Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications
Abstract Optical frequency combs, featuring evenly spaced spectral lines, have been extensively studied and applied to metrology, signal processing, and sensing. Recently, frequency comb generation has been also extended to MHz frequencies by harnessing nonlinearities in microelectromechanical membr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46940-2 |
| _version_ | 1827291434534830080 |
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| author | Hussein M. E. Hussein Seunghwi Kim Matteo Rinaldi Andrea Alù Cristian Cassella |
| author_facet | Hussein M. E. Hussein Seunghwi Kim Matteo Rinaldi Andrea Alù Cristian Cassella |
| author_sort | Hussein M. E. Hussein |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Optical frequency combs, featuring evenly spaced spectral lines, have been extensively studied and applied to metrology, signal processing, and sensing. Recently, frequency comb generation has been also extended to MHz frequencies by harnessing nonlinearities in microelectromechanical membranes. However, the generation of frequency combs at radio frequencies (RF) has been less explored, together with their potential application in wireless technologies. In this work, we demonstrate an RF system able to wirelessly and passively generate frequency combs. This circuit, which we name quasi-harmonic tag (qHT), offers a battery-free solution for far-field ranging of unmanned vehicles (UVs) in GPS-denied settings, and it enables a strong immunity to multipath interference, providing better accuracy than other RF approaches to far-field ranging. Here, we discuss the principle of operation, design, implementation, and performance of qHTs used to remotely measure the azimuthal distance of a UV flying in an uncontrolled electromagnetic environment. We show that qHTs can wirelessly generate frequency combs with μWatt-levels of incident power by leveraging the nonlinear interaction between an RF parametric oscillator and a high quality factor piezoelectric microacoustic resonator. Our technique for frequency comb generation opens new avenues for a wide range of RF applications beyond ranging, including timing, computing and sensing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T12:38:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1e02d8b0f73a430da86a542bad93625b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T12:38:02Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-1e02d8b0f73a430da86a542bad93625b2024-04-07T11:23:28ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-04-011511910.1038/s41467-024-46940-2Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applicationsHussein M. E. Hussein0Seunghwi Kim1Matteo Rinaldi2Andrea Alù3Cristian Cassella4Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern UniversityPhotonics Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New YorkDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern UniversityPhotonics Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New YorkDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern UniversityAbstract Optical frequency combs, featuring evenly spaced spectral lines, have been extensively studied and applied to metrology, signal processing, and sensing. Recently, frequency comb generation has been also extended to MHz frequencies by harnessing nonlinearities in microelectromechanical membranes. However, the generation of frequency combs at radio frequencies (RF) has been less explored, together with their potential application in wireless technologies. In this work, we demonstrate an RF system able to wirelessly and passively generate frequency combs. This circuit, which we name quasi-harmonic tag (qHT), offers a battery-free solution for far-field ranging of unmanned vehicles (UVs) in GPS-denied settings, and it enables a strong immunity to multipath interference, providing better accuracy than other RF approaches to far-field ranging. Here, we discuss the principle of operation, design, implementation, and performance of qHTs used to remotely measure the azimuthal distance of a UV flying in an uncontrolled electromagnetic environment. We show that qHTs can wirelessly generate frequency combs with μWatt-levels of incident power by leveraging the nonlinear interaction between an RF parametric oscillator and a high quality factor piezoelectric microacoustic resonator. Our technique for frequency comb generation opens new avenues for a wide range of RF applications beyond ranging, including timing, computing and sensing.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46940-2 |
| spellingShingle | Hussein M. E. Hussein Seunghwi Kim Matteo Rinaldi Andrea Alù Cristian Cassella Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications Nature Communications |
| title | Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications |
| title_full | Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications |
| title_fullStr | Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications |
| title_short | Passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications |
| title_sort | passive frequency comb generation at radiofrequency for ranging applications |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46940-2 |
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