Abstract: An electric drive module for an electrified vehicle includes first and second electric motors, first and second reduction assemblies and a driveline. The first electric motor has a first rotatable output. The second electric motor has a second rotatable output. The first electric motor has a lower output capacity than the second electric motor. The first reduction assembly is driven by the first rotatable output and includes a first reduction output that is coupled to the second electric motor. The second reduction assembly is driven by the second rotatable output of the second electric motor. The first reduction assembly and the second reduction assembly cooperate to provide a combined first effective reduction ratio driven by the first rotatable output and wherein the second reduction assembly provides a second effective reduction ratio driven by the second rotatable output, the first effective reduction ratio being higher than the second first effective reduction ratio.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a wearable device that includes a passive metasurface of unit cells with a segmented ground plane of electrically separated segments. When the wearable device is worn, e.g., as a ring or wristband that contacts the wearer's skin, the wearer's skin conductivity electrically connects the separated segments to provide a ground plane. With a complete ground plane, the metasurface's unit cells resonate when exposed to a transmitted signal and reflect a distinct signature corresponding to a physical radiation pattern of signals reflected by the activated metasurface. When not worn, the metasurface is deactivated because of the electrically disconnected ground plane segments.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems, non-transitory computer-readable media, and methods for generating and transmitting autonomous vehicle prepositioning instructions to improve network coverage. In particular, in one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems subdivide a geographic transportation service area into subregions, generate a set of waypoints and circuits for the subregions. Moreover, in one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems utilize an optimization model to assign autonomous vehicles to the set of waypoints and circuits and transmit digital prepositioning instructions to the autonomous vehicles to traverse the waypoints and circuits.

Abstract: A communication system includes a drone and a panel with a reconfigurable intelligent surface. The panel is connected to the drone using flexures that allow the orientation of the panel to be controlled. Changing the orientation of the panel, by controlling or configuring the flexures, allows an incident signal to be reflected in a reflection direction to a target location.

Abstract: A transmission includes a housing defining an actuator cavity, a plurality of clutches disposed within the housing and configured to be engaged in various combinations to generate gear ratios corresponding to forward speeds of the transmission, and an actuator assembly configured to selectively engage one clutch of the plurality of clutches, the actuator assembly including a piston slidingly disposed within the actuator cavity. An anti-rotation assembly is configured to prevent rotation of the piston within the actuator cavity, the anti-rotation assembly including a stop and a projection. The projection is coupled to and extends outwardly from an interior surface of the piston, and the stop is grounded to the housing and includes a bore configured to receive a distal end of the projection to thereby prevent rotation of the projection and piston.

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.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards a multiband unit cell that is part of a reflective surface that can reflect different specific frequencies of impinging electromagnetic waves. The unit cells can have different phase profiles to facilitate beam steering and/or beam splitting functionality, independently for each specific frequency. The multiband unit cell can be a dual-band unit cell based on a straightforward unit-cell design, e.g., using diagonally arranged ring resonators as sub-cells of a supercell. Alternative design variations are also described to accommodate multi-frequency (greater than two frequency) applications. In one example implementation, the metasurface is constructed as a low-profile dual-band reflective surface with beam-steering and/or beam-splitting capabilities, e.g., utilizing only a single unit cell metal layer above a substrate.

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 a hybrid active-passive intelligent reflective surface (IRS) with configurable reflective elements to improve radar-based target detection. The elements of the IRS are configured via optimization, which determines which elements are active and which are passive, and optimizes the amplification coefficients based on an impinging signal from a radar system. Optimization increases the signal-to-noise ratio, thereby improving the radar system's ability to accurately detect objects. The optimized surface with only some elements active improves the energy efficiency, as does turning on the active elements only when assistance is needed by the radar system. Further, based on a probability of detection, the paths between the IRS and the radar system, and the IRS and a target can be controllably modified to obtain three-way communication between a moving target, an intelligent reflective surface, and the radar system, which can reduce the detection time.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards metasurfaces arranged with unit cells for narrowband sound absorption, in which the unit cells are based on the principles of Helmholtz resonators. A deeply subwavelength sound absorbing unit-cell is designed and constructed based on a desired resonance frequency. The unit-cell includes a neck portion and air chamber dimensioned to resonate at the desired resonance frequency to inverse phase cancel corresponding narrowband frequencies of incoming sound waves. The unit cells are distributed (e.g., periodically) as part of a metasurface, e.g., positioned proximate to a noise source. As practical examples, the metasurface or multiple metasurfaces can be placed near or wrapped around a computer server or rack of servers to absorb fan noise. The metasurface components (including the unit-cells) can be manufactured using any type of additive manufacturing process such as 3D printing to result in a thin, light-weight, and cost effective noise absorbing metasurface.

Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards remotely controlling the direction and the signal strength of a beam reflected from a reconfigurable intelligent surface. A modular design of interconnected, communicatively coupled fundamental modules of unit cells facilitates a straightforward assembly process in which the aperture of the reconfigurable intelligent surface can be scaled by tiling together the modules. The reconfigurable intelligent surface aperture can be remotely fine-tuned with respect to gain and beam reflection direction upon receiving a control signal (e.g., a nine-bit digital code through infrared). Depending on a given scenario, the reflected beam be controlled to reflect an electromagnetic wave (e.g., mmWave) as a concentrated, high-gain coverage beam in a specified direction, a more expansive, low-gain coverage area beam in the specified direction, or something in between, e.g., medium signal strength and medium coverage area.

Abstract: A reconfigurable intelligent surface is disclosed. The reconfigurable intelligent surface includes unit cells that include banks of capacitors that are integrated into the structure of the surface. The banks of capacitors provide bias isolation and reconfigurable impedance matching. The configurability of the capacitance can impact the reactance and allow for operation over a wider range of frequencies.

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: A device for selectively reflecting signals is disclosed. The device may include a flexible reconfigurable intelligent substrate. Different portions or segments of the reconfigurable intelligent substrate can be exposed in an illumination window. Each of the segments has a different phase response. Positioning a particular segment in the illumination window achieves a particular reflection direction. The reflection direction can be tuned manually using a tuning mechanism configured to reposition the reconfigurable intelligent substrate relative to the illumination window.

Abstract: A reconfigurable intelligent surface is disclosed. The reconfigurable intelligent surface includes unit cells that include a bank of capacitors that is monolithically integrated into the structure of the reconfigurable intelligent surface. The bank of capacitors include a plurality of capacitors that have a high Self-Resonant Frequency (SRF). Each of the capacitors is integrated with a Phase Change Material (PCM) based switch.

Abstract: A reconfigurable intelligent surface is disclosed. The reconfigurable intelligent surface includes a ferroelectric layer. Applying a voltage to the ferroelectric layer changes the dielectric constant of the reconfigurable intelligent surface. This allows a signal to be reflected to be steered in a continuous manner by changing the voltage. The reconfigurable intelligent surface may be a panel that includes multiple cells arranged to reflect and steer an incident signal.

Abstract: A reconfigurable intelligent surface is disclosed. The reconfigurable intelligent surface includes a moveable metallic ground plane and piezoelectric actuators that are connected to the moveable metallic ground plane. Applying a voltage to the piezoelectric actuators causes the piezoelectric actuators to move the moveable metallic ground plane, which results in a change in a thickness of an air cavity formed in the reconfigurable intelligent surface. This allows a signal to be reflected to be steered in a continuous manner by changing the thickness of the air cavity. The reconfigurable intelligent surface may be a panel that includes multiple cells arranged to reflect and steer an incident signal.

Abstract: A mobile gas storage system can include a trailer skid, one or more gas tanks, and a compressor. At least one of the one or more gas tanks or the compressor are coupled to the trailer skid. The compressor is configured to compress gas from a gas source into the one or more gas tanks. The one or more gas tanks are configured to provide gas to a downstream device.

Abstract: A two-speed gearbox assembly for an electric drive module having an electric motor for an electric vehicle is provided. The gearbox assembly includes a housing, a first planetary gear set, a second planetary gear set, a first clutch, and a second clutch. The first planetary gear set is configured to selectively connect to an output of an electric motor and includes a first sun gear, a first ring gear and a first planetary carrier. The second planetary gear set is rotationally coupled to an output of the first planetary gear set and includes a second sun gear, a second ring gear and a second planetary carrier. The first clutch selectively couples the first ring gear to the housing. The second clutch selectively couples the first ring gear to an output of the electric motor.

Abstract: A transmission includes a housing defining an actuator cavity, a plurality of clutches disposed within the housing and configured to be engaged in various combinations to generate gear ratios corresponding to forward speeds of the transmission, and an actuator assembly configured to selectively engage one clutch of the plurality of clutches, the actuator assembly including a piston slidingly disposed within the actuator cavity. An anti-rotation assembly is configured to prevent rotation of the piston within the actuator cavity, the anti-rotation assembly including a stop and a projection. The projection is coupled to and extends outwardly from an interior surface of the piston, and the stop is grounded to the housing and includes a bore configured to receive a distal end of the projection to thereby prevent rotation of the projection and piston.