W Washington, Nov 30 : New research work has made scientists successful in combining a multi purpose receiver for high frequencies with an antenna on a small chip.  Created by a research team at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, the receiver is an electronic circuit including antenna, low noise amplifier, and frequency converter monolithically integrated on gallium arsenide. It is just a few square millimetre and is suitable for new safety systems, image sensors, and radio communication for high bitrates. "This is a breakthrough in our research. Our result opens the possibility to manufacture systems for very high frequencies within the so called 'THZ-electronics' area, to a relatively low cost," said Herbert Zirath , professor at the department of Microwave Electronics. "In the next phase of this project, even more functions can be integrated on the same chip", he added. This circuit can for instance be used in radiometer systems in future safety systems looking for concealed weapons without personal visitation. Other applications for this circuit are imaging sensors that can look through darkness, smoke or fog. This is an important safety function for vehicles such as cars and aircrafts. "Thanks to this technology, we now have the possibility of integrating imaging sensors by using circuits of a few square millimeters, which is much smaller than the present technology at a lower cost, said Zirath. "For automotive applications such as cars, aircrafts and satellites, the size and weight is of utmost importance. The present systems consist of many pieces and demands several cubic decimetres volume", he added. The new circuit is designed to work at the frequency of 220 gigahertz, but this is not an upper limit. According to professor Zirath, the technology can be used up to and above 300GHz in a near future. The technology is also interesting for wireless data communication because, due to the very high bandwidth, data rate well above 10 Gbit/s is possible to realize in future radio links. "We are also implementing receivers for future earth observation satellites for environmental studies and weather forecasts at frequencies 118 and 183 GHz, using the same technology," said Zirath. (ANI) © 2007 ANI TAGS: Tech 
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