Timenutters-- Along the lines of splitting time into small increments, there is an interesting article in the May 2012 issue of the IEEE Spectrum Journal.
It describes experiments with what I am calling "cork-screw time-shift phasing modulation" or "orbital time-delayed angular momentum phasing" for lack of a better description of the process. This is not the same as circular-polarization of a radiated signal. Visualize a 4-ft dia parabolic reflector which has been cut (sliced) in a straight line from any arbitrary point on its outer edge to its center. Then, at the outer lip of the reflector surface, pull one side of the cut about a foot forward of the other side of the cut. The separation is greatest at the edge of the dish, gradually becoming less and less as the cut approaches the center of the dish. The concept is that RF energy from the feed progressively strikes different areas of the dish slightly ahead (time-wise) from RF energy that strikes other parts of the dish. Because the surface of the dish resembles a cork-screw the signal from the dish has elements that are time-delayed with respect to other parts. Accordingly, data elements can be incorporated into the signal which have sightly different time-delay angular momentum properties. Again, the folks working on this insist that this is not the same as circular polarity of the radiated signal such as is obtained with a helix antenna. At the receive end, the process is reversed, producing a signal which when demodulated can contain extra levels of data modulation superimposed on it. The article points out that there are skeptics of the process who say that this same modulation procedure can be done with other methods although the modulation and demodulation process would be much more complex. The orbital angular momentum of photons in the optical realm has been extensively studied, although applying these principles to RF is something new. Mike Baker ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.