Fluid Antenna Systems for 6G Wireless Communications: Implementation, System Optimisation and Theoretical Analysis

用于 6G 无线通信的流体天线系统：实施、系统优化和理论分析

• 批准号: EP/W026813/1
• 负责人: Kai-Kit Wong
• 金额: $ 172.32万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW026813%2F1
• 关键词: Fluid; Antenna; Systems; 6G; Wireless

The forecast by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) predicts that by 2030, the overall mobile data traffic will reach 5 zettabytes (ZB) per month. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is the most celebrated mobile technology that provides the needed upgrade from 2G to 3G, from 3G to 4G and most recently from 4G to 5G in the form of massive MIMO. In 5G, the number of antennas at the base station (BS) has been increased to 64 to cope with the rising demands. However, the number of antennas at a mobile handset (referred to as user equipment (UE) in the standards) remains small (<=4). This is due to the limited space at the UE, as the common practice is to deploy multiple antennas only if they are sufficiently apart (>=half of the wavelength) to have sufficient diversity of signals at different antennas for ensuring performance gains.It makes us wonder if it is possible to utilise the spatial diversity in a small space of UE more effectively. What if an antenna can be formless, shapeless like water? This is what this project is all about - to design novel antenna systems, coined fluid antennas, that can provide the ultimate reconfigurability and agility for signal and information processing. It is worth pointing out that seawater, albeit much less conductive than metal, has already been demonstrated a radiation efficiency of 70% by Mitsubishi Electric, and fluid antennas using conductive fluids or liquid metals for different reconfigurabilities have been actively researched in recent years.Despite the interest for fluid antennas in the antenna community, it was not until the original work by the investigators when the characteristics of fluid antenna was exploited for the optimisation of wireless communications systems. In the pioneering work, it was revealed that an agile fluid antenna system could, for the first time, realise:(*) Fading-free communications: one fluid antenna could achieve the same diversity as a massive number of fixed antennas.(*) Interference-free communications: spatial multiplexing for multiuser communications can be obtained by skimming through the fading envelopes observed in the space of the fluid antenna, by tuning to the most favourable position (or port) where the interference is in a deep fade, without the need for complex coordination and signal processing.Motivated by the great potential, this project identifies several fundamental challenges of fluid antenna systems, including, design and implementation, signal processing and optimisation, and fundamental network performance analysis, and aims to overcome these challenges in the realisation of the fluid antenna empowered mobile communications technologies by researching on four fronts: (1) Design and implementation of a pump-less, droplet fluid antenna - this addresses the implementation challenges of the fluid antenna system.(2) Information-theoretic network performance analysis in general channel models, representing the 5G/6G bands - this addresses the performance analysis of the communication networks using fluid antennas in the 5G and potential 6G bands.(3) Port selection and opportunistic fluid antenna multiple access (FAMA) - this tackles the network management and resource allocation of mobile communication networks using fluid antennas.(4) Fluid MIMO - this investigates the design and optimisation of MIMO using fluid antennas and multi-droplet fluid MIMO systems.The research directions have never been explored and will play a key role in revolutionising mobile communications. This project has received strong support from BT, Toshiba TRL and VIAVI Solutions who will advise on testbed implementations and ensure industrial relevance of the project.

国际电信联盟（ITU）预测，到2030年，整体移动的数据流量将达到每月5泽字节（ZB）。多输入多输出（MIMO）是最著名的移动的技术，其以大规模MIMO的形式提供从2G到3G、从3G到4G以及最近从4G到5G的所需升级。在5G中，基站（BS）的天线数量已增加到64个，以科普不断增长的需求。然而，在移动的手持机（在标准中称为用户设备（UE））处的天线的数量仍然很小（<=4）。这是由于UE处的有限空间，因为通常的做法是仅在多个天线充分分开（>=波长的一半）以在不同天线处具有足够的信号分集以确保性能增益时才部署多个天线，这使我们想知道是否可以在UE的小空间中更有效地利用空间分集。如果一根天线可以像水一样无形呢？这就是这个项目的全部内容-设计新颖的天线系统，创造流体天线，可以为信号和信息处理提供最终的可重构性和灵活性。值得指出的是，海水虽然比金属导电性差得多，但三菱电机已经证明了70%的辐射效率，近年来，使用导电流体或液态金属进行不同可重构性的流体天线一直在积极研究。尽管天线界对流体天线感兴趣，直到研究人员的最初工作，才利用流体天线的特性来优化无线通信系统。在这项开创性的工作中，人们发现，灵活的流体天线系统可以首次实现：（*）无衰落通信：一个流体天线可以实现与大量固定天线相同的分集。（*）无干扰通信：用于多用户通信的空间多路复用可以通过掠过在流体天线的空间中观察到的衰落包络、通过调谐到干扰处于深度衰落的最有利位置（或端口）而获得，而不需要复杂的协调和信号处理。该项目确定了流体天线系统的几个基本挑战，包括设计和实施、信号处理和优化以及基本网络性能分析，并致力于通过以下四个方面的研究来克服这些挑战，实现流体天线授权的移动的通信技术：（1）无泵、液滴流体天线的设计和实现-这解决了流体天线系统的实现挑战。(2)一般信道模型中的信息理论网络性能分析，代表5G/6 G频段-这解决了在5G和潜在的6 G频段中使用流体天线的通信网络的性能分析。(3)端口选择和机会性流体天线多址（法马）-这解决了使用流体天线的移动的通信网络的网络管理和资源分配。(4)Fluid MIMO -研究使用流体天线和多液滴流体MIMO系统的MIMO设计和优化。研究方向从未被探索过，并将在移动的通信革命中发挥关键作用。该项目得到了英国电信、东芝TRL和VIAVI Solutions的大力支持，他们将为测试平台的实施提供建议，并确保该项目的工业相关性。

项目成果

Fast Fluid Antenna Multiple Access Enabling Massive Connectivity

快速流体天线多路访问实现大规模连接

• DOI: 10.1109/lcomm.2022.3222574
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: IEEE Communications Letters
• 作者: Wong K

Continuous Electrowetting Surface-Wave Fluid Antenna for Mobile Communications

用于移动通信的连续电润湿表面波流体天线

• DOI: 10.1109/tencon55691.2022.9977471
• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Wang H

Fluid Antenna System Enhancing Orthogonal and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access

增强正交和非正交多址的流体天线系统

• DOI: 10.1109/lcomm.2023.3333313
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: IEEE Communications Letters
• 作者: New W

Copula-Based Performance Analysis for Fluid Antenna Systems Under Arbitrary Fading Channels

任意衰落信道下流体天线系统基于 Copula 的性能分析

• DOI: 10.1109/lcomm.2023.3316359
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: IEEE Communications Letters
• 作者: Rostami Ghadi F

Fluid Antenna Enabling Secret Communications

流体天线实现秘密通信

• DOI: 10.1109/lcomm.2023.3264634
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: IEEE Communications Letters
• 作者: Tang B