SBIR Phase II: Dynamic Broadband Wireless Networks

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将展示自适应天线系统的能力吗？一种带有天线的无线电，可以改变其辐射模式，以便在需要的地方提供覆盖？以自动优化覆盖范围。恶劣的射频环境，例如那些反射面不断变化的环境，如航运集装箱堆场，使得即使只有一个无线电也很难建立可靠的通信。当几个无线电必须一起工作以在一个扩展的区域提供覆盖时，手动调整每个天线的辐射方向图是极其困难和耗时的，以便该区域的每个部分都能接收到足够的信号，并且无线电不会相互干扰。通过创新的模式计算算法和主动传感器反馈的组合，该项目产生的系统将自动调整覆盖范围以满足这些目标。该系统不仅能够设置一个区域的初始覆盖范围，它还将持续监测覆盖范围的质量，并自动调整以适应可能影响该覆盖范围质量的系统或环境的变化。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是降低了部署成本并显著提高了可靠性。在短期内，该系统将构建一个WiFi平台，用于海运港口市场，作为运行其关键任务调度应用程序的更可靠的通信系统。部署节省不仅是因为更快、更可靠的初始设置，而且是因为随着环境因素的变化自动调整覆盖范围？包括一些根本性的变化，比如一台无线电的故障。由于该系统与无线电使用的频率和协议无关，因此它并不局限于WiFi部署。该项目将通过创建和运行自适应天线系统的WiMAX原型来展示这一点。从长远来看，这种自适应天线技术对任何大规模无线电部署都有显著的好处。例如，随着提供商推出下一代蜂窝，蜂窝大小将显著缩小，这将大幅增加部署成本。自适应天线系统不仅提供了降低这些成本的承诺，而且还增加了这些下一代系统的连接可靠性。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will demonstratethe ability of an adaptive antenna system ? a radio with an antenna that changes itsradiation pattern to provide coverage where it is needed ? to automatically optimizecoverage. Harsh RF environments, for example those with shifting reflective surfacessuch as shipping container yards, make it hard to set up reliable communication evenwhen there is only one radio. When several radios must work together to providecoverage in an extended area, it is extremely difficult and time-consuming to manuallytailor the radiation pattern of each antenna so that every portion of the area receivesadequate signal and the radios do not interfere with each other. Through a combination ofinnovative pattern computation algorithms and active sensor feedback, the systemresulting from this project will automatically tailor coverage to meet these goals. Thesystem will not just be able to set up the initial coverage of an area, it will alsocontinually monitor the quality of the coverage and automatically adjust to changes in thesystem or the environment that may affect the quality of that coverage.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is decreased deploymentcosts and substantially increased reliability. In the short run, the system will be built witha WiFi platform for use in the maritime ports market as a more reliable communicationsystem to run their mission critical scheduling application. The deployment savings resultfrom not only a quicker and more reliable initial setup but also from automatedadjustments to coverage as environmental factors change ? including such radicalchanges as the failure of one radio. Because the system is agnostic to the frequency andthe protocol used by the radio, it is not limited to WiFi deployments. The project willdemonstrate this by creating and operating a prototype WiMAX version of the adaptiveantenna system. In the long term, this adaptive antenna technology offers significantbenefits to any large scale radio deployment. For example, as providers roll out the nextgeneration of cellular, cell sizes will shrink significantly which will substantially increasethe deployment cost. An adaptive antenna system offers not only the promise of reducingthese costs but also adding increased connection reliability to these next generationsystems.