SpecEES: Collaborative Research: Energy Efficient Millimeter Wave Cellular Networks

毫米波频率和6 GHz以上的其他频段是蜂窝无线通信的一个新的、有前途的前沿，也是第五代(5G)标准化工作的重点。由于巨大的可用带宽，毫米波频率提供了在3 GHz以下高度拥塞的频段中比当前蜂窝系统大几个数量级的容量的可能性。然而，实现毫米波移动蜂窝网络的一个关键挑战是能量消耗。移动设备和小型蜂窝接入点必须在高度受限的功率预算下运行，而在这些功率限制下开发毫米波系统是一项艰巨的任务。该项目将从一个系统的角度调查能源消耗，以综合和连贯的方式解决这些问题。该项目将开发数学模型，以了解能源和性能之间的权衡。将联合开发射频(RF)电路、天线阵列系统、信号处理和网络协议的新技术，以优化性能并提供能效高的毫米波设备。研究工作将追求四个关键推力：推力1将寻求了解吞吐量、处理能力和频谱发射限制之间的基本关系，并通过动态控制包括带宽、量化分辨率、天线架构和波形选择在内的关键能量驱动因素来优化这种权衡。这与新的节能调度策略和信号处理技术相结合。推力2将专注于空闲模式的功率节省以及动态环境中的节能定向信道估计和延迟的相关问题。推力3将开发实现推力1和推力2的基本电路技术，特别是用于高效率功率放大器和低功率全数字射频收发机的新技术。推力4号将获得必要的通道模型并建立电路原型，以验证推力1至3中的概念。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies and other bands above 6 GHz are a new and promising frontier for cellular wireless communications and the focus of the fifth-generation (5G) standardization efforts. Due to the massive available bandwidths, the mmWave frequencies offer the possibility of orders of magnitude greater capacity than current cellular systems in the highly congested bands below 3 GHz. However, a key challenge in realizing mmWave mobile cellular networks is energy consumption. Mobile devices and small-cell access points must operate under highly-constrained power budgets, and developing mmWave systems within these power limits is a formidable task. This project will investigate energy consumption from a system's perspective to address the issues in an integrated and coherent manner. The project will develop mathematical models for understanding energy and performance tradeoffs. New technologies for the radio frequency (RF) circuits, antenna array system, signal processing, and network protocols will be jointly developed to optimize performance and deliver energy-efficient mmWave devices.The research work will pursue four key thrusts: Thrust 1 will seek to understand the fundamental relation between throughput, processing power, and spectral emission constraints, and optimizes this tradeoff by dynamically controlling key energy drivers including bandwidth, quantization resolution, antenna architecture, and waveform selection. This is combined with novel energy-aware scheduling policies and signal processing techniques. Thrust 2 will focus on idle mode power savings and associated problems of energy-efficient directional channel estimation and delay in dynamic environments. Thrust 3 will develop fundamental circuits technologies that enable Thrusts 1 and 2, in particular the novel techniques for both high-efficiency power amplifiers and low-power fully digital RF transceivers. Thrust 4 will obtain the necessary channel models and build circuit prototypes to validate the concepts in Thrusts 1 to 3.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.