Wireless communication in cluttered environments based on time reversal principle (sponsored by NSF and ONR)

Back to Research Main

Summary

Wireless communication in unknown and cluttered environments is an important problem which has several practical applications, such as communication in urban areas and disaster areas.  This project investigates a method to maximize power transfer efficiency for communication in such environments.  The method applies to communication between a transmitting array and a receiving array where the transmitting array sends out a probe signal, and at the receiving array, the transfer matrix can be constructed.  From this measurement, we perform the time-reversal and eigen analysis.  The highest eigenvalue is the best possible transmission efficiency and its corresponding eigenvector represents the transmitting excitation at the transmitting elements to achieve maximum efficiency.  The nature of this method makes it possible to operate in unknown, random, and cluttered environments because the maximization is based on the measured signals.  Also, this method allows for the adjustment of the system due to the change of the channel, which makes this method adaptive and robust. 

Experimental setup in the office/laboratory environment

 

Communication efficiency comparison in conducting sphere cases.  Left: schematic of the experimental setup,  Right: the efficiency comparison.

 

 

Related publications

 

 

 

Sponsored by NSF and ONR