II-NEW: A Beamspace Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Testbed for Centimeter-Wave and Millimeter-Wave Wireless

该项目将开发一个最先进的网络试验台，以促进厘米波(CMW)和毫米波(MMW)频率(10 GHz-300 GHz)新兴无线技术的研究和开发。这些技术是学术界和工业界当前浓厚兴趣的焦点，是5G无线标准和5G无线标准的新兴愿景的一部分，以满足激增的移动设备带来的爆炸性数据速率要求。人们普遍认为，目前运行在6 GHz以下的无线网络根本没有足够的频谱来维持这种增长并提供预期的几千兆位数据速率。由于现有系统的可用带宽比现有系统大一个数量级，并且通过窄光束的高度定向传播，数千兆比特的速度在cmw/mm W中是可能的。该项目旨在利用这两个特点，并将开发一个多功能和强大的平台，对及时的、关键的和多方面的问题进行综合的理论和实验研究，以推进CMW/MMW技术的前沿。它将促进与许多参与CMW/MMW无线的研究人员的新合作，并提供与光子学、混合信号电路和天线方面的相关进展的协同效应。试验台的开发将为学生和教师提供一个独特的教学、学习和培训机会，涵盖无线通信、信号处理、网络、射频硬件和天线设计、现场可编程门阵列(现场可编程门阵列)开发以及系统设计、测量和故障排除。五个产业界和学术界的合作伙伴将为该项目做出贡献。PIS计划利用新课程开发的试验台，强调跨学科研究和实践经验，并将其推广到初中和高中。该试验台还将促进产学合作，以加快CMW/MMW技术的发展，并加强美国在5G无线及更远领域的领导地位。正在开发的多波束多输入多输出(MB-MIMO)无线试验台网络由4个节点作为接入点(AP)和6个节点作为移动站(MS)或客户端组成。AP节点将实现宽带高维MIMO功能，由新的天线阵列和新的基于FPGA的数字后端支持。试验台的一个关键特征是AP节点配备了最先进的物理层，该物理层基于一种用于模拟-数字混合宽带多波束形成的新型连续孔径相控(CAP)MIMO体系结构。该试验台建立在10 GHz CAP-MIMO原型的成功开发基础上，用于概念验证，以及最近开发的具有高级功能的新的28 GHz原型。CAP-MIMO体系结构利用波束空间中预期的信道稀疏性进行性能复杂性优化，并提供了一种实用的方法来实现电子多波束控制和数据复用的关键能力。试验台还将实现空间分辨率的多波束宽带MIMO信道测量，这对CMW/MMW系统的发展至关重要，但目前还无法获得。它将在几个领域开辟新的研究途径，包括信道测量和建模、物理层设计、物理层与更高层之间的交互，以及新的用例，如传感。

This project will develop a state-of-the-art network testbed for facilitating research and development of emerging wireless technologies at centimeter-wave (cmW) and millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies, spanning 10GHz-300GHz. These technologies are the focus on intense current interest in both academia and industry as part of the emerging vision for 5G wireless standards and beyond for meeting the exploding data rate requirements imposed by proliferating mobile devices. It is widely recognized that current wireless networks operating below 6GHz simply do not have enough spectrum to sustain this growth and deliver the expected multi-Gigabit data rates. Multi-Gigabit speeds are possible in cmW/mmW due to the orders-of-magnitude larger available bandwidth compared to existing systems and the highly directional propagation through narrow beams. This project aims to exploit both features and will develop a versatile and powerful platform for integrated theoretical-experimental research on timely, critical and multi-faceted problems to advance the frontier of cmW/mmW technology. It will facilitate new collaborations with many researchers involved in cmW/mmW wireless, and also provide synergy with related advances in photonics, mixed signal circuits, and antennas. The testbed development will provide a unique teaching, learning and training opportunity for the students and faculty, spanning wireless communications, signal processing, networking, radio-frequency hardware and antenna design, FPGA (field programmable gate array) development, and system design, measurement, and troubleshooting. Five industrial and academic partners will contribute to the project. The PIs' plan to leverage the testbed for new curriculum development emphasizing interdisciplinary research and hands-on experience, and for outreach to middle and high schools. The testbed will also facilitate industrial-academic collaboration to accelerate the development of cmW/mmW technology and to enhance US leadership in 5G wireless and beyond. The multi-beam multiple input multiple output (MB-MIMO) wireless testbed network being developed consists of four nodes that will serve as access points (APs) and six nodes that will serve as mobile stations (MSs) or clients. The AP nodes will enable wideband high-dimensional MIMO functionality supported by a novel antenna array and a new FPGA-based digital backend. A key feature of the testbed is that the AP nodes are equipped with a state-of-the-art physical (PHY) layer based on a novel continuous aperture phased (CAP) MIMO architecture for hybrid analog-digital wideband multi-beamforming. The testbed builds on the successful development of a 10GHz CAP-MIMO prototype for proof-of-concept, and a new recently developed 28GHz prototype with advanced functionality. The CAP-MIMO architecture exploits the expected channel sparsity in beamspace for performance-complexity optimization and enables a practical approach to achieving the critical capability of electronic multi-beam steering and data multiplexing. The testbed will also enable multi-beam wideband MIMO channel measurements at spatial resolutions that are critical to the development of cmW/mmW systems but unavailable at this time. It will open new research avenues in several areas, including channel measurement and modeling, PHY design, interaction between PHY and higher layers, and new use cases, such as sensing.