Abstract: An electric drive module (EDM) for an electrified vehicle is provided. The EDM includes a housing; an electric motor; a single compound planetary gear set having a sun gear fixed to its input shaft, a single planetary carrier rotationally supporting pairs of compound planets in engagement with the sun gear and a ring gear, respectively; and first and second torque transfer devices (TTDs) coupled to the carrier. An output of the motor is connected to the input shaft and an output of the EDM is connected to a final drive gearset. The EDM is selectively switchable among: (i) a first gear where the first TTD is disengaged and the second TTD is engaged grounding the carrier to the housing, and (ii) a second gear where the second TTD is disengaged and the first TTD is engaged to couple for common rotation the carrier and the sun gear.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a design and implementation of a reconfigurable surface that reflects an impinging electromagnetic signal, with a phase profile determined by the curvature of a flexible metallic ground plane beneath metallic resonating elements of the reconfigurable surface. The amount of curvature forms different gaps between portions of the flexible ground plane and the respective metallic resonating elements above those portions, and thus determines the shape of the reflected beam. In one implementation, four individually controllable linear actuators are mechanically coupled to the corners of the ground plane of a metasurface (panel). These actuators enable a curvature phase profile, by determining the amount of curvature of a flexible, metallic ground, which allows a reflected beam to be shaped. The design is low cost, yet operates on millimeter wavelength beams, which are useable in numerous wireless communication scenarios.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a tunable superconducting resonator with a relatively wide tuning range based on radio-frequency superconducting quantum interference devices (rf-SQUIDs). In one example implementation, the technology includes a multi-stacked capacitor, facilitating a large value capacitor using multi-layer superconducting thin films for an ultra-compact footprint. In one example design, a group of rf-SQUIDs are aligned between a transmission line/inductor in the resonator and a control line. When a small current is applied to the control line, the rf-SQUIDs' inductance, and consequently the resonator's total inductance, varies, whereby tuning the inductance is equivalent to tuning the resonant frequency for the resonator. In this way, a wideband tuning mechanism in a superconducting resonator is achieved using a relatively small, practical number of rf-SQUIDs and a straightforward application of controlled direct current.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a quantum memory device comprising an array of independently addressable quantum memory cells for writing, storing and reading quantum bits (qubits) of information, based on variable coupling between tunable interface resonators and quantum storage cavities. Tuning the resonators of one quantum memory cell to the same frequency facilitates the energy exchange of qubit information, thereby transferring quantum information to or from the quantum storage cavity for a write operation or a read operation, respectively; detuning stores the quantum information in the quantum storage cavity by preventing transfer. One implementation uses rf-SQUIDs for tuning the tunable interface resonator. This facilitates fast frequency adjustments to tune and detune the tunable resonator, enabling the quantum state read/write operations. Different length resonator inductors for the quantum storage cavities in an array result in different resonance frequencies.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a quantum memory cell for writing, storing and reading a quantum bit (qubit) of information, based on variable coupling between a tunable interface resonator and quantum storage cavity. Tuning the resonators to the same frequency facilitates the energy exchange of qubit information, thereby transferring quantum information to or from the quantum storage cavity for a write operation or a read operation, respectively; detuning stores the quantum information in the quantum storage cavity by preventing transfer. One implementation uses rf-SQUIDs for tuning the tunable interface resonator, based on a control current, to the fixed resonance frequency of the quantum storage cavity. This facilitates fast frequency adjustments to tune and detune the tunable resonator, enabling management of the quantum state read/write operations. Also described is an integrated qubit monitoring system utilizing sense taps connected to the quantum storage cavity via the rf-SQUIDs.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards Butler matrix that can be implemented in a monolithic planar structure design for low-cost and scalable manufacturing. One implementation design is for a device that integrates the quadrature couplers, crossover couplers, and fixed phase-shift meandered lines of the Butler matrix, with a switch and an antenna array in a planar layout that eliminates the need for multiple layers of metallization. The implementation uses monolithic nonvolatile phase change material-based radio frequency (RF) switch elements for dynamic beamforming, by routing RF signals through the Butler matrix based on controlling conductive and nonconductive states of the phase change material corresponding to selectable switch ports. This facilitates dynamic, power-efficient reconfiguration within the Butler Matrix for flexible beam steering.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards reconfigurable Huygens'refractors, which when implemented as unit cells of a metasurface that receives incoming millimeter wave signals, results in transmitted millimeter wave beams that can be beamformed via unit cell reconfiguration. A sufficiently large phase range is achieved by varying the refractive index of the dielectric between the resonating elements of a unit cell. The unit cells' phases can be individually reconfigured based on external stimuli, such as thermal energy, mechanical energy, electrical energy and/or optical energy, whereby different phase profiles of the metasurface can be dynamically configured to transmit a beamformed beam based on the metasurface's currently configured phase profile. The metasurface can be substantially optically transparent in some implementations.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a reconfigurable intelligent surface (metasurface) design and implementation in which phase change (chalcogenide) material is (e.g., monolithically) integrated in each unit cell of the reconfigurable intelligent surface. The conductive or nonconductive states of the phase change (chalcogenide) material can be individually controlled (thermally-pulsed) per unit cell, which determines the phase of the unit cell based on the unit cell's conductive or nonconductive phase change material until subsequently pulsed, without needing continuous applied power.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards phase change material-based (e.g., chalcogenide) radio frequency switch device. The switch device has phase change material junctions between selectable ports and a common port, in which the phase change material junctions are controlled to be in either conductive or nonconductive states, thereby respectively coupling or decoupling each selectable port to (or from) the common port. A controller can selectively pulse the respective junctions of a multiport switch device to independently determine their respective conductive or nonconductive states. In one implementation, the switch design is symmetrical so that any one of the multiple selectable ports has very similar performance characteristics to that of any other selectable port. The phase change alloy switch device described herein provides high switching speeds, low insertion loss, good isolation and is relatively straightforward to fabricate.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a reconfigurable intelligent surface design and implementation in which a small portion of the incoming signal energy of an impinging wave is coupled to a waveguide, with the majority of the signal reflected in a desired target direction. The sensed portion of the signal energy is used for evaluating the signal path in a current environment, including by assessing the phase and amplitude of the sampled signal at each unit cell, as well as their differential phase values between cells, e.g., selected consecutive cells. For example, differential phase values between cells can be used to accurately estimate the direction/location of the signal transmitter and/or the intended receiver(s). In one implementation, the captured energy is sensed in respective substrate integrated waveguides at the unit cell level, and output as respective signal readouts for determining different characteristics of the signal path.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a reflector metasurface with high optical transparency such as for reflecting beamformed millimeter wave signals. The reflector includes unit cells of reflecting elements (resonator rings) above a virtually optically transparent dielectric substrate, which is above a perforated metal ground plane. The ground plane is perforated to increase optical transparency, unlike a flat metal sheet. In one implementation, the perforated ground plane includes circular openings arranged as a honeycomb mesh pattern. The geometries of the reflecting elements can be selected to achieve a certain phase distribution across the reflectarray surface, which will then cause incident radiation to be reflected (beamformed) in a particular direction. With the mesh ground plane, a sufficiently large phase range on the order of 330 degrees is achieved, along with a high percentage of optical transparency of the metasurface.

Abstract: A reconfigurable intelligent surface is disclosed. The reconfigurable intelligent surface includes a switch layer that can transition to a metallic state from an insulator state and to the insulator state from the metallic state based on its temperature. A voltage is applied to the switch layer to control the temperature and control the state of the switch layer. Controlling the state of the switch layer allows the reconfigurable intelligent surface to operate in a transmission mode when the switch layer is in the insulator state and a reflection mode when the switch layer is in the metallic state.

Abstract: An electric drive module (EDM) for an electrified vehicle includes an electric motor and a two-speed gearbox including: a housing; a first planetary gearset (PG) having a first sun gear coupled to the electric motor; a second compound PG having a second sun gear coupled to the first PG; a third PG having a third sun gear coupled to the second PG and a third planetary carrier coupled to an output of the gearbox. A first torque transfer device (TTD) selectively couples a second ring gear of the second PG to the housing; and a second TTD selectively couples a first ring gear of the first PG to the housing. The gearbox is selectively switchable among (i) a first gear where the first TTD is engaged and the second TTD is disengaged; and (ii) a second gear where the second TTD is engaged and the first TTD is disengaged.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a transcoder with bypass capabilities that can be used to couple non-terrestrial network satellites to user equipment (UEs), including by decoding and reencoding data packets at the packet level for existing Satcom satellites. A metasurface redirects signals from the satellite to a satellite radio frequency (RF) interface of the transcoder, with the transcoder also coupled by a UE RF interface to a UE, such as a computing device or cellphone. Dynamically slicing (subdividing) a metasurface associated with a transcoder node facilitates using part of the metasurface for UE or satellite communications, and another part to facilitate a mesh network among transcoder nodes, which helps with data privacy. The slicing can be adaptively performed based on learning and artificial intelligence models implemented into the transcoder nodes as edge computing devices. The transcoder can convert Satcom signals to and from new radio signals.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards designing and implementing multibeam metasurfaces, based on deriving the directions of grating lobes within a general rectangular grid structure. The derivation is used to design and implement multibeam metasurfaces. A multibeam metasurface is designed based on the directions of the grating lobes and desired beam splitting angles, which are used to determine unit cell/element grid characteristics of periodicity data and orientation. When deployed, the multibeam metasurface splits an impinging electromagnetic wave/beam in the desired multiple beam splitting directions. In one implementation, the multibeam metasurface is implemented in a single surface.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards rights management and integrity assurance of data for reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (metasurfaces), such as quality of experience data metrics and tile controller configuration data for configuring metasurfaces, including configurations based on artificial intelligence. Incoming signals impinging on the metasurface corresponding to rights-managed data are reflected by the metasurface as distorted signals, while authentication for access to this data is pending. An identity and access management system can be used for authentication. If access is granted, the metasurface is controlled to transmit non-distorted signals to the authenticated receiver. If access is denied, the metasurface is controlled to absorb the incoming signals. Further, information related to rights-managed data access can be recorded as a transaction in a decentralized block chain network.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards determining a phase shift matrix for an intelligent reflective surface based on active tag-enhanced sensing that provides calibrated orientation data and distance data of the intelligent reflective surface relative to a transmission-reception point, such as a radar system, base station or wireless access point. The calibration data is based on accurate estimation of element distances to the intelligent reflective surface elements. Based on the calibration data, a phase shift matrix for the elements of the intelligent reflective surface is determined. The phase shift matrix can be used in optimizing the intelligent reflective surface for redirected communications with a target. Other calibration data can be obtained at the target for element distances of the intelligent reflective surface relative to the target.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a hybrid classical-quantum computer system, in which classical hardware is used for qubit control, qubit parameter readout and collecting telemetry data, by integrating classical processors with quantum systems. In one implementation, sensors in the quantum computer system obtain real-time quantum system parameter data. At least some of the sensors can be coupled to a classical computing system, e.g., and on-device high performance computing (HPC) server or cluster, via an analog-to-digital converter. The telemetry data is processed by the classical computing system, which makes appropriate adjustments to ensure qubits are maintained in optimal states without any errors. The telemetry data can include magnetic flux data measured at a qubit bias control device, mutual magnetic coupling strength data measured between the qubit and a radio frequency superconducting quantum interference device magnetically coupled to the qubit, and environmental condition data.

Abstract: The technology described herein enhances the security of non-terrestrial network links by integrating quantum key distribution into an optically transparent metasurface transcoder node with hardware-based polarization control. The metasurface, composed of unit cells of metal-insulator transition material (such as vanadium dioxide, vanadium trioxide, or vanadium pentoxide) leverages the dynamic tunability of the metal-insulator transition material to manipulate the polarization and phase of photons, as needed for quantum key distribution protocols. Hardware level integration ensures secure key distribution with minimal signal loss, enhancing the robustness and security of satellite-terrestrial communication. The system dynamically adjusts to environmental conditions, optimizing performance and ensuring high fidelity in quantum key exchange, thereby providing a robust solution for secure communication in non-terrestrial networks.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a design and implementation of a unit cell for a reconfigurable intelligent surface/reflectarray by incorporating reconfigurability within a phase-delay element of the unit cell. Reconfigurability is directly incorporated into the unit cell via a variable length phase delay line element and PCM-based (e.g., mmWave) phase shifter that determines the unit cell's phase shift by changing the length of the phase delay line element. One implementation is directed to a monolithic integration of the element using chalcogenide materials as switch elements with pulsed actuation to switch among different available lengths that determine the length of the phase delay line element, resulting in a significant reduction in power consumption, area saving, and digital reconfigurability.