Leveraging Chaos for Wave-Based Analog Computation: Demonstration with Indoor Wireless Communication Signals

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that wave-based analog computation can be achieved using random media and Wi-Fi signals in a room, offering a practical alternative to digital processing with potential thermal efficiency benefits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of using random media and wave front shaping for analog computation, validated through experimental demonstration with Wi-Fi signals in a chaotic microwave cavity.

Findings

Random media can replace carefully tailored media for wave-based computation.

Wi-Fi signals in a room can perform analog computations.

Tunable metasurface reflect-arrays enable practical implementation.

Abstract

In sight of fundamental thermal limits on further substantial performance improvements of modern digital computational processing units, wave-based analog computation is becoming an enticing alternative. A wave, as it propagates through a carefully tailored medium, performs the desired computational operation. Yet, the necessary designs are so intricate that experimental demonstrations will necessitate further technological advances. Here, we show that, counterintuitively, the carefully tailored medium can be replaced with a random medium, subject to an appropriate shaping of the incident wave front. Using tunable metasurface reflect-arrays, we demonstrate our concept experimentally in a chaotic microwave cavity. We conclude that off-the-shelf wireless communication infrastructure in combination with a simple reflect-array suffices to perform analog computation with Wi-Fi waves reverberating in a room.