Published in Physics World, 1 Apr 2013
Many observers were dubious when, in 1901, Guglielmo Marconi claimed to have sent the world’s first radio signal across the Atlantic. But the Italian inventor proved the sceptics wrong, and went on to win the 1909 Nobel Prize for Physics.
A century later, physicists and engineers are striving for the next breakthrough in wireless communication. The electromagnetic spectrum is now packed with signals carrying everything from shipping forecasts to the latest movies. But because each signal must occupy a channel on a single frequency, certain regions of the spectrum are becoming severely congested. […]
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