Adaptive antenna systems for communications in interference environments

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Wireless communications is high-value, growing quickly, and is creating social and economic benefits in every country. It both motivates and relies on many disciplines of science. In Canada, massive new economic opportunities can flow from new knowledge developed by quality, indigenous research of future systems. This proposal is to contribute innovative, relevant science in carefully chosen aspects of wireless communications. The research focus is motivated by the most severe limitation of wireless performance - radiowave interference from other users. Interference governs cellular deployments. It particularly affects the unlicenced bands, in which machine-to-machine communication is the fastest growing wireless sector. But here the links are unreliable because of interference. An adaptive antenna is the only technology that can reuse the spectrum simultaneously in time and space, thereby improving both the spectral efficiency and the link reliability. An adaptive antenna system comprises several antenna elements whose signals are weighted and combined through an adaptive algorithm. It optimizes performance in the face of changing interference, terminal positions, and propagation conditions. The required research draws from: electromagnetic propagation; antenna and array design and evaluation; and communications signal processing, including adaptive techniques. The impact of the research stems from the large-scale opportunities for low cost, high capacity links which are reliable. Deployment of such systems would be a breakthrough. This has not happened because new knowledge is required in physical processes, antennas, and communications processing; and especially the interactions among these. This research will contribute to that knowledge. Its impact will also improve other wireless applications, such as localization and imaging, and lead to new antennas and signal processing products.