It is perhaps humanity’s most defining trait that we are always striving to build things better, stronger, faster, or bigger than that which came before. Taller skyscrapers, longer bridges, and computers with more processors, all advance thanks to this relentless persistence.
In the world of radio, we might assume that a better signal simply means adding more power, but performance can also improve by adding more antennas. Not only do more antennas increase gain but they can also be electronically steered, and [MAKA] demonstrates how to do this with a software-defined radio (SDR) phased array.
The project comes to us in two parts. In the first part, two ADALM-Pluto SDR modules are used, with one set to transmit and the other to receive. The transmitting SDR has two channels, one of which has the phase angle of the transmitted radio wave fixed while the other is swept from -180° to 180°. These two waves will interfere with each other at various points along this sweep, with one providing much higher gain to the receiver. This information is all provided to the user via a GUI.
The second part works a bit like the first, but in reverse. By using the two antennas as receivers instead of transmitters, the phased array can calculate the precise angle of arrival of a particular radio wave, allowing the user to pinpoint the direction it is being transmitted from. These principles form the basis of things like phased array radar, and if you’d like more visual representations of how these systems work take a look at this post from a few years ago.
I never thought beamforming would be hackable on this level, nice article :-)
Or we will find ways to do more with less resources. My mobile phone has more memory and computing power than a multi kilowatt rack of servers from 1995 and works several hours (at full power) on a small battery.
Heck my phone has more storage than the mainframe I learned COBOL on, including the 8 tape drives and ancillary storage
On the other hand total energy consumption for computer is far higher today than in ’95.
Interesting.
My Lenovo Laptop has a 65 watt power supply.
The last computer I had with a similar sized power supply is my Commodore. I’ve never had a PC class computer with under a couple hundred watts that i remember
Kind of like CPUs. We can throw more power at the problem, or be more clever using what we have.
LOL. You clearly don’t know squat about much of the world. The only non-Western civilizations that behaved as you claim did so because they were massively constrained by resources and had no other choice.
A major trait of Western culture is to adopt the aspects of other cultures that lead to improvements and not to adopt the rest. Today there are some within Western culture who want to glorify the worst in other cultures and abandon the best in Western culture.
Like what? Concrete examples.
Everyone is ready to repeat trump’s propaganda about Afghani refugees eating cats, yet when it comes to prove it, there’s no evidence.
In fact cat is not a halal food so eating it would be a major sin.
Haitians, not Afghani. So, no Halal issues.
Still, no evidence, but get your story right before you post
Interestingly, few of those who think long term nature will be fine without us seem willing to lead in that direction by personal example.
That Larger thing did not work out well for the Dinosaurs..
Cap
Long term, the universe will apparently die from entropy.