100 may be included as part of a mobile device network, with the system 100 receiving signals from said mobile device. Similar to the second use case, a plurality of systems 100 may be arranged as an array in order to be positioned to receive signals from the mobile device regardless of the mobile device's position. Alternatively, the system 100 may include a switch configured to move or re-position the antenna at regular intervals, which may serve as an array proxy.
While this disclosure has described certain examples, it will be understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to these examples except as explicitly recited in the claims. On the contrary, the instant disclosure is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Furthermore, in the detailed description of the present disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed examples. However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that systems and methods consistent with this disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure various aspects of the present disclosure.
The present application is a non-provisional conversion of U.S. Pat. App. No. 63/375,553 entitled “Passive Pre-Amplified Millimeter-Wave Detectors for Ultra-Low-Power Wireless Communications,” filed Sep. 14, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety and for any purpose.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63375553 | Sep 2022 | US |
