New Insights into Phononics May Redefine Next-Gen Communication Devices

With the internet having spread its wings worldwide, some might feel that the days of communication boom are over. Some might even think there is nothing more to achieve in the industry space of communication devices, solutions, and services. 

It is true that if we judge the industry only by its estimated growth percentage, it would seem minimal. But that”s merely because the base market size, on which we calculate the growth, is phenomenally high. According to projections, the global communication services market will grow from US$1.5 trillion to US$1.6 trillion between 2024 and 2028. 

Growth in a multi-trillion-dollar market can only be achieved with consistently occurring breakthrough innovations in this space. One such solution leverages phononics to create smaller, powerful communication devices. Below, we discuss that innovation, which came from the researchers working at the University of Arizona, Wyant College of Optical Sciences, and Sandia National Laboratories. 

Next Revolution in Wireless Communications Leveraging Phononics

Before we discuss the innovation and its specifics in detail, let us try to understand phononics, The scientific community defines phononics as “an emerging field that seeks to elucidate the nature of intrinsic mechanical motion in both conventional and artificially structured materials and use this knowledge to extend the boundaries of physical response at either the material or structural/device level or both.” 

While the core scientific definition may sound difficult to grasp, an analogy with photonics will make it simpler to understand. Photonics leverages photons to advance the course of optical technology. In the same way, Phononics leverages phonons, physical particles that transmit mechanical vibrations through a material at almost an inaudible high frequency. 

In the research we’re discussing, scientists could blend highly specialized semiconductor and piezoelectric materials to produce giant nonlinear interactions between phonons. Subsequently, they deployed amplifiers for phonons—made of the same material—to create more efficient, powerful, and smaller wireless devices, including smartphones and data transmitters. 

According to the study’s senior author, Matt Eichenfield, who holds a joint appointment at the Arizona College of Optical Sciences and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico:

“Most people would probably be surprised to hear that there are something like 30 filters inside their cell phone whose sole job it is to transform radio waves into sound waves and back.”

Now, with the much smaller phononics materials put into action, it would be possible to reduce the need for these many filters, as one beam of phonons can change the frequency of another beam. 

This achievement is in line with the researchers’ vision to produce all of the components needed for radio frequency signal processing from acoustic wave technologies instead of transistor-based electronics. The result would be everything fitted onto a single chip, compatible with the way standard microprocessors are manufactured. 

Elaborating further on the impact their innovation could create, Eichenfield said:

“Now, you can point to every component in a diagram of a radiofrequency front-end processor and say, ‘Yeah, I can make all of these on one chip with acoustic waves. We’re ready to move on to making the whole shebang in the acoustic domain.’”

Getting a single chip and having everything fitted into it could shrink the communication devices and gadgets by a factor of 100, Eichenfield estimates. 

A similar research was carried out last year by a team of researchers at the University of Michigan, where they devised a new kind of reconfigurable transistor using a ferroelectric semiconductor at a nanoscale thickness. 

Ferroelectric High Electron Mobility Transistor (FeHEMT) to Shrink Communication Devices on Smartphones

The foremost characteristic of FeHEMT that makes it better than the HEMTs is that it can sustain an electrical polarization, similar to the electric version of magnetism. Adding behavioral flexibility to the transistor, these semiconductors can switch between the positive and negative ends. 

Since FeHEMT is reconfigurable, it can function as several devices. A single amplifier can serve the purpose of several amplifiers, each ready for dynamic control. This property allows the researchers to reduce the device’s circuit area and lower the cost and energy consumption. 

The transition from FeHEMT to HEMT involved in-depth scientific explorations and many trials, tests, and experiments. The semiconductor was made of aluminum nitride spiked with scandium. Becoming the first nitride-based ferroelectric semiconductor enabled it to integrate seamlessly with the next-gen semiconductor, gallium nitride. The output could achieve speeds up to 100 times that of silicon. Not only was it high-speed, but it was also highly efficient and low-cost. 

Ping Wang, a research scientist in electrical and computer engineering and also the co-corresponding author of the research, said:

“By adding ferroelectricity to an HEMT, we can make the switching sharper. This could enable much lower power consumption in addition to high gain, making for much more efficient devices.”

In another instance of building precise communication hardware with transformative potential, a team of electrical and computer engineering researchers at the University of Michigan could build the first millimeter-scale transmitter and antenna that could ‘talk Bluetooth Low Energy with ease.‘

Click here to learn how micrometric photovoltaic cells could pave the way for device miniaturization.

Building the First Millimeter-Scale Transmitter and Antenna

Prof. David Wentzloff led the team and the research to finally come up with the first millimeter-scale device that could accurately communicate with Bluetooth Low Energy. The transmitter and the antenna consumed only 606 microwatts, or 0.6 milliwatts together, during transmission. The system could achieve this scale by making the amplifier unnecessary or redundant by creating a unique combination of the oscillator and the antenna. 

While explaining the potential of the invention, Prof Wentzloff said: 

“I’m excited about the future research directions that will be opened up by removing the wireless connectivity barrier!”

This achievement will create new avenues in the area of IoT and significantly enhance its adoption capability. 

The invention was also crucial for the University’s flagship innovation, the Michigan Micro Mote (M3), the world’s first millimetre-scale computer. With such a transmitter incorporated into M3, communication with an ordinary smartphone will become more efficient. 

When explaining its usability, Wentzloff said: 

“This radio adds the first standard-compliant communication to the M3 stack. This enables us to deploy M3 devices more quickly and more easily get sensed data to the cloud by connecting directly to a smartphone.”

Such stellar research will revolutionize the standards of communication for the next generation. Global companies invest research and resources in making communication devices ready for the future. These companies can benefit immensely from these studies and experiments. In the segments below, we discuss a couple of such companies. 

#1. Nokia

Nokia comes with an extensive portfolio of communication devices. When it comes to outstanding space optimization, one product range that stands apart is the AirScale Small Cells. 

Nokia has the industry’s most extensive small-cell portfolio, with radios optimized to support mobile network operators and enterprises in all deployment scenarios. Also known as the AirScale Shikra Radios, these come in the form of millimeter wave radios and pico radios for indoor solutions.  

The Shikra radios are small and easy to deploy either stand-alone or associated, with their small cells-optimized baseband units helping accelerate network rollout. Owing to their compact nature, the mmWave radios are deployment-ready across a variety of locations, including dense urban spaces, shopping areas, sports arenas, and other large public venues where extreme capacity is a key requirement. 

The Pico radios are an indoor solution that caters to a range of enterprise use cases, supporting multiple radio access technologies and flexible network configurations. Nokia also has all-in-one small-cell solutions that require no separate baseband unit and enable simple plug-and-play installation and deployment flexibility for both indoors and outdoors. 

For the fiscal year 2023, Nokia reported an annual revenue of EUR 22.258 billion, a considerable decline from the previous fiscal year’s EUR 24.91 billion. Operating profit also witnessed a decline to EUR 2.375 billion from EUR 3.109 billion between FY 23 and FY 22. 

#2. Motorola Solutions

Motorola has been a pioneering champion in introducing futuristic, sophisticated, and cutting-edge communication devices to the world. One device that may especially benefit from this research and push the envelope further is Motorola’s TLK 25 wearable communication device. It weighs only 73 grams and measures 3.2X1.9X0.7. 

At its core, the TLK 25 is a wearable WAVE PTX device that goes beyond a walkie-talkie’s push-to-talk capabilities. These devices are compact, rugged, and equipped with an intuitive voice assistant. The device has Wi-Fi connectivity and also uses nationwide LTE when Wi-Fi is not available. Its intuitive voice assistant allows hands-free access to communications, device settings, safety features, statuses, notifications, and alerts. 

The TLK 25 range of products from Motorola thrives on their compactness and brevity of features. These devices would benefit immensely from research and transmission solutions that make things more sleek and efficient. 

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Motorola Solutions reported net sales of US$2.85 billion, while the full-year revenue for 2023 was almost US$10 billion. Operating earnings for the year 2023 increased to US$2.784 billion from US$2.368 billion in 2022. 

The Role of Communication Devices in Our Modern World

It would be difficult for human civilization to survive without its modes and tools for efficient communication working properly. The communication devices for the next generation will have to develop many qualities in them to be more adoption-ready for the future. 

These devices, for instance, would have to be ready to endure the harshest conditions. They would have to be efficient enough to accommodate every innovation that has been achieved so far in this space, especially in handling voice, video, and data feeds simultaneously.

While providing all these services, these devices must not compromise their integrity. With sophisticated security systems that leverage responsibly built AI analytics, this is no longer a challenge. 

However, having all these properties and features must not result in something that occupies a lot of space, gets heated up fast, or is expensive to manufacture. 

Next-gen communication devices will evolve, keeping these aspects in mind. Already, new technology paradigms have appeared that would expedite this evolution. For instance, there is already much talk about technologies such as Visible Light Communication(VLC)/Li-Fi, where data transmission happens via light rather than radio waves at high speeds through small adjustments in the intensity. 

These solutions offer very high speed, going beyond the bandwidth capabilities of conventional communications. Since they go beyond the traditional mode, enhanced standards of security and reliability can be achieved. Researchers believe such solutions would be perfect for the military.

Apart from data transmission hardware, much progress has been achieved in the space of sensor technologies. These technologies would help update the existing IoT and automation support infrastructure. 

According to data presented by ASSIA Inc., the increase in PC/phone upload traffic since the beginning of March 2024 would be as high as 80% in the United States only. The world has become much more virtual than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Webcams, PCs, and laptops are running video streams all the time. Delivery of health services, education, and other emergency services has become much more virtual. Tackling these situations would require much more space-optimized and efficient devices. They would also have to be 5G-ready. 

Organizations and companies must keep investing resources and research in making next-generation communication more efficient and cost-effective.

Click here to learn how advanced photonics can help build a better smartphone.