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Microantennas for brain-computer interface

29.08.2017

Scientists from Northeastern University in Boston (USA), led by engineer and materials scientist Nian Sun, have created microantennas that are several orders of magnitude smaller and more efficient than traditional antennas.

Antennas receive information in the form of electromagnetic waves, which they convert into alternating electrical voltage. According to the laws of physics, for this, the size of the antenna must approximately correspond to the length of the electromagnetic wave - in other words, they must be quite large. On the other hand, the antenna can also resonate in response to acoustic waves of the same frequency, which are much shorter in length. It was this "loophole" that Sun and his colleagues used.

The antenna they invented is coated on the outside with a layer of piezomagnetic material that expands and contracts depending on the state of the magnetic field. Thus, it translates electromagnetic vibrations into sound. Then the next layer of piezoelectric material translates these vibrations into an alternating electrical current. When sending a signal, everything happens in the reverse order. Thus, the antenna actually receives and sends sound vibrations - and therefore can be about 1000 times smaller than a traditional one.

The authors of the article have created two types of antennas based on this principle. The first, with a round membrane, operates in the gigahertz range, which is used, among other things, by Wi-Fi technology. The second, with a rectangular membrane, is for the megahertz range used by TV and radio. In experiments with new antennas, they received and sent a signal with a frequency of 2,5 GHz about 100 thousand times more efficient than conventional antennas.

According to the study's lead author, the main design challenge was to find a piezo-magnetic material with the right characteristics - in the end, a set of iron, gallium and boron was chosen - and to produce it in the right quality.

Development at least can open the way to the creation of more compact and powerful devices - from mobile phones to satellites. In the future, it is also possible to use new miniature transmitters in the rapidly developing "Internet of Things". Broad prospects are opening up for medicine - miniature transmitters will be able to penetrate any tissue or vessel in order to take data on the spot and send it to the doctor. Theoretically, brain implants are also possible to create a brain-computer interface - so that we can control things directly with the power of thought.

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