SBIR Phase II: Wireless-Wireline Convergence

小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目为高容量、低延迟的5G和6G网络提供无处不在的室内接入，可以为社会带来直接和间接的好处。 直接的好处包括支持制造业、医疗保健、教育和企业服务的能力的提高。 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，从而大大限制了覆盖范围。现代工业制造（工业4.0）也需要先进的网络来实现具有人工智能和增强现实的室内机器人，以提高生产率。 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，并提高工作场所的总体生产力。该项目的间接效益虽然更难量化，但可能更为重要：降低高速连接的经济负担将增强有助于创新的用户多样性，从而导致社会进步的非线性增长。这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的目标是将第一阶段开发的一项新技术商业化，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毫米波5G（无线）开发专家之间的合作实现。具体来说，该解决方案允许在现有的有线媒体（如cat5、cat6或同轴电缆）上传输中频和毫米波5G信号，这些有线媒体目前使用有限，但已经在世界各地的建筑物中广泛部署。这一解决方案之所以成为可能，是因为一个生态系统，包括新的开放无线接入网络（ORAN）标准、云端可用的5G核心和增强的处理能力。通过该项目进行的研究将证明，通过多个低成本射频（RF）节点广播5G信号，在不干扰来自蜂窝塔的室外信号的情况下，大规模实现无处不在的建筑内覆盖的可行性。该项目的结果将是无缝的客户体验，提供建筑物内5G和6G技术所承诺的带宽和延迟。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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.