Collaborative Research: SWIFT: LARGE: Adaptive Interference Rejection with Synthetic Channel Diversity (AIR SynCD)

随着对无线服务的需求增加，可用的频谱变得更加拥挤，无线系统需要变得更强大，以抵御来自许多其他信号的干扰。无线电接收器构成了最后一道防线，保护无线系统免受当今日益动态和密集占用的频谱环境的影响。该项目将开发一种新的无线电接收器架构，能够在无线频谱的很大一部分上运行，同时能够在干扰出现时自适应地抑制干扰。由于干扰可能会随着时间和位置的变化而变化，因此将开发一种算法来帮助接收器自适应地调整其对一个或多个此类干扰的响应，以便系统可以随时随地根据需要利用无线频谱。最近因特网使用的爆炸性增长揭示了人类对无线接入的日益依赖，以及无线无线电接收器在使连通性得以继续扩大方面所起的重要作用。该项目有具体的计划来教育和培训研究生和本科生级别的新兴工程师，让他们从整体上考虑无线系统的组件和操作，并为未来建立强大的接收器。具体地说，PIS将试行一门新的研讨会课程，这是成功获得博士学位所必需的，其中将包括管理导师与被辅导者的关系、阅读和撰写研究论文、发表有效的研究报告，以及在毕业后追求职业生涯。PIS还计划与康奈尔大学的多样性工程项目合作，在秋季学期招收来自所有工程学科的未被充分代表的少数族裔(URM)博士生参加每周一小时的研讨会。该项目将横向整合信号处理和算法开发、电路设计和优化以及射频组件设计和调谐，以创建能够识别、适应和抑制干扰影响的新类别接收器，同时保持最大的频率敏捷性。研究将集中在三个综合和相互依存的推进领域。一种接收器前端的设计，它使用无源网络(由电感、电容器和其他电磁元件组成)，将来自一个或多个天线的输入多样化为更多的输出抽头，这些输出抽头然后馈送到一组降低功率的子接收器中。这样的无线电将能够接收来自广泛频率范围的信号，同时提供足够的信号和干扰测量，以便利用数字信号处理将干扰的副产品从信号中分离出来。这将包括开发所需的电路理论和优化工具，以及在印刷电路板和集成电路级别设计工作原型。开发数字域算法，向前端提供控制反馈，以增强适当抑制所需的多样性。开发自适应射频磁器件，以提供无源网络的实时可调谐。这将涉及磁性材料和器件的开发，并需要与电路和算法设计密切交互，以最好地了解不同元件之间的最佳平衡，例如调谐范围、元件品质因数和操作频率之间的平衡。拟议的新接收器有可能显著增强自适应干扰缓解，并提高未来无线系统的健壮性。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。

As the demand for wireless services increases and the usable spectrum becomes ever more crowded, wireless systems need to become more robust against interference from many other signals. Radio receivers form the last line of defense, protecting wireless systems from today’s increasingly dynamic and densely occupied spectral environments. This project will develop a novel radio receiver architecture capable of operating across a large portion of the wireless spectrum while simultaneously being capable of adaptively suppressing interferences as they arise. Since interference may change as a function of time and location, an algorithm will be developed to help the receiver adaptively adjust its response to one or more of these interferers so that the system can take advantage of the wireless spectrum whenever and wherever there is a need. Recent explosive growth in internet usage have brought to light humanity’s increasing dependence on wireless access and the significant role wireless radio receivers have in enabling the continued expansion of connectivity. This project has specific plans to educate and train rising engineers, at both the graduate and undergraduate level, to think holistically about the components and operation of wireless systems and establish robust receivers for the future. Specifically, PIs will pilot a new seminar course needed to succeed in a doctoral degree program, which will include managing advisor-advisee relationship, reading and writing research papers, giving effective research presentations, and pursuing a career after graduation. PIs also have plan to partner with Diversity Programs in Engineering at Cornell to recruit incoming doctoral underrepresented minority (URM) students from across all engineering disciplines for the one-hour seminar each week during the Fall semester.The project will horizontally integrate signal processing and algorithm development, circuit design and optimization, and RF component design and tuning to create a new class of receivers able to identify, adapt to, and suppress interference effects while maintaining maximum frequency agility. Research will focus on three integrated and interdependent thrust areas. Design of receiver front-ends that use passive networks (of inductors, capacitors, and other electromagnetic elements) to diversify the inputs from one or more antennas into a larger number of output taps, which then feed into a bank of reduced-power sub-receivers. Such a radio will be able to receive signals from a wide range of frequencies, while providing enough measures of both signal and interference that the byproducts of that interference can be separated from the signals using digital signal processing. This will involve both developing the required circuit theory and optimization tools and designing working prototypes at the printed circuit board and integrated circuit level. Development of digital-domain algorithms to provide control feedback to the front-end to enhance the required diversity for proper suppression. Development of adaptive RF magnetic devices to provide real-time tunability of the passive network. This will involve magnetic material and device development, and require close interaction with the circuit and algorithm designs, to best understand the optimal balance between different component trade-offs, such as between tuning range, component quality factor, and frequency of operation. The proposed new receivers have the potential to enable significant enhancement in adaptive interference mitigation and improve the robustness of future wireless systems.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.