UC Berkeley

We present a graphene-based wideband microphone and a related ultrasonic radio that can be used for wireless communication. It is shown that graphene-based acoustic transmitters and receivers have a wide bandwidth, from the audible region (20∼20 kHz) to the ultrasonic region (20 kHz to at least 0.5 MHz). Using the graphene-based components, we demonstrate efficient high-fidelity information transmission using an ultrasonic band centered at 0.3 MHz. The graphene-based microphone is also shown to be capable of directly receiving ultrasound signals generated by bats in the field, and the ultrasonic radio, coupled to electromagnetic (EM) radio, is shown to function as a high-accuracy rangefinder. The ultrasonic radio could serve as a useful addition to wireless communication technology where the propagation of EM waves is difficult.