Metamaterials are a mind-bending class of matter. Broadly defined as manmade materials with unusual properties not found in nature, this category of materials is probably most famous for serving as the building blocks for a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak
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Metamaterials are proving to be quite useful for toying with the electromagnetic spectrum, whether for technology previously thought to be the stuff of science fiction, or for boring real-world applications. Engineers at Duke University have come up something that falls more into the latter category: a metamaterial imaging sensor that doesn’t require a lens to generate a picture. The sensor is a flexible copper-plated sheet patterned with small squares that capture various light frequencies all at once, functioning like one big aperture. Add a few circuits with a pinch of software and the sensor-only camera can produce up to ten images per second, but the catch is Duke’s only works at microwave frequencies. Microwave imaging is used plenty, however, and due to its flexibility and lack of moving parts, the sensor could be used to build better integrated, cheaper airport scanners and vehicle collision avoidance technology — making you safer however you choose to travel. Unless you take the train. Then you’re on your own.
Filed under: Misc, Transportation, Science, Alt
Via: Phys.org
Source: Science, Duke University
Intellectual Ventures is best known for its tendency to sue everyone, but it’s going some distance to mend that bruised image through a newly spun out company, Kymeta. The startup hopes to improve the quality of satellite broadband through mTenna-branded, Ka-band hotspots made from metamaterials — substances that can boost and manipulate a satellite signal while occupying virtually no space, leading to self-pointing transceivers that are just a fraction of the size of what we use today. That still amounts to equipment the size of a laptop running at a peak 5Mbps, although it’s small enough that Kymeta sees hotspots reaching individual customers who want access from a boat, a car or the field. We’d just advise against tossing out the MiFi too quickly. Kymeta doesn’t expect the hotspot to be ready before late 2014 at the earliest, and that leaves many questions about how much of a hit we’ll take to the pocketbook.
Filed under: Wireless, Networking
Intellectual Ventures launches Kymeta spinoff, promises slim satellite broadband hotspots originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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