Metamaterial reflective film boosts cellphone reception

A Dartmouth company that is becoming a global leader in designing and manufacturing advanced materials and films, engineered at the nanoscale to control light and other forms of energy, has a new collaboration.

Metamaterial Inc. will be working with Japanese plastics manufacturer Sekisui Chemical to improve the performance and coverage of high-speed fifth-generation and future sixth-generation mobile phone networks.

Meta and Sekisui are working toward developing a passive, sustainable and costeffective product to address coverage problems.

In a news release, Meta said it and Sekisui will be developing a transparent and flexible radiowave reflection film, which passively reflects and transmits radio waves in the sub-six gigahertz and millimetre wave ranges.

The transparent film can be applied without requiring connection to a power supply and without spoiling a surface's appearance, Meta said in a statement.

“The general premise of high-performance 5G is to create wireless mobile networks able to handle a far greater number of simultaneous connections, to greatly reduce network latency and to provide much higher data rates,” according to the statement.

“However, these high-speed signals are highly directional, have reduced signal range and are easily blocked by objects in the environment, such as buildings and trees.”

Deploying large numbers of cell towers in dense urban areas to fill dead spots in network coverage, including providing access to power and fiber optic infrastructure, raises costs and creates challenges for wireless carriers, the company said.

Combining a special twodimensional layer provided by Meta with Sekisui's film processing technology, the product is said to be durable and transparent yet reflects radio waves.

“It has reflection characteristics which are equivalent or superior to those of aluminum materials used in antennas and is highly effective with highfrequency radio waves used in 5G and future 6G networks,” Meta stated in the news release.

A Nova Scotia company, Meta has a growing patent portfolio and is developing new materials with diverse applications in collaboration with companies in the automotive, aerospace, energy, consumer electronics and medical industries.