Millimetre - wave metasurface barcodes: deciphering location information for a smart train radar

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In this project, innovative and low-cost passive metasurfaces will be developed as sign-posts installed on a railway trackside for train signaling and safety. These sign-posts will serve as demarcation points detected by an off-the-shelf radar installed on-board the train. In this way, the train's computer will determine its position on the guideway based on the sign-post detection. In some cases the sign-posts will have a unique signature (like a barcode) which will enable the on-board computer to localize the train on the guideway if its position is unknown or to re-verify its position on the guideway if the position is determined. These planar sign-posts will be realized based on ongoing, cutting-edge, developments in Huygens' metasurfaces at the principal investigator's group. These metasurfaces comprise arrays of co-located electric and magnetic dipoles to manipulate incident electromagnetic fields. This project will be carried out in collaboration with Thales Canada in Toronto which is a world leader in railway signaling and safety transportation systems. The benefits from these innovative metasurface sign-posts to railway safety, performance and cost will be significant and include the replacement of current proximity detectors that are prone to failure and high-maintenance overhead.