SBIR Phase II: Wireless-Wireline Convergence

小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目提供无处不在的室内接入高容量，低延迟的5G和6G网络，可以为社会带来直接和间接的好处。 直接好处包括支持制造业、医疗保健、教育和企业服务的能力提高。 例如，远程诊断和手术需要非常高的数据速率和非常低的延迟，但医疗设备和医院的架构会产生严重的干扰和传播问题，这大大限制了覆盖范围。现代工业制造业（工业4.0）也需要先进的网络来支持具有人工智能和增强现实的建筑机器人，以提高生产力。 消除高频5G覆盖限制将直接提高这些行业推动医疗进步的能力，提高制造安全性和效率，增加教育机会，并提高一般工作场所的生产力。该项目的间接效益虽然更难量化，但可能更重要：降低高速连接的经济负担将提高用户的多样性，从而促进创新，从而导致社会进步的非线性增长。 小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的目标是将第一阶段开发的新技术商业化，以增强5G室内互联网覆盖。核心创新是有线和无线技术的融合，通过核心DSL（有线）技术的发明者之一与mmWave 5G（无线）开发专家之间的合作实现。 具体而言，该解决方案允许通过现有的有线介质（如cat5，cat6或同轴电缆）传输中频和毫米波5G信号，这些有线介质目前使用有限，但已经广泛部署在世界各地的建筑物中。 这种解决方案今天之所以成为可能，是因为一个生态系统，包括新的开放无线电接入网络（ORAN）标准、云中可用的5G核心以及更高的处理能力。 通过该项目进行的研究将证明无处不在的建筑物内大规模覆盖的可行性，多个低成本射频（RF）节点广播5G信号，不会干扰来自蜂窝塔的室外信号。 该项目的成果将是无缝的客户体验，在建筑物内提供5G和6G技术所承诺的带宽和延迟。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project provides ubiquitous indoor access to high capacity, low latency 5G and 6G networks which can have direct and indirect benefits to society.  The direct benefits include an increase in the ability to support manufacturing, health care, education, and enterprise services.  For instance, remote diagnosis and surgery require very high data rates and very low latency, but medical equipment and the architecture of hospitals generate significant interference and propagation issues which drastically limit coverage. Modern industrial manufacturing (Industry 4.0) also requires advanced networks to enable in-building robotics with artificial intelligence and augmented reality to enhance productivity.  Removing high frequency 5G coverage limitations will directly improve the ability of these industries to drive medical advances, increase manufacturing safety and efficiency, increase educational opportunities, and improve general workplace productivity. The indirect benefits of this project, while more difficult to quantify, may be more important: lowering the economic burden for high-speed connectivity will enhance the diversity of users that can contribute to innovation, thereby resulting in a nonlinear increase in societal progress. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project’s goal is to commercialize a novel technology developed in Phase 1 to enhance 5G indoor internet coverage. The core innovation is a convergence of wireline and wireless technologies enabled through a collaboration between one of the inventors of core DSL (wireline) technology and experts in the development of mmWave 5G (wireless). Specifically, the solution allows for the transmission of mid-band and mmWave 5G signals over an existing wireline medium such as cat5, cat6, or coax which currently have limited use but are already widely deployed in buildings throughout the world. This solution is possible today because of an ecosystem that includes new Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) standards, 5G cores available in the cloud, and increased processing power. The research conducted through this project will prove the feasibility of ubiquitous in-building coverage at scale with multiple low-cost radiofrequency (RF) nodes broadcasting a 5G signal that does not interfere with the outdoor signals from cell towers. The result of this project will be a seamless customer experience that provides the bandwidth and latency promised by 5G and 6G technologies inside buildings.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.