In the 1980s radio frequency (RF) engineers developed microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits that revolutionized the reliability and controllability of RF systems, while significantly reducing their size and cost. But now a second revolution is in view: active, chip-sized "microsystems" that automatically monitor the RF environment and adjust themselves to operate over a wide frequency band.

DARPA wants to develop "chips that can think," Martinez says. Solid state microwave chips today—known as a monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs)— are "dumb devices," tuned to perform at narrow bands.

Tunable networks mean more power out, less power lost, and greater ability to extract small signals from large interfering signals. IRFFE approaches range from the integration of sensor, actuator and control functions into a two-dimensional system to the use of optical-like processing in a three-dimensional, cubic array.

微波的主要特点是它的似光性、穿透性和非电离性。似光性——微波与频率较低的无线电波相比,更能像光线一样地传播和集中;穿透性——与红外线相比,微波照射介质时更容易深入物质内部;非电离性——微波的量子能量与...

A dielectric theory of the optical-like high-frequency mode in ...