Energy Efficient (sub)mm-Wave Transceiver Phased Array for High Speed and Secure Wireless Communications

在当今的大数据时代，数据生成的持续指数增长，特别是来自个人日常活动的实时数据以及新兴应用，不仅提供了巨大的和前所未有的机会，而且也对及时处理和传输不断增加的大量和各种数据提出了重大挑战，避免淹没在不断快速膨胀的巨大数据海洋中。实现这一目标的关键推动因素之一是节能和超高数据速率的无线通信系统，该系统与数据生成速率相匹配，同时与数据生成速率相匹配。此外，在动态和开放的通信环境中，随着接入网络和节点数量的增加，无线通信系统容易受到数据入侵。这对无线网络安全构成了巨大挑战。因此，为了满足大数据时代的需求，需要具有改进的能量效率和超高数据速率同时实现增强的安全性的下一代无线通信系统。该研究将开发一种新的可重构和可扩展的收发器相控阵系统，工作在毫米波到亚毫米波频率，以实现这三个目标。为了克服在如此高的频率下的许多性能挑战，该项目将在不同的设计层次上开发几种关键的使能技术和新技术，包括系统配置、收发器架构和电路设计。这项研究的成功将促进科学理解，并创造一种新的设计方法，以实现无与伦比的数据速率和能源效率，这将广泛影响无线行业并造福社会。此外，该项目还将为快速增长的数据驱动型行业培养未来的工程师和科学家，并通过培养更多的女性和少数民族学生来促进多样性。该项目将开发一种可重新配置和可扩展的无线通信系统，工作在毫米波到亚毫米波频率，可以有效地重新配置为三种工作模式：短距离超高数据速率，中距离高数据速率和长距离中等数据速率。该阵列架构基于耦合振荡器，用于高效的频率调谐和波束形成。独特的调优方案允许阵列大小有效地缩放，以用于不同的操作模式，以部署在不同的应用场景中，而无需重新设计整个系统。新的直接天线调制方案可实现超高数据速率，并通过减轻传统天线带宽限制和消除线性功率放大器来提高发射机能效。所提出的高增益和低噪声混频器结构提取信号相位信息，以实现具有增强的接收机噪声和增益性能以及降低的功耗的高阶解调方案。此外，所提出的冗余映射方案提供了安全的无线通信，而无需额外的功率和通信开销。如果成功，该系统的数据速率和能源效率将比现有技术高出几个数量级，因此新系统将为安全和超高速无线应用打开一扇新的大门。该项目还将研究如何系统地实现最高频率/速度和最佳能效的设计方法，从系统和电路级别到器件级别。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。

In today's Big Data Era, the relentless exponential increase of data generation, especially of real-time data from personal daily activities coupled with emerging applications, not only offers great and unprecedented opportunities, but also imposes a significant challenge to process and transmit the ever-increasing large volume and varieties of data in timely manner and avoid being drown in the constantly fast-expanding gigantic data sea. One of the key enablers to achieve this goal is an energy-efficient and ultra-high-data-rate wireless communication system that matches and, at the same time, scales with the data generation rate. Moreover, wireless communication systems are vulnerable to data intrusion with the increasing number of access networks and nodes in dynamic and open communication environments. This forms a big challenge to wireless cybersecurity. Therefore, to satisfy the needs in the Big Data Era, the next generation wireless communication systems with improved energy efficiency and ultra-high data rate while achieving enhanced security is demanded. The research will develop a new reconfigurable and scalable transceiver phased array system, operating at mm-wave to sub-mm-wave frequencies, to achieve these three objectives. To overcome the many performance challenges at such high frequencies, this project will develop several key enabling and new techniques at different design levels, including system configuration, transceiver architecture, and circuit design. The success of this research will advance scientific understanding and create a new design methodology to achieve unparalleled data rates and energy efficiency, which will broadly impact the wireless industry and benefit the society. Moreover, this project will train future engineers and scientists for the fast-growing data-driven industries, with special efforts to promote diversity by training more female and minority students. The project will develop a reconfigurable and scalable wireless communication system, operating at mm-wave to sub-mm-wave frequencies, that can be efficiently reconfigured into three operation modes: ultra-high data rate for short distance, high data rate for medium distance, and medium data rate for long distance. The array architecture is based on coupled oscillators for high-efficient frequency tuning and beam forming. The unique tuning scheme allows the array size to be scaled effectively for different operation modes to be deployed in different application scenarios without redesigning the whole system. The new direct antenna modulation scheme enables ultra-high data rates and boosts transmitter energy efficiency by mitigating conventional antenna bandwidth constraints and eliminating linear power amplifiers. And the proposed high gain and low noise mixer structure extracts signal phase information to enable high-order demodulation scheme with enhanced receiver noise and gain performance and reduced power consumption. In addition, the proposed redundancy mapping scheme offers secure wireless communications without extra power and communication overheads. If successful, the system's data rate and energy efficiency will be orders of magnitude higher than existing technologies and therefore the new system will open a new door for secure and ultra-high-speed wireless applications. This project will also investigate the design methodologies on how to achieve the highest frequency/speed with the best energy efficiency systematically, from system and circuit levels down to device level. The transformative design methodologies are expected to benefit other wireless applications, such as radar, imaging, and sensing.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.