Intelligent metasurface system for automatic tracking of moving targets and wireless communications based on computer vision

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 989
• Main Authors: Li, Weihan, Ma, Qian, Liu, Che, Zhang, Yunfeng, Wu, Xianning, Wang, Jiawei, Gao, Shizhao, Qiu, Tianshuo, Liu, Tonghao, Xiao, Qiang, Wei, Jiaxuan, Gu, Ting Ting, Zhou, Zhize, Li, Fashuai, Cheng, Qiang, Li, Lianlin, Tang, Wenxuan, Cui, Tie Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.02.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/166/987; 639/301/1019/1015; 639/624/1107/510; Adaptive systems; Algorithms; Antenna arrays; Artificial neural networks; Communications; Communications systems; Computer vision; Dual polarization (waves); Electromagnetic radiation; Humanities and Social Sciences; Metasurfaces; Moving targets; multidisciplinary; Neural networks; Radio signals; Real time; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Target detection; Target recognition; Tracking; Wireless communications; Wireless networks
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36645-3

The fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication has an urgent need for target tracking. Digital programmable metasurface (DPM) may offer an intelligent and efficient solution owing to its powerful and flexible controls of electromagnetic waves and advantages of lower cost, less complexity and smaller size than the traditional antenna array. Here, we report an intelligent metasurface system to perform target tracking and wireless communications, in which computer vision integrated with a convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to automatically detect the locations of moving targets, and the dual-polarized DPM integrated with a pre-trained artificial neural network (ANN) serves to realize the smart beam tracking and wireless communications. Three groups of experiments are conducted for demonstrating the intelligent system: detection and identification of moving targets, detection of radio-frequency signals, and real-time wireless communications. The proposed method sets the stage for an integrated implementation of target identification, radio environment tracking, and wireless communications. This strategy opens up an avenue for intelligent wireless networks and self-adaptive systems. The authors present an intelligent metasurface system that uses a target detection algorithm combined with a depth camera, to automatically detect the position of moving targets and achieve real-time wireless communications. The system can operate for multiple targets in limited ambient light, outdoor and other realistic environments.