A New Way of Generating Electromagnetic Wave in RF-Challenged Environments for Navigation and Communication

电磁波的使用彻底改变了我们的生活，使我们能够与地球上几乎任何地方的人进行通信，以令人难以置信的准确度确定我们的位置，并在不熟悉的道路上导航。没有这些技术，现代生活方式是不可能的。然而，由于在较高频率处发生的损耗，EM波的使用主要限于地面无线通信、导航和定位。极低频和极低频ELF/VLF EM波（300 Hz 30 kHz）由于其在RF挑战环境（水下、地下和泥浆）中的低传播损耗而受到关注。 然而，当前的ELF/VLF EM波发生器由于其大尺寸和高功率要求而不适合于诸如便携式通信和导航系统的应用。该项目旨在提供一种新的方法来产生ELF/VLF波，具有数量级更小的尺寸和功率要求。这项研究的结果，如果成功的话，将大大增加对低频电磁波产生领域的知识和理解，并可能对环境监测，水生生态系统分析，海洋事故补救，国土安全，石油和天然气勘探以及水产养殖产生广泛的影响。 研究课题的进展将通过天线和电磁波传播的学术课程以及本科生的研究机会广泛传播。参与的扩大将通过明确与代表性不足的学生通过在弗吉尼亚理工大学正在进行的计划工作来实现。此外，PI还将与弗吉尼亚理工大学的C-Tech2项目合作开发教育实验室活动和课堂模块，让高中和初中学生了解基础研究和ELF/VLF波产生原理。该项目的目标是设计、开发和测试小型和节能的ELF/VLF电磁波发生器，利用永磁体的强磁通量。来自永磁体的强磁通量将用于使用时变磁阻屏蔽来转换成EM波。基于PI的概念设计证明，拟议的研究还将集中在电磁波发生器的小型化和功耗降低。该项目的成果将包括开发基于永磁体的电磁波产生的新分析和设计方法、包括链路预算在内的系统分析、实验原型开发和测试。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The use of electromagnetic (EM) waves has revolutionized our lives by allowing us to communicate with people from nearly anywhere on the planet, pinpoint our location with incredible accuracy, and navigate unfamiliar roads. Modern lifestyles would not be possible without these technologies. However, because of losses occurring at higher frequencies, the use of EM waves has mainly been limited to terrestrial wireless communications, navigation, and location finding. Extremely low frequency and very low frequency ELF/VLF EM waves (300 Hz 30 kHz) are of interest due to their low propagation loss in RF challenged environments (underwater, underground, and mud). However, current ELF/VLF EM wave generators are not suitable for applications, such as portable communication and navigation systems due to their large size and high power requirements. This project aims to provide a new method to generate ELF/VLF waves with orders of magnitude smaller dimensions and power requirements. The findings of this study, if successful, will considerably increase knowledge and understanding in the field of low-frequency EM wave generation and will likely have broad impacts on environmental monitoring, aquatic eco-system analysis, ocean accident remediation, homeland security, oil and gas exploration, and aquaculture. Advances from the research topics will be disseminated widely through academic courses on antennas and EM wave propagation and through undergraduate research opportunities. The broadening of participation will be achieved by explicitly working with underrepresented students through ongoing programs at Virginia Tech. Besides, educational laboratory activities and classroom modules, developed in partnership with the C-Tech2 program at Virginia Tech, the PI will expose high school and middle school underrepresented students to basic research and underlying ELF/VLF wave generation principles.The objective of this project is to design, develop, and test small and energy-efficient ELF/VLF EM wave generators by leveraging the strong magnetic flux of a permanent magnet. The strong magnetic flux from a permanent magnet will be used to convert into an EM wave using a time-variant reluctance shield. Based on the PI’s proof of concept design the proposed research will also focus on miniaturization and power consumption reduction for the EM wave generator. The outcomes of this project will include the development of new analysis and design methods for a permanent magnet-based EM wave generation, system analysis including link budget, experimental prototype development, and testing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.