Lifeboat Foundation

A fundamental challenge in the creation of a “quantum internet” is how to securely transmit data between two points. But one team of U.S. scientists may have found the answer.

New research from experts at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggests atoms in small boxes of light — optical cavities — could soon “form the backbone technology” of the futuristic internet that relies on the mysterious properties of quantum mechanics for ultra-fast computing.

Using the same technology that allows high-frequency signals to travel on regular phone lines, researchers tested sending extremely high-frequency, 200 GHz signals through a pair of copper wires. The result is a link that can move data at rates of terabits per second, significantly faster than currently available channels.

While the technology to disentangle multiple, parallel signals moving through a channel already exists, thanks to signal processing methods developed by John Cioffi, the inventor of digital subscriber lines, or DSL, questions remained related to the effectiveness of implementing these ideas at higher frequencies.

To test the transmission of data at higher frequencies, authors of a paper published this week in Applied Physics Letters used experimental measurements and mathematical modeling to characterize the input and output signals in a waveguide.

Engineers at Caltech have shown that atoms in optical cavities—tiny boxes for light—could be foundational to the creation of a quantum internet. Their work was published on March 30 by the journal Nature.

Quantum networks would connect quantum computers through a system that also operates at a quantum, rather than classical, level. In theory, quantum computers will one day be able to perform certain functions faster than classical computers by taking advantage of the special properties of quantum mechanics, including superposition, which allows quantum bits to store information as a 1 and a 0 simultaneously.

As they can with classical computers, engineers would like to be able to connect multiple quantum computers to share data and work together—creating a “quantum internet.” This would open the door to several applications, including solving computations that are too large to be handled by a single quantum computer and establishing unbreakably secure communications using quantum cryptography.

Any device that sends out a Wi-Fi signal also emits terahertz waves —electromagnetic waves with a frequency somewhere between microwaves and infrared light. These high-frequency radiation waves, known as “T-rays,” are also produced by almost anything that registers a temperature, including our own bodies and the inanimate objects around us.

Terahertz waves are pervasive in our daily lives, and if harnessed, their concentrated power could potentially serve as an alternate energy source. Imagine, for instance, a cellphone add-on that passively soaks up ambient T-rays and uses their energy to charge your phone. However, to date, terahertz waves are wasted energy, as there has been no practical way to capture and convert them into any usable form.

Now physicists at MIT have come up with a blueprint for a device they believe would be able to convert ambient terahertz waves into a direct current, a form of electricity that powers many household electronics.

Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2020. Features 6.9″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, Exynos 990 chipset, 5000 mAh battery, 512 GB storage, 16 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 6.

Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) could have numerous useful applications, for instance, assisting humans in completing warehouse inventories or search and rescue missions. While many companies worldwide have already started producing and using MAVs, some of these flying robots still have considerable limitations.

To work most effectively, MAVs should be supported by an efficient pose estimation system. This is a system or method that can calculate a drone’s position and attitude, which can then be used to control its flight, adjust its speed and aid its navigation while it is operating autonomously and when controlled remotely.

Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China have recently developed a new system for the pose estimation of MAVs in indoor environments. Their new approach, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXIv and set to be published in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, leverages existing WiFi infrastructure to enable more effective navigation in small and agile drones.

Researchers from Harvard and MIT have pioneered a device that could improve quantum communication and may be the key to developing a quantum internet, according to an article published Monday in the scientific journal Nature.

Quantum signals lose information when traveling over long distances. To solve this problem, the researchers’ new technology catches and stores quantum bits — known as qubits — thus preventing information loss. The physicists hope this breakthrough will open the door to a quantum internet that can communicate unhackable messages.

“This is the first system-level demonstration, combining major advances in nanofabrication, photonics and quantum control, that shows a clear quantum advantage to communicating information using quantum repeater nodes,” Mikhail D. Lukin — a Harvard physics professor who lead the research team — said in a press release published Monday. “We look forward to starting to explore new, unique applications using these techniques.”

When you’re a software and hardware engineer sometimes you need a little challenge. Engineer Robert Lucian Chiriac’s latest Raspberry Pi creation can detect license plates and read the characters with fairly decent accuracy. This is an involved project that relies on machine learning to properly interpret images from the camera into discernible text.

The primary license plate reading function is constructed using three separate applications (there are more used throughout the project, but these three are critical). Chiriac used the YOLOv3 object detection algorithm to create a bounding box around each license plate it detects from the camera input. The image within the bounding box is sent to CRAFT, a text detecting application. Once the location for each character in the plate has been identified, the information is passed along to CRNN to predict the actual text.

Chiriac mounted the Raspberry Pi, GPS module, 4G module and Pi camera to his car’s rear-view mirror with a 3D-printed unit he designed. The Pi camera is even adjustable with a ball-joint swivel mount.

In the midst of the pandemic, more aspects of our daily lives are being conducted online, from work to school to medical appointments. Luckily, internet service providers think they can cope.