Movement of parts is no more required to aim a powerful beam of radiation at a target, either for communicating with deep space probes, or for illuminate planets and asteroids. It is a technology similar to that found in wireless headsets and GPS receivers. Yes, inspired by this technology, the proposal is to build an array of millions of small antennas printed on circuit boards. A computer will be able to aim a target with a powerful beam of radiation, controlling the phase of all of the antennas individually.



The transmitters use interference effects among the multiple antennas to reinforce the electromagnetic waves going in some directions and to cancel them out in others. This allows the direction of the beam of radiation to be changed almost instantaneously. They are called “Phased array”. A phased array can even send beams in several directions at once. The military uses phased arrays to track missiles, and on board ships to track enemy vessels and planes. An array of 500,000 tiles with each antenna operating at only 10 milliwatts, is claimed to be having twice the power of the transmitter at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Lou Scheffer, an electrical engineer with a company called Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, California, US, claims that a powerful phased array transmitter can be made using cheap, consumer-grade technology. Check out the October issue of Radio Science

for more information on the proposal.



Via: Newscientist