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

随着对无线服务需求的增加和可用频谱变得越来越拥挤，无线系统需要变得更加健壮，以抵御来自许多其他信号的干扰。无线电接收机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颖的无线电接收机架构，能够在大部分无线频谱上运行，同时能够自适应地抑制出现的干扰。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这些干扰中的一个或多个的响应，以便系统可以随时随地利用无线频谱。最近互联网使用的爆炸式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实现连接的持续扩展方面发挥的重要作用。该项目有具体的计划来教育和培训研究生和本科生水平的新兴工程师，让他们从整体上思考无线系统的组件和操作，并为未来建立强大的接收器。具体来说，pi将试点一门新的研讨会课程，这是取得博士学位所必需的，包括管理导师与学生的关系，阅读和撰写研究论文，进行有效的研究报告，以及毕业后的职业发展。pi还计划与康奈尔大学的工程多样性项目合作，从所有工程学科中招募即将入学的博士生，参加秋季学期每周一小时的研讨会。该项目将横向集成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，以创建一种新型接收器，能够识别、适应和抑制干扰影响，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重点领域。使用无源网络（电感、电容器和其他电磁元件）的接收器前端设计，将来自一个或多个天线的输入分散到更多的输出抽头，然后将其馈送到一组功率较低的子接收器。这样的无线电将能够接收各种频率的信号，同时提供足够的信号和干扰的测量，这种干扰的副产品可以通过数字信号处理从信号中分离出来。这将包括开发所需的电路理论和优化工具，并在印刷电路板和集成电路层面设计工作原型。发展数字域算法，为前端提供控制反馈，以提高适当抑制所需的分集。开发自适应射频磁器件，提供无源网络的实时可调性。这将涉及磁性材料和器件的开发，并且需要与电路和算法设计密切互动，以最好地理解不同组件权衡之间的最佳平衡，例如调谐范围，组件质量因子和操作频率之间的平衡。提出的新接收机有可能显著增强自适应干扰缓解能力，并提高未来无线系统的鲁棒性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.