SBIR Phase I: Ultra-Wideband Wireless Optical Transceiver

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是引领下一代无线通信技术的发展，并为消费者提供超高速宽带连接。消费者对智能手机和平板电脑上的移动多媒体内容的巨大需求正在加速无线网络数据流量的增长。这一趋势将在未来十年继续下去，因为将有数十亿设备连接到物联网，包括汽车和家用电器。为了支持这种增长，无线智能手机和平板电脑需要有更快的网络连接速度。网络还必须适应以更小的单元和更高的回程容量处理指数级增长的数据流量。随着现有商用频谱的拥挤，需要新的无线技术创新来应对这一挑战。该项目提供了一种新的技术和解决方案，以成倍增加无线设备和网络的带宽，并帮助向消费者扩展超高速宽带接入。小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的重点是无线光收发模块的概念验证演示，该模块可以将下一代无线设备的连接速度提高几倍。将研究新的装置和材料设计，以实现该项目的目标性能。今天，最快的WiFi技术能够达到每秒1千兆位（Gbps）的速度，而下一代WiFi解决方案可以达到5Gbps。无线调制解调器的速度限制是由于商用频谱的有限可用性。传输无压缩的超高清视频内容所需的速度为20Gbps。随着4G-LTE无线技术的迅速普及，无线运营商正在努力解决其网络中的数据容量瓶颈。与此同时，无线行业开始讨论对第五代（5G）无线设备和网络的要求，提高连接速度是他们议程上的重要事项。该项目所追求的技术可以为5G一代移动设备提供可行的解决方案。除了智能手机和平板电脑之外，该技术还可以扩展无线回程容量，为联网汽车、无人机和其他连接到互联网的设备提供新颖的通信解决方案。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small-Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to lead the develop of next generation wireless communication technology and provide ultra-high-speed, broadband connectivity to consumers. The enormous consumer demand for mobile multimedia content on smart phones and tablets is accelerating growth of data traffic on wireless networks. This trend will continue in the next decade as billions more devices will be connected to the Internet-Of-Things including automobiles and home appliances. To support such growth, wireless smart phones and tablets need to have faster connectivity speeds to the network. The networks must also adapt to handle the exponential growth in data traffic with smaller cells and higher backhaul capacity. With the congestion of existing commercial spectrum, new innovations in wireless technology are required to meet this challenge. This project offers a new technology and solution to multiply the bandwidth of of wireless devices and networks and help expand ultra-fast broadband access to consumers. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is focused on the proof-of-concept demonstration of a wireless optical transceiver module that can increase the connectivity speeds of next generation wireless devices by several folds. Novel device and material designs will be investigated to achieve the target performance of this project. Today, the fastest WiFi technology is capable of nearly one Gigabit per second (Gbps) speed while the next-generation WiFi solution can deliver 5Gbps. The speed limitation of wireless modems are due to limited availability of commercial spectrum. The speed required to transfer ultra-definition video content without compression is 20Gbps. As 4G-LTE wireless technology is rapidly gaining adoption, wireless operators are wrestling with data capacity bottlenecks in their networks. Concurrently, wireless industry is beginning to debate requirements for fifth-generation (5G) wireless devices and networks and increased connectivity speed is high on their agenda. The technology pursued under this project can offer a viable solution for the 5G generation of mobile devices. In addition to smart phones and tablets, the proposed technology can expand wireless backhaul capacity and provide novel communication solution for connected cars, unmanned aerial vehicles and other devices connected to the Internet.