I-Corps: Fully Integrated. Multi-Standard and Tunable Radios

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种技术，该技术在物联网(IoT)集成电路以及军事用途方面具有潜在应用。这些应用寻求通过一个可重新配置的设计来实现可在宽频率范围内调谐以满足多种无线标准的全射频收发机(或组件)的设计。这种收发机具有降低成本和扩大市场的潜力。拟议的商业化努力代表着一个机会，可以扩大无线技术的覆盖范围，同时支持美国在这一关键领域的增长。这个i-Corps项目基于一种广泛可调和可重新配置的“片上”无线电集成电路的开发。使这成为可能的创新是一种新型的可调谐谐振元件，可以在芯片上制造。可以容纳一定范围载波频率的宽带无线电组件无法实现高性能，因为它们牺牲了增益、灵敏度、线性度、噪声和功率效率来实现功能。现有的可调窄带解决方案进行了类似的权衡，因为缺乏可调感应元件，该感应元件可以容易且廉价地集成到商业过程中。所提出的技术可用于构建商业无线电中使用的可调谐放大器、振荡器和其他基本模拟组件。该团队建议在开发全收发机原型系统演示器的同时探索可重构射频集成电路的市场。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a technology that has potential applications in integrated circuits for the internet of things (IoT) as well as for military use. The applictions seeks to enable the design of a full radiofrequency transceiver (or components) that can be tuned across a wide frequency range to meet multiple wireless standards with a single reconfigurable design. This transceiver has the potential to reduce costs and increase markets. The proposed commercialization effort represents an opportunity to increase the reach of wireless technologies broadly while bolstering US growth in this crucial area.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a widely tunable and reconfigurable “on-chip” radio integrated circuit. The innovation that makes this possible is a novel tunable resonant element that can be fabricated on-chip. Wideband radio components that can accommodate a range of carrier frequencies do not enable high performance since they sacrifice gain, sensitivity, linearity, noise, and power efficiency to achieve functionality. Existing tunable narrowband solutions make similar tradeoffs due to the lack of a tunable inductive element that can be easily and cheaply integrated into a commercial process. The proposed technology may be used to construct tunable amplifiers, oscillators, and other basic analog components that are used in commercial radios. This team proposes to explore the market for reconfigurable radio frequency integrated circuits while developing a prototype system demonstrator for a full transceiver.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.