Scientists could make blazing-fast 6G using curving light rays

May 12, 2024

The future of cellular data transfer could lie in "curving" light beams midair to deliver 6G wireless networks with blazing-fast speeds — bypassing the need for line of sight between transmitter and receivers.

In a new study published March 30 in the journal Nature's Communications Engineering, researchers explained how they developed a transmitter that can dynamically adjust the waves needed to support future 6G signals.

The most advanced cellular communications standard is 5G. Expected to be thousands of times faster, 6G will begin rolling out in 2030, according to the trade body GSMA.

Unlike 5G, which mostly operates in bands under 6 gigahertz (GHz) in the electromagnetic spectrum, 6G is expected to operate in sub-terahertz (THz) between 100 GHz and 300 GHz, and THz bands — just below infrared.

The closer this radiation is to visible light, the more prone the signals are to be blocked by physical objects. A major challenge with high-frequency 5G and future 6G is that signals need a direct line of sight between a transmitter and receiver.

But in the experiments, the scientists showed that you can effectively "curve" high-frequency signals around obstacles such as buildings.

"This is the world's first curved data link, a critical milestone in realizing the 6G vision of high data rate and high reliability," said Edward Knightly, co-author of the study and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University, in a statement.

The photons, or light particles, that make up the THz radiation in this region of the electromagnetic spectrum generally travel in straight lines unless space and time are warped by massive gravitational forces — the kind that black holes exert. But the researchers found that self-accelerating beams of light — first demonstrated in research from 2007 — form special configurations of electromagnetic waves that can bend or curve to one side as they move through space.

By designing transmitters with patterns that manipulate the strength, intensity and timing of the data-carrying signals, the researchers made waves that worked together to create a signal that remained intact even if its route to a receiver was partially blocked. They found that a light beam can be formed that adjusts to any objects in its way by shuffling data to an unblocked pattern. So while the photons still travel in a straight line, the THz signal effectively bends around an object.

Bending toward a 6G future

While bending light without the power of a black hole isn't new research, what's significant about this study is it could make 6G networks a practical reality.

5G millimeter wave (mmWave) currently offers the fastest network bandwidth by occupying the higher 5G radio frequencies between 24GHz and 100GHz of the electromagnetic spectrum to deliver theoretical maximum download speeds of 10 to 50 gigabits (billions of bits) per second. THz rays sit above mmWave in a frequency between 100 GHz and 10,000 GHz (10 THz), which is needed to deliver data transfer speeds of one terabit per second — nearly 5,000 times faster than average U.S. 5G speeds.

"We want more data per second," Daniel Mittleman, a professor at Brown's School of Engineering, said in a statement. "If you want to do that, you need more bandwidth, and that bandwidth simply doesn't exist using conventional frequency bands."

But due to the high frequencies they operate in, both 5G mmWave and future 6G signals need a direct line of sight between a transmitter and receiver. But by practically delivering a signal over a curved trajectory, future 6G networks wouldn't need buildings to be covered in receivers and transmitters.

However, a receiver needs to be within the near-field range of the transmitter for signal bending to work. When using high-frequency THz rays, this means some 33 feet (10 meters) apart, which is no good for city-wide 6G but could be practical for next-generation Wi-Fi networks.

"One of the key questions that everybody asks us is how much can you curve and how far away," Mittleman said. "We've done rough estimations of these things, but we haven't really quantified it yet, so we hope to map it out."

While curving THz signals holds a lot of promise for future 6G networks, the use of THz spectrum is still in its infancy. With this study, the scientists said we have gotten a step closer to realizing cellular wireless networks with unparalleled speeds.

https://www.space.com/scientists-could-make-6g-using-curving-lilght-rays

Stunning image shows atoms transforming into quantum waves — just as Schrödinger predicted

May 13, 2024

For the first time ever, physicists have captured a clear image of individual atoms behaving like a wave.

The image shows sharp red dots of fluorescing atoms transforming into fuzzy blobs of wave packets and is a stunning demonstration of the idea that atoms exist as both particles and waves — one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics.

The scientists who invented the imaging technique published their findings on the preprint server arXiv, so their research has not yet been peer reviewed.

"The wave nature of matter remains one of the most striking aspects of quantum mechanics," the researchers wrote in the paper. They add that their new technique could be used to image more complex systems, giving insights into some fundamental questions in physics.

First proposed by the French physicist Louis de Broglie in 1924 and expanded upon by Erwin Schrödinger two years later, wave particle duality states that all quantum-sized objects, and therefore all matter, exists as both particles and waves at the same time.

Schrödinger's famous equation is typically interpreted by physicists as stating that atoms exist as packets of wave-like probability in space, which are then collapsed into discrete particles upon observation. While bafflingly counterintuitive, this bizarre property of the quantum world has been witnessed in numerous experiments.

To image this fuzzy duality, the physicists first cooled lithium atoms to near-absolute zero temperatures by bombarding them with photons, or light particles, from a laser to rob them of their momentum. Once the atoms were cooled, more lasers trapped them within an optical lattice as discrete packets.

With the atoms cooled and confined, the researchers periodically switched the optical lattice off and on — expanding the atoms from a confined near-particle state to one resembling a wave, and then back.

A microscope camera recorded light emitted by atoms in the particle state at two different times, with atoms behaving like waves in between. By putting together many images, the authors built up the shape of this wave and observed how it expands with time, in perfect agreement with Schrödinger's equation

"This imaging method consists in turning back on the lattice to project each wave packet into a single well to turn them into a particle again — it is not a wave anymore," study co-author Tarik Yefsah, a physicist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the École normale supérieure in Paris, told Live Science. "You can see our imaging method as a way to sample the wavefunction density, not unlike the pixels of a CCD camera." A CCD camera is a common type of digital camera that uses a charge-coupled device to capture its images.

The scientists say this image is just a simple demonstration. Their next step will be using it to study systems of strongly interacting atoms that are less well understood.

"Studying such systems could improve our understanding of strange states of matter, such as those found in the core of extremely dense neutron stars, or the quark-gluon plasma that is believed to have existed shortly after the Big Bang," Yefsah said.

https://www.space.com/atom-transforms-into-quantum-wave-schrodinger

AI Unveils Over 20,000 Hidden Asteroids: A Leap in Space Surveillance

May 12, 2024 11:30

The emergence of AI in asteroid detection. In an astounding display of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has revealed the presence of more than 20,000 previously unknown asteroids in our solar system. This significant discovery stems from the tireless efforts of the B612 Foundation's research group, which has dedicated years to understanding asteroid trajectories and enhancing Earth's defenses against potential catastrophic impacts. The fear of asteroid collisions isn't just the stuff of movies—it's a real concern that has historical precedence in causing mass extinctions.

Jupiter: Earth's celestial shield

The AI tool developed by the research group was meticulously trained with vast amounts of sky imagery, allowing it to classify over a billion points of light and pinpoint thousands of asteroids. Many of these are located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but others are in orbit around Jupiter itself. This highlights Jupiter's role not just as a massive planet, but as a protective barrier that helps prevent more errant space rocks from threatening Earth.

Recounting the past: The dinosaur extinction

The mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, is a stark reminder of the devastation that can be wrought by asteroid impacts. About 75% of Earth's species vanished after a massive asteroid struck the Gulf of Mexico, creating the Chicxulub crater. This historical event underscores the importance of vigilant monitoring and research in planetary defense.

The DART mission: Testing asteroid deflection

In an unprecedented test of human ingenuity and proactive defense, the DART mission in September 2022 successfully altered the trajectory of the asteroid Dimorphos. By colliding a spacecraft into Dimorphos at high speed, scientists were able to shorten its orbit by 33 minutes, proving that it's possible to change the course of an asteroid. This mission represents a critical step toward developing the capabilities necessary to protect Earth from potential asteroid threats.

Enhancing future asteroid detection

The advancement in AI and the anticipated operational start of the Vera Rubin Telescope next year promise to revolutionize our ability to detect and monitor asteroids. The more asteroids we can identify and track, the better prepared we will be to enact measures like the DART mission if and when necessary. This ongoing commitment to planetary defense signifies a crucial strategy in safeguarding our planet from the unseen dangers of space.

https://dailygalaxy.com/2024/05/ai-unveils-over-20000-hidden-asteroids-a-leap-in-space-surveillance/

'Hand of God' reaches out for the stars in breathtaking telescope image that bears resemblance to famous painting in Sistine Chapel

UPDATED: 11:58 EDT, 13 May 2024

Scientists claim to have spotted 'God's Hand' reaching for the stars 1,300 light years from Earth.

This discovery is no miracle, but simply the latest telescope images of a vast structure known as the CG 4 cometary globule.

The incredible structure was spotted by the Dark Energy Camera on the US National Science Foundation Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope.

The globule's dusty expanse is normally hidden in darkness, but these images reveal the ominous red glow of excited hydrogen lighting it up from within.

The National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) says: 'In the constellation Puppis, a ghostly hand appears to be emerging from the interstellar medium and reaching out into the cosmos.'

CG 4 appears to burst out of the pink clouds of the nearby Gum Nebula.

With its distinct arm-like appearance, this impressive cosmic structure has earned the nickname 'God's Hand'.

But while some might say these telescope images resemble the Sistine Chapel, fans of science fiction might note a striking resemblance to the sandworms from Dune.

The 'head' of the cometary globule has often been compared to the gaping mouth of a great beast.

This comparison is all the more fitting as the 'worm' appears to be in the process of consuming a tiny galaxy nearby.

However, there is no need to be alarmed as the galaxy – called ESO 257-19 – is actually more than 100 million light-years behind CG 4.

Although this structure is known as a cometary globule, it actually has nothing to do with comets beyond their similar shape.

Rather these strange formations are a subclass of dark nebulae known as Bok globules – dense clouds of cosmic dust and gas surrounded by hot, ionized material.

While a head 1.5 light-years long and an 8 light-year-long tail might seem massive, it is actually quite small by the standard of Bok globules.

Cometary globules are also usually very dim and so have been extremely difficult for astronomers to study and have only been recognised since 1976.

However, as massive, hot stars bombard the globule with intense radiation the hydrogen within the gas clouds begins to glow.

In a blog revealing the images, NOIRLab writes: 'Their tails, shrouded in dark stellar dust, block most light from passing through.

'But with its special Hydrogen-alpha filter, DECam [Dark Energy Camera] can pick up the faint red glow of ionized hydrogen present within CG 4’s head and around its outer rim.'

This same radiation is gradually wearing away the head of CG 4 as tiny particles are constantly swept away.

However, NOIRLab notes that CG 4's head still contains enough gas to fuel several sun-sized stars.

No one is quite sure why cometary globules like CG 4 have their distinctive shape but their location might offer some clues

The vast majority of all cometary globules known to science are found in and around the Gum Nebula.

Believed to be the remnants of a supernova explosion around one million years ago, this nebula is home to at least 31 other cometary globules.

One theory suggests that structures like the Hand of God might have started as spherical nebulas and have since been pushed out of shape by the blast of a supernova.

The second theory suggests that they have been shaped by stellar winds and radiation pressure from nearby stars.

Some scientists suggest that the Vela Pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star formed by the collapse of a massive star, could be responsible.

The pressure and radiation from this incredibly hot star may have been enough to push a once-spherical dust cloud into this comet-like shape.

NOIRLab writes: 'In fact, all of the cometary globules found within the Gum Nebula appear to have tails pointing away from the center of the nebula, which is where the Vela Supernova Remnant and Vela Pulsar are located.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13412639/Hand-God-reaches-stars-breathtaking-telescope-image-bears-resemblance-famous-paining-Sistine-Chapel.html

>>20861359

Modeling, Simulation Summit: Following through with training transformation

May 13, 2024

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO–RANDOLPH, Texas (AFNS) –

The third annual 2024 Department of the Air Force Modeling and Simulation Summit was held at the Grand Hyatt River Walk in San Antonio, Texas, May 7-9.

The summit was hosted by Richard Tempalski, Department of the Air Force chief modeling and simulation officer, and Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, commander of Air Education and Training Command.

The goal of the M&S Summit is to gather U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force M&S experts to learn about new M&S initiatives and techniques, network across military services and industry experts, and hear technological leaders’ perspectives on how M&S can transition more training from the real world to digital, following through with transforming training.

“In answering Gen. [David] Allvin’s call to all Airmen to follow through, we are following through on training transformation across the learning ecosystem—for technical training, flying training, even basic training,” Robinson said. “We are at an inflection point in the DAF, and transformation is required. In an era of Great Power Competition, deterring a war through training is accomplished by demonstrating increased readiness. The modeling and simulation community is a critical component to helping AETC maintain its competitive edge and will be integral to the rapid and accelerated training function of the Air Force, should it find itself in the face of conflict.”

This year’s summit theme, “Training in a Digital World,” highlighted the DAF’s digital training and included 29 exhibitors who showcased the latest technology available. About 900 attendees from across the nation were in attendance to hear from experts and learn more about tools that can be used to address the development of technologies to bring together multi-domain analysis, test, training and processing.

“The Airmen and Guardians we are developing right now will decide the future fight against our adversaries,” Robinson said. “Panel discussions and breakout sessions provided unique perspectives, cutting-edge tools and innovative techniques to better execute the DAF training transformation for stakeholders, mission owners and ultimately the warfighter. We must modernize and accelerate change to keep in step with both demand and the fast-paced virtual learning world.”

Senior leaders led six panel discussions, and attendees heard more about Senior Leaders’ Perspective, Training Modernization, Government and Industry Partnerships, Medical Modeling and Simulation Innovation, Challenges and Ideas from an NCO perspective and M&S Enablers.

“The DAF M&S enterprise includes thousands of employees around 70 organizations, spending about $4 billion per year,” said Tempalski. “Simply stated, Chief Modeling and Simulation Office’s mission identifies enterprise M&S requirements and delivery of advanced M&S capabilities

[including tools, data and services] to the warfighter.”

Also in attendance were about 100 high schoolers from the Randolph Field Independent School District and CAST STEM High School, a public high school that partners with Southwest Independent School District. CAST Schools and Palo Alto College prepare students for jobs in engineering, advanced manufacturing and global logistics. Students toured the exhibit hall and heard from Airmen, who told the students more about their Air Force specialties and opportunities in the Air Force.

Senior leaders also took a closer look at technology being used and explored by members located at Detachment 24 at JBSA-Randolph. Those attending the tour were given a hands-on demonstration of the latest immersive training devices and previewed the immersive content being fielded today.

“We have found that the modeling and simulation community continues to impress and mature,” Lt. Col. Steve Briones, Det. 24 commander, said. “The industry’s internal research and development investments will be the reason that these solutions see the light of day.”

Det. 24 is subordinate to the 19th Air Force commander and is a military and civil partnership forged through industry, academia and government. Members of Det. 24 focus on flying training innovation and advances in rapid prototype development, export technologies and training methods designed to modernize pilot training. Det. 24 has also partnered with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Royal Air Force on innovation efforts.

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3773080/modeling-simulation-summit-following-through-with-training-transformation/

First enlisted Guardian teaches at the Air Force Academy

May 13, 2024

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AFNS) –

U.S. Space Force Master Sgt. Patrick Pineda's journey to the lectern at the U.S. Air Force Academy is as remarkable as it is groundbreaking.

His tenure marks a significant milestone as the first enlisted Guardian teaching at the Academy, infusing a traditionally officer and civilian-dominated faculty with his unique insights.

Pineda brings over ten years of experience as an Intelligence Analyst in both the Air Force and Space Force. His recent master's degree in Strategic Intelligence, with a Russian focus from the National Intelligence University, paved his way to academia.

His tenure marks a significant milestone as the first enlisted Guardian teaching at the Academy, infusing a traditionally officer and civilian-dominated faculty with his unique insights.

Pineda brings over ten years of experience as an Intelligence Analyst in both the Air Force and Space Force. His recent master's degree in Strategic Intelligence, with a Russian focus from the National Intelligence University, paved his way to academia.

In his role within the Military and Strategic Studies department, Pineda educates cadets on the intricacies of joint force doctrine, strategic theory and theorists, and the roles and capabilities of each service branch.

His course, MSS 251, gives cadets a baseline understanding of the national security apparatus, how it functions, and how the U.S. government executes its instruments of power across the spectrum of conflict.

Beyond curriculum development and classroom instruction, Pineda explained that his teaching philosophy emphasizes the tangible application of military concepts.

“What we teach is not just academic; it’s about preparing these future officers to think critically and strategically,” Pineda said. “We strive for cadets to understand that the world that we are entering is not the same as the last 20 years. The United States is entering an era of Great Power Competition, and they need to understand what’s at stake for the nation.”

This approach ensures that cadets not only learn strategic concepts but also understand their practical applications in real-world scenarios.

Pineda said that he is equally as dedicated to the relational aspects of his role, guiding cadets through their formative years at the Academy—from freshman cadets barely acquainted with military acumen to well-informed, strategic thinkers ready to take on future challenges.

He added that he finds it especially gratifying to observe their evolution.

“Seeing the growth in cadets from when they first walk into my classroom, knowing little about the military structure, to when they leave, speaking our lingo and understanding the baseline of Western strategic thinking, joint doctrine, and the functions and instruments of power the U.S. has at its disposal is incredibly rewarding.”

Integrating Space Force Expertise into Academy Curriculum

As the sole enlisted Guardian instructor, Pineda is uniquely positioned to inject Space Force knowledge and ethos into the Academy's curriculum. His experience within the Space Force, albeit limited, provides cadets with a greater understanding of the newest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.

“I often find myself answering cadet questions about the Space Force, guiding those interested in commissioning into this new service, and clarifying how its capabilities integrate into the broader joint force,” Pineda said.

Through Pineda’s efforts, the Academy not only prepares cadets for traditional Air Force roles but also imparts insights into the Space Force's capabilities, enhancing their understanding of joint force dynamics, irrespective of the service branch they choose.

Setting a Precedent for Enlisted Guardians

Being the first enlisted Guardian to teach at the Academy, Pineda said he hopes to pave the way for future enlisted Guardian educators.

“Enlisted applicants who are eager to pursue a teaching role at the Academy should obtain a degree in a field that aligns with the academic courses taught here,” Pineda explained.

“Additionally, they should demonstrate a robust track record of job performance and, ideally, gain hands-on experience in their degree-related field.”

He added, “The selection board prioritizes candidates with a proven history of leading teams, possessing the appropriate degree, and showcasing relevant field experience in their desired teaching area.”

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3773110/first-enlisted-guardian-teaches-at-the-air-force-academy/