A Wideband Silicon Photonic Millimeter-wave Beam-forming Transmitter with Automatic Beam Calibration

具有瞬时宽带宽和高分辨率波束转向的波束成形是包括第五代（5G）无线通信、雷达和卫星通信（例如机载卫星无线电）在内的许多应用的基本挑战。虽然传统的电子波束成形网络技术极具挑战性，但RF光子技术有可能显著改善毫米波波束成形发射机，使其具有更宽的瞬时带宽、更高的波束控制分辨率和更小的占地面积。利用光子波束形成网络沿着集成电子器件将允许使用RF硅光子延迟单元来满足这些要求。该项目将展示宽带、高分辨率硅光子毫米波波束形成网络，以推进无线通信、雷达、卫星通信和遥感等应用的无线技术。这项研究有可能彻底改变5G无线行业的未来，并为半导体行业提供进一步的技术多样化。除了上述技术影响外，拟议项目还促进外联活动，以增加代表性不足群体的学生对科学和工程的参与，包括每年为高中生举办夏令营。该项目的主要目标是开发一种新型的芯片级毫米波硅光子波束形成发射器阵列，该阵列采用混合绝缘体上硅（SOI）光子器件和互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）芯片，具有宽带宽和高分辨率的能力，并带有天线阵列单元沿着。使用在CMOS芯片上实现的电子控制电路的硅光子波束成形网络的自动配置允许补偿严重的硅光子工艺和硅光子中的温度变化。拟议的研究目标是：1）具有自动波束形成系统的硅光子毫米波发射器阵列的架构定义和性能分析，2）能够电重新配置的新型硅光子波束形成延迟单元以及用于延迟单元自动调谐的算法和硬件的开发，3）包括波束形成网络调谐硬件的新型CMOS原型的实现，和发射机前端电路，并用所提出的硅光子集成电路测试它们，以及4）硅光子芯片、CMOS芯片和天线阵列单元的混合集成，并对整个单元执行所需的测试。新兴的硅光子技术使得宽带高分辨率RF光子延迟单元能够以小形状因子和低功耗实现无线电系统。此外，该项目旨在实现具有所需方向性的毫米波发射机波束形成阵列，通过自动校准精确控制波束形成网络结构内的大量光子延迟元件，以在感兴趣的频带提供所需的群延迟。该项目还将通过在光子调制器之前采用集成RF电子器件的线性化技术，解决由于光子调制器器件的固有非线性而导致的发射机性能下降问题。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Beamforming with instantaneous wide-bandwidth and high-resolution beam-steering is an essential challenge for many applications including the fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications, radars, and satellite communications such as airborne satellite radios. While it is extremely challenging with conventional electronic beamforming network technology, RF photonics technology has the potential to significantly improve mm-wave beamforming transmitters with wider instantaneous bandwidth, higher resolution in beam-steering, and smaller footprint. Utilizing a photonic beamforming network along with integrated electronics will allow the use of RF silicon-photonics delay units to fulfill these requirements. The project will demonstrate wideband, high-resolution silicon-photonics mm-wave beamforming networks to advance wireless technologies for applications such as wireless communications, radars, satellite communications, and remote sensing. The proposed research has the potential to revolutionize the future of the 5G wireless industries and provide further technological diversification for the semiconductor industry. In addition to the aforementioned technical impacts, the proposed project also promotes outreach activities to increase participation of students from underrepresented groups in science and engineering, including annual summer camps for high school students. The research and educational results of this project will be disseminated to academic, industrial and government sectors.The main goal of this project is to develop a novel chip-scale mm-wave silicon-photonics beamforming transmitter array with wide-bandwidth and high-resolution capability implemented using hybrid Silicon on Insulator (SOI) photonics and Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) chips, along with an antenna array unit. Automatic configuration of silicon-photonics beamforming network using electronic control circuitry implemented on CMOS chip allows for compensation of severe silicon-photonics process and temperature variations in silicon photonics. The proposed research objectives are: 1) architecture definition of a silicon-photonics mm-wave transmitter array with automatic beamforming system and performance analysis, 2) development of novel silicon-photonics beamforming delay units capable of electrical reconfiguration, and algorithms and hardware for delay unit automatic tuning, 3) implementation of novel CMOS prototypes which include the beamforming network tuning hardware, and transmitter front-end circuitry, and testing them with the proposed silicon-photonics integrated circuits, and 4) hybrid integration of silicon-photonics chip, CMOS chip and antenna array unit and perform the required tests for the entire unit. The emerging silicon-photonics technology has enabled the wideband high-resolution RF photonics delay units to be realized for radio systems with small form factor and low power consumption. Furthermore, this project aims to achieve a mm-wave transmitter beamforming array with desired directivity, by precisely controlling a significant number of photonic delay elements inside the beamforming network structure through automatic calibration to provide the desired group delay at the band of interest. The project will also address the degradation of transmitter performance due to inherent non-linearity of photonic modulator devices by linearization techniques that employ integrated RF electronics before the photonic modulator.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.