Proximity Connection in Two-Dimensional Signal Transmission

This paper presents a new structure of two-dimensional signal transmission (2DST). In a 2DST system, communication nodes communicate with each other by using electromagnetic wave localized in a thin sheet (a 2DST sheet). It's also possible to supply energy to the nodes using electromagnetic wave. In this paper, we propose a basic technology of a sensor network in which sensor nodes obtain an efficient proximity connection to any positions on the 2DST sheet without electrical contacts. The sheet is composed of a conductive mesh layer, a dielectric layer, and a continuous conductive layer. The sensor nodes communicate by the evanescent waves produced around the mesh layer. We fabricated a prototype of the 2DST system. Experiments showed that communication bandwidth is at least 500 MHz. Besides, about 10 % of input energy can be transmitted through a 180-mm-by-180-mm 2DST sheet with a proximity connector