http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org) —In today's wireless communication systems, the wireless signals are non-chaotic, meaning they have a well-defined period and frequency. Non-chaotic wireless signals are used in many applications, such as satellite communications, GPS navigation, cell phones, and Wi-Fi devices. However, as many people know first-hand, wireless systems usually have inferior performance compared to wired systems. The problem is due to physical impediments that the wireless signal faces in open space caused by the atmosphere, water, mountains, buildings, and other different media. Now in a new study, researchers have investigated how wireless communication could be implemented with chaotic signals, and found that chaotic signals could overcome some of these physical constraints and lead to superior performance. http://phys.org/news287642002.html Physics Mon, 13 May 2013 09:00:02 EST news287642002 (Phys.org) —A new NASA-developed, laser-based space communication system will enable higher rates of satellite communications similar in capability to high-speed fiber optic networks on Earth. http://phys.org/news282499649.html Space & Earth Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:07:35 EST news282499649 Two new patents to improve orthogonal space time codes and decode data transmissions of space time spreading were recently awarded to NJIT Distinguished Professor Yeheskel Bar-Ness, executive director of the Elisha Yegal Bar-Ness Center for Wireless Communications and Signal Processing Research. Co-inventors with Bar-Ness on both patents were NJIT alums Amir Laufer and Kodzovi Acolatse. http://phys.org/news281878211.html Technology Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:30:17 EST news281878211 Territorial song sparrows use increasingly threatening signals to ward off trespassing rivals. First an early warning that matches the intruder's song, then wing waving – a bird's version of "flipping the bird" – as the dispute heats up, and finally, if all other signals have failed, attack. http://phys.org/news279899567.html Biology Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:53:12 EST news279899567 Mobile devices include an increasing number of input and output techniques that are currently not used for communication. Recent research results by Dr Eve Hoggan from HIIT / University of Helsinki, Finland, however, indicate that a synchronous haptic communication system has value as a communication channel in real-world settings with users that express greetings, presence and emotions through presages. http://phys.org/news270397745.html Technology Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:50:01 EST news270397745 (AP)—The International Space Station is safe from two pieces of menacing junk. http://phys.org/news267956360.html Space & Earth Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:19:29 EST news267956360 (Phys.org)—Researchers from ETH Zurich have quite literally created a "cell phone": they have reprogrammed mammalian cells in such a way that they can "phone" each other via chemical signals. http://phys.org/news267092620.html Biology Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:40:03 EST news267092620 Researchers from A*STAR's Institute of Microelectronics (IME) have developed the first compact high performance silicon-based cavity-backed slot (CBS) antenna that operates at 135 GHz. The antenna demonstrated a 30 times stronger signal transmission over on-chip antennas at 135 GHz. At just 1.6mm x 1.2mm, approximately the size of a sesame seed, it is the smallest silicon-based CBS antenna reported to date for ready integration with active circuits. http://phys.org/news265357150.html Technology Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:19:22 EST news265357150 NASA has chosen three teams to advance the state of the art for small spacecraft in the areas of communications, formation flying and docking systems. The cutting-edge space technology flights are expected to take place in 2014 and 2015. http://phys.org/news263794877.html Space & Earth Fri, 10 Aug 2012 05:22:18 EST news263794877 (Phys.org) -- NTT DoCoMo is showing off its prototype platform for 3-D video calls with enhanced additions. Its 3D Live Communication System is being described as a possible next step beyond regular video calls. This is a platform that allows two tablet users who are not in the same place communicate and at the same time explore virtual spaces where they can see each other in a different virtual world. NTT DoCoMo is Japan's largest mobile operator, known not only for its network and large user base but also for an aggressive R&D effort in mobile communication technologies. A platform that features the “virtual world” experience Is clearly in the cards. http://phys.org/news258174433.html Technology Wed, 06 Jun 2012 05:10:01 EST news258174433 Both human infants and baboons have a stronger preference for using their right hand to gesture than for a simple grasping task, supporting the hypothesis that language development, which is lateralized in the left part of the human brain, is based on a common gestural communication system. http://phys.org/news251557183.html Biology Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:00:04 EST news251557183 (PhysOrg.com) -- Nokia, the Finnish smartphone maker, has filed a patent for a haptic communication system where tattoos will send you vibrations so you know who is calling. Your ferromagnetic ink tattoo would vibrate based on signals sent from a phone and you could customize the tattoo-phone-linked system. A special ferromagnetic ink on your skin, painted on like a tattoo, could send the various signals. The patent, filed March 15 by Nokia, proposes a material "capable of detecting a magnetic field and transferring a perceivable stimulus to the skin, wherein the perceivable stimulus relates to the magnetic field." The US patent application 20120062371 is described as a topical haptic notification system. http://phys.org/news251442573.html Technology Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:10:27 EST news251442573 It might be tough for dolphins to remember faces, considering they always look like they're smiling. But new research indicates they apparently never forget a voice. http://phys.org/news214670749.html Biology Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:10:02 EST news214670749 While a much hailed communication intervention works for families making decisions for chronically-ill loved ones in medical intensive care units, Case Western Reserve University researchers found the intervention was less effective for surgical and neurological ICU patients. http://phys.org/news213451403.html Medicine & Health Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:15:59 EST news213451403 (PhysOrg.com) -- How can you tell the difference between random pictures and an ancient, symbol-based language? A new study has shown that concepts in entropy can be used to measure the degree of repetitiveness in Pictish symbols from the Dark Ages, with the results suggesting that the inscriptions appear be much closer to a modern written language than to random symbols. The Picts, a group of Celtic tribes that lived in Scotland from around the 4th-9th centuries AD, left behind only a few hundred stones expertly carved with symbols. Although the symbols appear to convey information, it has so far been impossible to prove that this small sample of symbols represents a written language. http://phys.org/news195367761.html Other Sciences Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:20:01 EST news195367761 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a technological advance that its developers are likening to the cell phone and wireless Internet access, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists and engineers have devised an undersea optical communications system that -- complemented by acoustics -- enables a virtual revolution in high-speed undersea data collection and transmission. http://phys.org/news186164138.html Space & Earth Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:16:06 EST news186164138 (PhysOrg.com) -- In spite of rising energy prices, many car drivers in large cities still ride alone. The OpenRide mobile ridesharing service aims to save them money while reducing the amount of traffic and thus the burden on the environment. At the IFA international consumer electronics exhibition in Berlin (September 4 to 9) Fraunhofer researchers are presenting a prototype of their open infrastructure for organizing spontaneous ridesharing opportunities, at the TecWatch technology forum in Hall 5.3. http://phys.org/news171211767.html Technology Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:20:02 EST news171211767