Believe it or not, the image above is an UWB antenna and not some Stargate universe artifact. Taeyoung Yang, a Virginia Tech Ph.D. student, devised the idea of creating a ultra-wideband antenna as small as theoretically possible and this is it. The antenna boosts a 95% efficiency rating and the world’s smallest with a 10:1 bandwidth.

These types of antennas can be used in household staples like DVD players or cable boxes, or serve a more serious function in military or government roles. They achieve high-speed wireless signals, but the range tends to be short. You could put your Blu-ray player in the closet and these antennas can send your signal to a wall mounted HDTV. The tech is already in production from a good amount of companies, but with smaller antennas come smaller transmitters; this one can allegedly fit in a cell phone. 

Taeyoung Yang won the best paper award from Commission B (fields and waves) at the 2008 General Assembly of the International Union of Radio Science. He claims that his design is cheap and easy to manufacturer but who knows if this particular antenna ever makes its way into CE devices. We are all for wireless tech though, so keep up the good work Yang!