Metamaterials have attracted a great deal of attention in many fields because of their extraordinary physical properties. It has provided researchers with a new design concept for artificial materials, bringing vigor and vitality to advanced functional materials. As a two-dimensional counterpart to metamaterials, metasurfaces have unprecedented freedom to manipulate EM waves.
Through on-site programming, programmable metasurfaces (PM) with multiple or switchable functions can be made and further integrated with sensors or driven by predefined software. Self-adaptability significantly improves the response rate by eliminating human involvement. The switches between different functions of these PMs are generally based on manual operation. The basic frame is wired, manually controlled and not changed in real time. It is therefore fascinating to build an entire framework that can perform remote, wireless, real-time, mind-controlled functional metasurfaces.
In a new article published in eLight, a joint team of scientists led by Professor Shaobo Qu and Professor Jiafu Wang of the University of Air Force Engineering and Professor Cheng-Wei Qiu of the National University of Singapore have advanced the first step towards real-time remote technology. and wireless mind control of metamaterials. His article, entitled “Metasurface Controlled by the Remote Mind by Brain Waves,” proposes a framework for achieving this goal.
Traditionally, human involvement and participation is often necessary for many scenarios. A human should control the metasurface with his mind directly. It is also well established that a human brain will generate brain waves in the thought process. The authors theorized that picking up brain waves and using them as metasurface control signals would allow users to control metasurfaces with their minds. It will also improve the response rate of metasurfaces. This development would mark a huge step towards truly intelligent metasurfaces.
The research team achieved remote control by wirelessly transmitting brain waves from the user to the controller via Bluetooth. The goal was to use the user’s brain waves to control the MS response of PMs. By doing this route, they demonstrated an RMCM where the user could control the scatter pattern.
The simulated and test results showed that the user’s brain waves directly controlled the outcome, with a significantly better control rate and exchange rate. This indicates that their model was far superior to any existing model or product on the market. Its design can be further customized to improve the accuracy of your computer.
The research team hopes to combine this with intelligent algorithms and improve processes in the future. They believe that their work can easily be extended to other functional or multifunctional mind-controlled metasurfaces. You can find applications in areas as diverse as health monitoring, 5G / 6G communications, and smart sensors.