doi.org/10.1109/RFIC61188.2025.11082855
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#ChipÂ
A group of researchers has developed a new type of chip that promises to improve the energy efficiency of wireless devices such as smartphones, industrial sensors, and smart appliances
This innovative chip is small, flexible, and can be easily integrated into everyday devices.
It is also prepared to meet the more stringent requirements of future communication technologies, such as 6G.
With it, devices can consume less power when sending and receiving data, maintaining reliable, high-quality communication.
How does wireless transmission work?
To understand the importance of this new chip, it’s helpful to know how wireless devices, such as your cell phone or Wi-Fi router, work.
Every wireless device has a transmitter, which converts digital information (such as messages or videos) into electromagnetic signals.
These signals travel through the air until they reach a receiver, such as another cell phone or an internet tower.
The process of transforming digital data into signals is called modulation.
In traditional systems, signals are sent in a uniform pattern, meaning all data “packets” are the same size and organized in a predictable way.
This helps avoid interference, but it’s not very efficient, especially because wireless environmental conditions (such as obstacles or noise) change constantly.
A uniform pattern doesn’t adapt well to these changes, which can waste energy.
A New Approach to Modulation
Researchers, led by Muriel Médard, a professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), have developed a smarter solution.
They created a system that uses optimized modulation, where signals don’t follow a uniform pattern.
Instead, the chip adjusts the way data is sent based on environmental conditions, transmitting more information with less energy.
However, there is a challenge: optimized modulation, while more efficient, can be more prone to errors, especially in interference-prone environments, such as a city with many Wi-Fi signals.
When signals aren’t uniform in size, the receiver can have difficulty distinguishing between data and noise.
To address this, the new chip adds small “spaces” between the data, in the form of extra bits, which act as markers.
These bits help the receiver identify the start and end of each transmission, avoiding confusion.
Thus, the chip combines the efficiency of optimized modulation with the reliability needed for clear communication.
The technology behind the success
This innovation was only possible thanks to a technique called GRAND (short for “Grand Universal Decoding Algorithm”), previously developed by Médard’s team.
GRAND is like a detective who can “guess” which parts of a transmission were affected by noise or interference.
In the case of the new chip, an algorithm inspired by GRAND adjusts the size of received signals, identifying extra bits and reconstructing the original message without errors.
“Thanks to GRAND, our transmitter can perform more efficient transmissions with non-uniform data patterns, and we can see the benefits of this,” explains Médard.
A versatile and efficient chip
The chip has a compact and flexible design, allowing it to be easily integrated into a variety of devices.
It is ideal for devices that need to carefully manage energy consumption, such as industrial sensors that monitor factories 24/7 or smart appliances that send real-time notifications, such as a refrigerator that alerts you when the door is left open.
Tests have shown that the new chip reduces transmission errors to about a quarter of what occurs in systems using optimized modulation without GRAND’s improvements.
Surprisingly, it also outperforms traditional transmitters, which use uniform modulation, offering much lower error rates.
“It was a challenge not to revert to the traditional way of doing things, because we were messing with concepts we took for granted and had been teaching for decades,” says Médard.
The innovative, outside-the-box approach resulted in a more efficient and intelligent circuit, capable of improving current devices and paving the way for future technologies like 6G.
Why is this important?
Energy efficiency is crucial in today’s world, where billions of devices are connected to the internet-the so-called Internet of Things (IoT).
From sensors in factories to smartwatches, all these devices need to send and receive data without quickly draining their batteries.
Furthermore, the arrival of 6G, the next generation of mobile networks, will require even greater efficiency and speed in data transmission.
The Médard team’s chip can be immediately incorporated into existing devices, delivering instant performance gains.
It is also flexible enough to be used in future technologies, ensuring more reliable and cost-effective communications.
What’s next?
The researchers plan to continue improving the chip, exploring new techniques to further increase efficiency and reduce errors.
They believe this technology could transform the way wireless devices operate, from smartphones to complex monitoring systems.
Rocco Tam, an expert at NXP Semiconductors, a company not involved in the study, praised the innovation: “This transmitter is a radical departure from traditional radio signal modulation.
It will play an important role in the next generation of connectivity, such as 6G and Wi-Fi.”
The project was supported by institutions such as DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the National Science Foundation, and the Texas Analog Center for Excellence.
With this new technology, we’re one step closer to a future where our wireless devices are smarter, more reliable, and more cost-effective.
Published in 08/08/2025 10h28
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.
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