Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a new tiny new cheaper radio wave circulator, which claimed to significantly boost the data transfer rates in smartphones, wireless devices.
With a potential to even double the useful bandwidth in wireless communications by enabling full-duplex functionality, the new breakthrough could allow devices to generate and receive signals on the same frequency band simultaneously.
University of Texas associate professor Andrea Alu said: "We are changing the paradigm with which isolation and two-way transmission on the same frequency channel can be achieved.
"We have built a circulator that does not need magnets or magnetic materials."
The device works in the same way as magnetic materials distort the symmetry in wave transmission between two points in space, which enables magnetic circulators to selectively transmit radio waves.
However, the new circuit achieves the same effect, while the magnetic bias is replaced with a travelling wave rotating around the device.
Further, the new circuit allows real time tuning over a broad range of frequencies, which is a key benefit over traditional circulators.
Without relying on magnetic effects, the new circulator also boasts a smaller footprint while integrating inexpensive and more common materials.
