II-NEW: WiMi: A Reconfigurable Platform for Millimeter-Wave Wireless Networking and Sensing

毫米波（mmWave）无线电将成为下一代宽带蜂窝网络和千兆比特每秒（Gbps）WiFi网络的基石。便携式毫米波设备的商业化也将使无处不在的毫米波传感应用成为可能，而这些应用过去仅在医疗/安全检查的专用环境中可用。 然而，这些前景的现有研究通常依赖于仿真或分析模型，这不能再现真实的毫米波无线电环境的复杂特性。 该提案旨在通过建立WiMi来克服这一障碍，WiMi是一个软件无线电测试平台，旨在推进毫米波研究和教育。 WiMi集成了可编程无线电组件，可以灵活地对毫米波系统进行原型设计和测试。WiMi将促进毫米波无线网络和传感领域的高影响力研究和教育。其潜在影响包括：（i）加速5G宽带蜂窝网络和Gbps WiFi的发展，这有可能满足移动的数据流量1000倍的增长;（ii）促进涉及通信理论、无线网络、移动的传感和生物医学工程的跨学科研究;（iii）通过传播硬件/软件组件和测试结果，鼓励在毫米波系统中进行可重复的实验驱动研究;（iv）促进多个研究机构之间以及大学与工业合作伙伴之间的合作;以及（v）利用毫米波通信和传感系统的知识使通信/网络课程现代化，并促进可重新配置无线电的实践经验。该项目启动了一个为期3年的计划，以建立一个成熟的平台，具有新的基带，60 GHz 80 GHz RF前端，可重新配置的波束成形天线和2x2毫米波多输入多输出（MIMO）。PI将通过三个主要研究方向实施该计划：（i）可重新配置的毫米波通信硬件，具有每秒千兆采样的基带采样/处理速度，57-64 GHz和81-86 GHz载波频率，2x2 MIMO和数字可控相控阵天线。(ii)软件定义的信号处理模块和实时MAC，在多核处理器和FPGA集群上运行。(iii)60 GHz RF传感API，用于使用可控波束的物体/人体活动传感和毫米波成像。这些元素的结合将使WiMi成为第一个独特的平台，使整个毫米波无线研究社区受益。

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) radios will be a cornerstone of next-generation broadband cellular networks and gigabit-per-second (Gbps) WiFi networks. Commercialization of portable mmWave devices will also enable ubiquitous mmWave sensing applications, which used to be available only in dedicated environment for medical/security inspection. However, existing research of these prospects commonly rely on simulation or analytical models, which cannot reproduce the sophisticated characteristics of real mmWave radio environment. This proposal aims to overcome the barrier by establishing WiMi, a software-radio testbed to advance mmWave research and education. WiMi integrates programmable radio components, which allow flexible prototyping and testing of mmWave systems. WiMi will facilitate high-impact research and education in the domain of mmWave wireless networking and sensing. Its potential impacts include: (i) accelerating the development of the 5G broadband cellular networks and Gbps WiFi, which has potential to meet the 1000x increase of mobile data traffic; (ii) fostering cross-disciplinary research that involves communications theory, wireless networking, mobile sensing and biomedical engineering; (iii) encouraging reproducible, experimental-driven research in mmWave systems by disseminating the hardware/software components and test results; (iv) stimulating collaboration across multiple research institutions, and between universities and industrial partners; and (v) modernizing communications/networking courses with knowledge of mmWave communication and sensing systems, and promote hands-on experiences with a reconfigurable radio. This projects initiates a 3-year plan to build a full-fledged platform with novel baseband, 60 GHz & 80 GHz RF front-end, reconfigurable beamforming antenna, and 2x2 mmWave Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO). The PIs will implement the plan via three major research thrusts: (i) Reconfigurable mmWave communication hardware, with gigabit samples per second baseband sampling/processing speed, 57-64 GHz and 81-86 GHz carrier frequencies, 2x2 MIMO and digitally steerable phased-array antenna. (ii) Software-defined signal processing modules and real-time MAC, running on a multi-core processor and an FPGA cluster. (iii) 60 GHz RF sensing APIs for object/human activity sensing and mmWave imaging using steerable beams. A combination of these elements will make WiMi a first and unique platform to benefit the mmWave wireless research community at large.