Cornell engineers have created the world’s first “microwave brain” — a revolutionary microchip that computes with microwaves instead of traditional digital circuits.
This tiny, low-power processor performs real-time tasks like signal decoding, radar tracking, and data analysis while consuming less than 200 milliwatts.
Cornell’s “Microwave Brain” Breakthrough
Cornell University scientists have created a new kind of low-power microchip called a “microwave brain,” capable of processing both ultrafast data and wireless communication signals by using the unique properties of microwaves.
Recently described in the journal Nature Electronics, this processor is the first fully functional microwave neural network built directly on a silicon chip. It performs real-time computations in the frequency domain for demanding tasks such as radio signal decoding, radar tracking, and digital data processing, all while consuming under 200 milliwatts of power.
A Chip That Rewrites Signal Processing
“Because it’s able to distort in a programmable way across a wide band of frequencies instantaneously, it can be repurposed for several computing tasks,” said lead author Bal Govind, a doctoral student who conducted the research with Maxwell Anderson, also a doctoral student. “It bypasses a large number of signal processing steps that digital computers normally have to do.”
The chip’s performance comes from its architecture, which functions as a neural network—a system inspired by the human brain. It uses interconnected electromagnetic modes within tunable waveguides to recognize patterns and adapt to incoming information. Unlike standard neural networks that rely on digital operations and clock-timed instructions, this system operates in the analog microwave range, enabling it to process data streams in the tens of gigahertz, far exceeding the speed of most digital processors.
Throwing Out the Digital Playbook
“Bal threw away a lot of conventional circuit design to achieve this,” said Alyssa Apsel, professor of engineering, who was co-senior author with Peter McMahon, associate professor of applied and engineering physics. “Instead of trying to mimic the structure of digital neural networks exactly, he created something that looks more like a controlled mush of frequency behaviors that can ultimately give you high-performance computation.”
The result is a chip that can handle both simple logic operations and more advanced tasks, such as recognizing binary sequences or identifying patterns in high-speed data. It achieved accuracy rates of 88% or higher across several wireless signal classification challenges, matching the performance of digital neural networks while using only a fraction of their energy and space.
Smarter Computing With Less Power
“In traditional digital systems, as tasks get more complex, you need more circuitry, more power, and more error correction to maintain accuracy,” Govind said. “But with our probabilistic approach, we’re able to maintain high accuracy on both simple and complex computations, without that added overhead.”
The chip’s extreme sensitivity to inputs makes it well-suited for hardware security applications like sensing anomalies in wireless communications across multiple bands of microwave frequencies, according to the researchers.
Toward On-Device AI and Edge Computing
“We also think that if we reduce the power consumption more, we can deploy it to applications like edge computing,” Apsel said, “You could deploy it on a smartwatch or a cellphone and build native models on your smart device instead of having to depend on a cloud server for everything.”
Though the chip is still experimental, the researchers are optimistic about its scalability. They are experimenting with ways to improve its accuracy and integrate it into existing microwave and digital processing platforms.
Reference: “An integrated microwave neural network for broadband computation and communication” by Bala Govind, Maxwell G. Anderson, Fan O. Wu, Peter L. McMahon and Alyssa Apsel, 14 August 2025, Nature Electronics.
DOI: 10.1038/s41928-025-01422-1
The work emerged from an exploratory effort within a larger project supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility, which is funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
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7 Comments
Cornell engineers have created the world’s first “microwave brain” — a revolutionary microchip that computes with microwaves instead of traditional digital circuits.
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Through Topological Vortex Theory (TVT), human cognition of nature’s essence is undergoing a profound shift from “universal gravitation” to “universal spin.” This transition not only addresses old theory limitations but philosophically reshapes our cosmic view. This cognitive leap marks a new stage in understanding nature’s essence, with impacts extending beyond physics to shape future scientific landscapes and civilization.
Based on topological vortex theory (TVT), human intelligence and civilization may not be the only form of intelligence in the material world. The laws of nature have created humanity, but humans can only utilize them and cannot create them.
In today’s physics, some so-called peer-reviewed journals—including Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, and others—stubbornly insist on and promote the following:
1. Even though θ and τ particles exhibit differences in experiments, physics can claim they are the same particle. This is science.
2. Even though topological vortices and antivortices have identical structures and opposite rotational directions, physics can define their structures and directions as entirely different. This is science.
3. Even though two sets of cobalt-60 rotate in opposite directions and experiments reveal asymmetry, physics can still define them as mirror images of each other. This is science.
4. Even though vortex structures are ubiquitous—from cosmic accretion disks to particle spins—physics must insist that vortex structures do not exist and require verification. Only the particles that like God, Demonic, or Angelic are the most fundamental structures of the universe. This is science.
5. Even though everything occupies space and maintains its existence in time, physics must still debate and insist on whether space exists and whether time is a figment of the human mind. This is science.
6. Even though space, with its non-stick, incompressible, and isotropic characteristics, provides a solid foundation for the development of physics, physics must still insist that the ideal fluid properties of space do not exist. This is science.
and go on.
Is this the counterintuitive science they widely promote? What are the shames? Contemporary physics and so-called peer-reviewed publications (including Physical Review Letters, Science, Nature, etc.) stubbornly believe that two sets of counter rotating cobalt-60 are two mirror images of each other, constructing a more shocking pseudoscientific theoretical framework in the history of science than the “geocentric model”. This pseudo scientific framework and system have seriously hindered scientific progress and social development.
For nearly a century, physics has been manipulated by this pseudo scientific theoretical system and the interest groups behind it, wasting a lot of manpower, funds, and time. A large amount of pseudo scientific research has been conducted, and countless pseudo scientific papers have been published, causing serious negative impacts on scientific and social progress, as well as humanistic development.
No open access to the cited Nature Electronics paper, despite being funded by NSF and DARPA…shame!
Thinking about nuclear warhead, radar and some near misses to do with WW3 I’d prefer analyses of radar signals to be 100% accurate, not 88% reliable, and the analysis of the radar signals to be backed up by a cautious human being rather than on some gadget that pretends to know enough to launch on warning.
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