Millimeterwave Integrated Circuits and Arrays for 5G Wireless Front-Ends

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The millimeter wave (mm-wave) spectrum will be an integral part of the technology strategy to deliver the Gbit/sec data rates to mobile handsets projected for fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications networks. The vision for 5G is that it will be a multi-tiered heterogeneous network containing femtocells and picocells operating in the mm-wave band nestled within a traditional macro-network of cells. Femtocells will provide coverage for small areas like one story of an office building and picocells to larger areas like city streets. For mm-wave links to be commercially viable, a solution is needed to mitigate multipath effects in indoor links and to minimize link disruptions when the line-of-sight (LOS) is broken between a transmitter and a receiver. The purpose of the proposed research is to increase the versatility and functionality of the radiating structure of mm-wave front-ends to provide robust, reliable, wireless coverage at mm-wave frequencies. To achieve these objectives we will custom-design mm-wave integrated circuits (MMICs) and digital assist to make antenna arrays that can infer information about their surroundings. The 'spatially aware arrays' as we will call them here, will have the ability to automatically radiate towards open spaces and to selectively listen in the direction where the strongest incident signals are arriving from. This research program will encompass MMIC design, microcontroller programming, antenna array design, and wave propagation measurements and students who will participate in this endeavour will receive thorough, hands-on, training on each one of these tasks. Every aspect of this research work directly maps to the activities of Canadian telecommunications companies ranging from those who design integrated circuits, to those who make network equipment, to network operators. But there are other sectors of Canadian economy that also stand to benefit such as automotive industry, which will be transformed in innumerable ways when self-driving vehicles enter the marketplace in the decade ahead.