This paper presents the topology of a novel approach to magnetic communication using a differential magnetic induction (MI)-based receiver and a differential MI receiving sensor. In this paper, a differential MI sensor based on two ferromagnetic cores is proposed as a receiving sensor, unlike the air coil-type MI sensor in the conventional search coil sensor concept. This differential MI sensor has the advantages of ultra-high sensitivity characteristics of the pT/ $\surd $ Hz level, which can detect weak magnetic fields in magnetic communication; moreover, the sensor is smaller than a conventional air coil MI sensor. The proposed differential MI sensor contributes to improving sensor performance by increasing its signal-to-noise ratio. The design and fabrication of the proposed MI sensor were based on a printed circuit board (PCB). The pickup coil of the PCB-based MI sensor directly wound the pickup coil onto a ferromagnetic core composed of Ni-Zn ferrite material. To analyze the key factors that affected the performance of the receiver, the magnetic field-to-voltage conversion ratio (MVCR) and equivalent magnetic spectral density measurements of the proposed PCB-based MI sensor were performed. Wireless digital communication using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), which is less sensitive to noise and has a high data rate, was used to evaluate the proposed MI-based receiver. The transmitted and received waveforms were compared to confirm that the transmitted digital data were accurately received as a result of the final demodulation of the receiver. Additionally, several performance metrics, such as constellation and error vector magnitude, were measured. The results of the comprehensive analysis confirmed the applicability of the proposed differential MI-based receiver to a magnetic field.
In this paper, a deformed radiating element is proposed to design a comb-line array antenna for low sidelobe levels in the millimeter-wave band. To design the comb-line array antenna with a low sidelobe level, the use of the wide radiating elements for a relatively large radiation conductance is required. However, the conventional rectangular radiating element has transverse current flows on it, resulting in undesirable transverse radiation conductance for cross-polarization. On the contrary, in the proposed radiating element, which is implemented by cutting obliquely the connection part to the feeding line from a rectangular element, the radiations from the transverse currents cancel each other, and low radiation conductance for cross-polarization and dominant radiation conductance for co-polarization are achieved. A 17-element linear comb-line array antenna with the sidelobe below −20 dB is designed and measured at 79 GHz. Using the proposed radiating elements, we obtained the sidelobe level of −21.9 dB in the array, but the array using the conventional radiating elements shows the sidelobe level of −16.9 dB. This letter demonstrates the availability of the proposed element for the easy and accurate design of the comb-line array antenna with the low sidelobe level.
Radio reception relies on the medium which determines the propagation characteristics of the electromagnetic fields carrying the information. The permittivity varies greatly depending on the medium, but it remains nearly constant, except when magnetic materials are used. For this reason, magnetic fields, typically affected by permeability, can be utilized in microwave challenging environments. In this paper, a new approach based on the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect is presented. The proposed GMI-based receiver has an effective double-superheterodyne topology, where “effective” means that the receiver actually has a single mixer but appears to have added a virtual mixer due to the GMI effect. The magnetic field-to-voltage conversion ratio (MVCR), the spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) and the receiver sensitivity are characterized, and from these results the optimal operating conditions of the fabricated receiver are obtained. Additionally, wireless digital communication using on-off keying (OOK) is demonstrated and transmitted and received waveforms are compared, with the final demodulation result of the receiver showing that the transmitted digital data are precisely extracted.
This paper presents a practical low-power, low-frequency magnetic induction (MI) transceiver based on symmetrical gaped two-loop antennas with an empirical circuit model for wireless underground communication. Because of the quasi-two-dimensional loop antennas for the transmitter (Tx) and the receiver (Rx), the tailored hardware platform is not only simple, but can be readily extended to a mutually orthogonal 3-D scheme. Through a mixed model of actual measurement data and theoretical parameters, we developed the two-loop antenna with the space of the antenna radius optimized for energy efficiency. The Tx power almost doubles that of the single Tx one, which provides channel expansion as well as system stability in terms of the Tx current level. Accordingly, the Rx signal is considerably increased by 9.5 dB in contrast with a typical single-Tx single-Rx configuration. Moreover, we used empirical-based modeling for a reliable electrical model. The empirical mutual inductance, which was modeled in a 25 m corridor, resulted in a channel correction factor of 0.86, showing that the signal intensity was reduced by 14% in the underground corridor compared to the free space. A maximum range of 68 m under a SNR of 9.5 dB and a path loss of 100.7 dB on a load of 50 Ω at 34.5 dBm were predicted from the model. In addition, this study confirmed the system feasibility by a SNR of 8.7 dB in a practical lossy environment between two floors, where its value was converted into a MI channel at a distance of 70 m in the underground corridor.
Majority of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) experiments have been requiring helium cryogenics and strong magnetic fields for a high degree of nuclear polarization. In this work, we instead demonstrate an optical hyperpolarization of naturally abundant C nuclei in a diamond crystal at a low magnetic field and the room temperature. It exploits continuous laser irradiation for polarizing electronic spins of nitrogen vacancy centers and microwave irradiation for transferring the electronic polarization to C nuclear spins. We have studied the dependence of C polarization on laser and microwave powers. For the first time, a triplet structure corresponding to the N hyperfine splitting has been observed in the C polarization spectrum. By simultaneously exciting three microwave frequencies at the peaks of the triplet, we have achieved C bulk polarization of 0.113 %, leading to an enhancement of 90,000 over the thermal polarization at 17.6 mT. We believe that the multi-tone irradiation can be extended to further enhance the C polarization at a low magnetic field.