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Hiroshima University and Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited (MIFS) today announced the development of a low-power millimeter-wave amplifier that feeds on 0.5 V power supply and covers the frequency range from 80 GHz to 106 GHz. It was fabricated using MIFS's Deeply Depleted Channel (DDC) technology. This is the first W-band (75−110 GHz) amplifier that can operate even with such a low power-supply voltage. Details of the technology will be presented at the IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC) 2017, running from June 4th to 6th in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The W-band covers the frequencies used by automotive radars. Sophisticated driver-assistance and self-driving will require radars with millimeter-wave beam scanning capability that can "see" in day and night conditions and even in adverse weather conditions. Such a phased array will consist of up to hundreds of transmitters and receivers. As battery-powered cars become more common, it is imperative that these circuits be low power. Lowering the power-supply voltage is the most effective means of accomplishing that. However, transistor performance drops with voltage and no W-band amplifier has so far operated at as low as 0.5 V . The team of researchers successfully demonstrated a W-band amplifier at 0.5 V by bringing together MIFS's DDC technology and design techniques developed by Hiroshima University. The DDC technology offers high-performance silicon MOS transistors even at low voltages and is currently available from MIFS as a 55-nm CMOS process. The design techniques further improve transistor and circuit performance at millimeter-wave frequencies.
"Now that seriously low-power W-band circuits really seem possible, we should think about what we can do with them. Applications aren't limited to automotive radars and high-speed communications between base stations. What if you have a radar on your smartphone? Today's smartphones can already sense things like acceleration, audible sound, visible light, and Earth's magnetic field. But the only active probing device is that tiny LED (light-emitting diode) that can illuminate at most a few meters. Add a millimeter-wave radar on a smartphone, and it doesn't have to be a so-called primary radar, which only detects waves reflected back. Your smartphone could respond to waves from your friend's radar and send some signal back. A whole lot of new applications could be created, including games," said Professor Minoru Fujishima, Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday June 07 2017, @08:32AM (4 children)
To me, the whole idea of HAM radio is you can communicate around the world - without having anyone else involved.
Just you and the guy you are talking to.
Just the ticket for the doomsday scenario.... complete collapse of the telecom system brought on by either power grid failures or political ( martial law ) confiscation.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday June 07 2017, @02:54PM (1 child)
So basically it's highly attractive to right-wing nutcases who think the Rapture is just around the corner?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday June 07 2017, @05:16PM
Naw thats AM broadcast radio.
More seriously there's corners of 20 meters and 80 meter sideband that are basically CB for all intents and purposes filled with nuts, but I don't hang out there (I escaped LOL).
Ham radio is big, really big, so anyone who tells you its all about HF contesting or VHF public service is just not telling the whole picture.
Also a lot of hams go thru phases. I spent the 80s/90s playing packet radio sort of a weird X.25 variant along with some very slow TCPIP and that was a blast. Then in the 00s I got into strange HF digital modulation technologies for awhile, still do that occasionally. From the mid 00s to mid 10s I got into VHF contesting and talked thousands of miles occasionally on 6M and 2M sideband. And I've been fooling around building my own gear and microwave gear on and off since the 80s or so, thats fun stuff.
I know a couple people into driving around during VHF contests. Why spend thousands of dollars on a 100 foot tower when you can just drive your car up a 2000 foot hill for free more or less? I know a lot of guys with a collector problem they gotta talk to every country or every USA county or whatever even if its mostly just "hi, bye" just to collect them all. I have a lot of VHF/UHF/Microwave grid squares (same idea) but I'm not into collecting that much. Speaking of collecting some folks are into collecting, restoring, and using antique gear which is mildly interesting. And I'm sure theres more stuff too.
(Score: 1) by terryk30 on Wednesday June 07 2017, @04:51PM
Or left-wing nutcases who think the Rupture is just around the corner?
(Couldn't resist - FWIW I don't think believing the latter makes you the former...)
(Score: 1) by terryk30 on Wednesday June 07 2017, @05:01PM
...but more seriously, if telecom systems are being confiscated, I suppose you may have to get creative with where you put that shortwave antenna. (I'm reminded of a movie of the Nazi era where they had a truck w. rotating directional antenna driving around a neighbourhood trying to find a transmitter.)