MIT AI Hardware Program

New Chip for Mobile Devices Knocks Out Unwanted Signals

Adam Zewe | MIT News Office

MIT researchers have developed a receiver chip for a mobile device that targets and blocks unwanted radio frequency signals at the receiver’s input, without hurting its performance or slowing down the device.

A complex receiver chip is in the middle, and has circuits in its center and squares around the edges. Red radio waves try to hit the chip but are blocked by the chip’s glowing edges. A green radio wave enters the chip.

February 21, 2023

Imagine sitting in a packed stadium for a pivotal football game — tens of thousands of people are using mobile phones at the same time, perhaps video chatting with friends or posting photos on social media. The radio frequency signals being sent and received by all these devices could cause interference, which slows device performance and drains batteries.

Designing devices that can efficiently block unwanted signals is no easy task, especially as 5G networks become more universal and future generations of wireless communication systems are developed. Conventional techniques utilize many filters to block a range of signals, but filters are bulky, expensive, and drive up production costs.

MIT researchers have developed a circuit architecture that targets and blocks unwanted signals at a receiver’s input without hurting its performance. They borrowed a technique from digital signal processing and used a few tricks that enable it to work effectively in a radio frequency system across a wide frequency range.

Complete article from MIT News.

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