As part of government-funded research, the University of Glasgow has developed a next-generation antenna which researchers claim could help deliver ultra-fast and 6G networks.
The dynamic metasurface antenna (DMA) is claimed to be the first ever wireless antenna capable of operating at a frequency of 60 GHz millimetre-wave (mmWave) band.
This property “makes it a potentially very valuable stepping stone towards new use cases of 6G technology and could pave the way for even higher-frequency operation in the terahertz range,”, Professor Qammer Abbasi explained in a paper about the development.
The DMA reportedly uses high-speed interconnects with simultaneous parallel control of individual, specially designed metamaterial elements, via high-speed field-programmable gate array (FPGA) programming. These materials are able to manipulate electromagnetic waves through software control, creating an advanced class of leaky-wave antennas capable of high-frequency reconfigurable operation.
