II-NEW: A Beamspace Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Testbed for Centimeter-Wave and Millimeter-Wave Wireless

该项目将开发一个最先进的网络测试平台，以促进厘米波（cmW）和毫米波（mmW）频率（10 GHz-300 GHz）新兴无线技术的研究和开发。这些技术是学术界和工业界当前强烈兴趣的焦点，作为5G无线标准及更高标准的新兴愿景的一部分，以满足激增的移动的设备所带来的爆炸性数据速率要求。人们普遍认识到，目前在6 GHz以下运行的无线网络根本没有足够的频谱来维持这种增长并提供预期的多千兆数据速率。由于可用带宽比现有系统大几个数量级，并且通过窄波束进行高度定向传播，因此可以实现cmW/mmW的多千兆位速度。该项目旨在利用这两个功能，并将开发一个多功能和强大的平台，用于对及时，关键和多方面的问题进行综合理论-实验研究，以推进cmW/mmW技术的前沿。它将促进与许多参与cmW/mmW无线的研究人员的新合作，并与光子学、混合信号电路和天线的相关进展协同。测试平台开发将为学生和教师提供独特的教学，学习和培训机会，涵盖无线通信，信号处理，网络，射频硬件和天线设计，FPGA（现场可编程门阵列）开发以及系统设计，测量和故障排除。五个工业和学术合作伙伴将为该项目做出贡献。PI计划利用测试平台进行新课程开发，强调跨学科研究和实践经验，并向初中和高中进行推广。该测试平台还将促进工业和学术合作，以加速cmW/mmW技术的发展，并加强美国在5G无线及其他领域的领导地位。 正在开发的多波束多输入多输出（MB-MIMO）无线测试床网络由将用作接入点（AP）的四个节点和将用作移动的站（MS）或客户端的六个节点组成。AP节点将实现宽带高维MIMO功能，由新型天线阵列和基于FPGA的新型数字后端支持。该测试平台的一个关键特征是，AP节点配备了最先进的物理（PHY）层，该物理层基于用于混合模拟-数字宽带多波束成形的新型连续孔径相控（CAP）MIMO架构。该测试平台建立在成功开发的10 GHz CAP-MIMO概念验证原型和最近开发的具有先进功能的28 GHz原型的基础上。CAP-MIMO架构利用波束空间中的预期信道稀疏性进行性能复杂度优化，并实现了实现电子多波束转向和数据复用的关键能力的实用方法。该测试平台还将实现空间分辨率的多波束宽带MIMO信道测量，这对cmW/mmW系统的开发至关重要，但目前还无法实现。它将在多个领域开辟新的研究途径，包括信道测量和建模、PHY设计、PHY与更高层之间的交互以及传感等新用例。

This project will develop a state-of-the-art network testbed for facilitating research and development of emerging wireless technologies at centimeter-wave (cmW) and millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies, spanning 10GHz-300GHz. These technologies are the focus on intense current interest in both academia and industry as part of the emerging vision for 5G wireless standards and beyond for meeting the exploding data rate requirements imposed by proliferating mobile devices. It is widely recognized that current wireless networks operating below 6GHz simply do not have enough spectrum to sustain this growth and deliver the expected multi-Gigabit data rates. Multi-Gigabit speeds are possible in cmW/mmW due to the orders-of-magnitude larger available bandwidth compared to existing systems and the highly directional propagation through narrow beams. This project aims to exploit both features and will develop a versatile and powerful platform for integrated theoretical-experimental research on timely, critical and multi-faceted problems to advance the frontier of cmW/mmW technology. It will facilitate new collaborations with many researchers involved in cmW/mmW wireless, and also provide synergy with related advances in photonics, mixed signal circuits, and antennas. The testbed development will provide a unique teaching, learning and training opportunity for the students and faculty, spanning wireless communications, signal processing, networking, radio-frequency hardware and antenna design, FPGA (field programmable gate array) development, and system design, measurement, and troubleshooting. Five industrial and academic partners will contribute to the project. The PIs' plan to leverage the testbed for new curriculum development emphasizing interdisciplinary research and hands-on experience, and for outreach to middle and high schools. The testbed will also facilitate industrial-academic collaboration to accelerate the development of cmW/mmW technology and to enhance US leadership in 5G wireless and beyond. The multi-beam multiple input multiple output (MB-MIMO) wireless testbed network being developed consists of four nodes that will serve as access points (APs) and six nodes that will serve as mobile stations (MSs) or clients. The AP nodes will enable wideband high-dimensional MIMO functionality supported by a novel antenna array and a new FPGA-based digital backend. A key feature of the testbed is that the AP nodes are equipped with a state-of-the-art physical (PHY) layer based on a novel continuous aperture phased (CAP) MIMO architecture for hybrid analog-digital wideband multi-beamforming. The testbed builds on the successful development of a 10GHz CAP-MIMO prototype for proof-of-concept, and a new recently developed 28GHz prototype with advanced functionality. The CAP-MIMO architecture exploits the expected channel sparsity in beamspace for performance-complexity optimization and enables a practical approach to achieving the critical capability of electronic multi-beam steering and data multiplexing. The testbed will also enable multi-beam wideband MIMO channel measurements at spatial resolutions that are critical to the development of cmW/mmW systems but unavailable at this time. It will open new research avenues in several areas, including channel measurement and modeling, PHY design, interaction between PHY and higher layers, and new use cases, such as sensing.