Lumen Autumn 2025 - Flipbook - Page 30
News in brief
The University of Adelaide
receives significant media
coverage locally, nationally
and internationally for our
world-class research.
In 2024 more than 20,000
media items featuring our
University were published.
Recent coverage ranges from
the origins of Stonehenge to
the launch of duckweed into
space as a potential future
food for astronauts.
More of our amazing stories
can be found at our University
Newsroom website.
6G communication
The potential of 6G communications is
being unlocked using a new polarisation
multiplexer.
TERAHERTZ
COMMUNICATIONS
REPRESENT THE NEXT
FRONTIER IN WIRELESS
TECHNOLOGY, PROMISING
DATA TRANSMISSION RATES
FAR EXCEEDING CURRENT
SYSTEMS.
By operating at terahertz frequencies,
these systems can support unprecedented
bandwidth, enabling ultra-fast wireless
communication and data transfer.
Wind turbine speeds
The cost effectiveness of wind farms could
be significantly improved by reducing the
speed of wind turbines that are clustered
together. This could also improve their
longevity and reduce noise pollution.
A team of researchers led by
Dr Rey Chin found: “By reducing the
rotational speed of the leading turbines,
the speed of the ones behind can be
increased so that all the turbines in a
group spin at the same speed.
“WEAR AND TEAR ON
A TURBINE CAN BE
SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED
BY SLOWING DOWN ITS
ROTATIONAL SPEED.”
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However, one of the significant challenges
in terahertz communications is effectively
managing and utilising the available
spectrum.
A University of Adelaide team has
developed the first ultra-wideband integrated
terahertz polarisation (de)multiplexer
implemented on a substrateless silicon base
which they have successfully tested in the
sub-terahertz J-band (220-330 GHz) for 6G
communications and beyond.
“Our proposed polarisation multiplexer
will allow multiple data streams to be
transmitted simultaneously over the same
frequency band, effectively doubling the data
capacity,” team leader Professor Withawat
Withayachumnankul says.
