Joint Modulations of Electromagnetic Waves and Digital Signals on a Single Metasurface Platform to Reach Programmable Wireless Communications

摘要

In current wireless communication and electronic systems,digital signals and electromagnetic(EM)radiation are processed by different modules.Here,we propose a mechanism to fuse the modulation of digital signals and the manipulation of EM radiation on a single programmable metasurface(PM).The PM consists of massive subwavelength-scale digital coding elements.A set of digital states of all elements forms simultaneous digital information roles for modulation and the wave-control sequence code of the PM.By designing digital coding sequences in the spatial and temporal domains,the digital information and farfield patterns of the PM can be programmed simultaneously and instantly in desired ways.For the experimental demonstration of the mechanism,we present a programmable wireless communication system.The same system can realize transmissions of digital information in single-channel modes with beamsteerable capability and multichannel modes with multiple independent information.The measured results show the excellent performance of the programmable system.This work provides excellent prospects for applications in fifth-or sixth-generation wireless communications and modern intelligent platforms for unmanned aircrafts and vehicles.