In current wireless communication and electronic systems, digital signals and electromagnetic (EM) radiation are processed by different modules. Here, we propose a mechanism to fuse the modulation of digital signals and the manipulation of EM radiation on a single programmable metasurface (PM). The PM consists of massive subwavelength-scale digital coding elements. A set of digital states of all elements forms simultaneous digital information roles for modulation and the wave-control sequence code of the PM. By designing digital coding sequences in the spatial and temporal domains, the digital information and far-field patterns of the PM can be programmed simultaneously and instantly in desired ways. For the experimental demonstration of the mechanism, we present a programmable wireless communication system. The same system can realize transmissions of digital information in single-channel modes with beam-steerable capability and multichannel modes with multiple independent information. The measured results show the excellent performance of the programmable system. This work provides excellent prospects for applications in fifth- or sixth-generation wireless communications and modern intelligent platforms for unmanned aircrafts and vehicles.

在当前的无线通信和电子系统中，数字信号和电磁（EM）辐射由不同的模块处理。在这里，我们提出了一种在单个可编程超表面 (PM) 上融合数字信号调制和 EM 辐射操纵的机制。PM 由大量的亚波长级数字编码元件组成。一组所有元素的数字状态形成同步的数字信息角色，用于调制和 PM 的波控序列码。通过在空间和时间域中设计数字编码序列，PM 的数字信息和远场模式可以以所需的方式同时和即时地编程。为了对该机制进行实验演示，我们提出了一个可编程无线通信系统。同一系统可以实现具有波束可控能力的单通道模式和具有多个独立信息的多通道模式的数字信息传输。实测结果显示了可编程系统的优异性能。这项工作为第五代或第六代无线通信和无人驾驶飞机和车辆的现代智能平台的应用提供了良好的前景。