Cornell University researchers have developed a low-power microchip they call a “microwave brain,” the first processor to compute on both ultrafast data signals and wireless communication signals by harnessing the physics of microwaves.

Detailed in the journal Nature Electronics, the processor is the first true microwave neural network and is fully integrated on a silicon microchip. It performs real-time frequency domain computation for tasks like radio signal decoding, radar target tracking and digital data processing, all while consuming less than 200 milliwatts of power.

“Because it’s able to distort in a programmable way across a wide band of frequencies instantaneously, it can be repurposed for several computing tasks,” said lead author Bal Govind, a doctoral student who conducted the research with Maxwell Anderson, also a doctoral student. “It bypasses a large number of signal processing steps that digital computers normally have to do.”