The Internet of Things Will Need Tiny Antennas

A breakthrough in the field of electromagnetism claimed by researchers at the University of Cambridge could put tiny "antennas on a chip," and help push forward wireless communications.

"Our whole existence is permeated by wireless devices communicating signals, pictures, messages," Professor Gehan Amaratunga of the Department of Engineering, who led the research, told me over the phone. "With the Internet of Things, everything will be wireless. Even your shirt or your shoes could be connected to the internet. Wherever you are, your shoes, your glasses, your fridge will communicate."

But in order to become the ultimate mobile information sensing platform, you'll need top-notch antennas, he said.

Antennas, whether found in mobile phones or communications towers, exist to launch energy into free sp​ace (the air) in the form of electromagnetic or radio waves. They also collect energy from free space and feed it back into devices.

While we might not think of antennas on a day-to-day basis, Amaratunga said these oft-overlooked devices, in shrunken format, will be key to enabling the smoother, faster, and cheaper flow of information.

"You'll need to communicate signal, but if your antenna is not efficient, it becomes a limiting factor in realising that vision," said Amaratunga, who pointed out that current antenna were still quite clunky.

"Antennas, or aerials, are one of the limiting factors when trying to make smaller and smaller systems, since below a certain size, the losses become too great," said Amaratunga in a press re​lease. "An aerial's size is determined by the wavelength associated with the transmission frequency of the application, and in most cases it's a matter of finding a compromise between the aerial and the characteristic required for that application."

So it turns out that one of the biggest obstacles in modern electronics is that large antennas are not compatible with electronic circuits, which are shrinking by the day.

In research published today in the journal Physical Review Letters, Amaratunga and his team suggest both a new idea relating to electromagnetism, and explore how a greater understanding of the function of materials used in antennas could lead to the production of much smaller designs.

While dielectric reson​ators have been used in most mobile phones for the last ten years, Amaratunga said that scientists hadn't been able to explain how exactly they worked for the last 60 years. In order to design minuscule, super-efficient antennas, he asserted that you need to understand the principles by which the materials used in the antenna work.

"Back then, researchers couldn't explain how an antenna was working. We've closed the circle now because we've got a theoretical understanding that overlaps with quantum mechanics on how these materials work," he told me.

The researchers have put forward that electromagnetic waves are generated from the acceleration of electrons, as well as a phenomenon known as symmetry ​breaking. This expands on Scottish scientist Jame​s Clerk Maxwell's nineteenth century theory, which stated that electromagnetic radiation is generate​d by accelerating electrons alone.

Ultimately, Amaratunga and his team are aiming to make tiny, cost-effective antenna that can be mounted on chips. "It will allow us to pick up a signal much more efficiently," he said.

For those interested in being a super smart-clothed person with IoT-powered glasses and footwear, he suggested antenna the size of a shirt button, and a circuit of the same size.