FuSe-TG: Towards TeraCity in South Texas: Sub-TeraHertz City-scale Wireless Networks

Sub-THz通常被定义为100至300 GHz之间的频谱，可以提供10s-GHz宽的信道的巨大带宽，以实现无与伦比的通信吞吐量，并被广泛认为是超5g通信的有前途的频段。要真正实现亚太赫兹频段在大面积城市无线网络中的应用，我们需要在半导体和无线技术上取得突破，同时支持大覆盖、超大带宽和高节点移动性。该项目的目标是在南德克萨斯州建立一个团队，拥有涵盖通信系统设计不同方面的专业知识，并研究次太赫兹频段的关键技术。该项目还包括一个连贯的劳动力发展和推广计划，以发展对半导体行业至关重要的多元化劳动力，并解决其面临的日益增长的人才缺口。为了实现TeraCity的愿景，该项目有三个研究重点，包括亚太赫兹器件、电路、天线、封装和算法的协同设计。(1)功率推力：开发大功率节能的亚太赫兹无线电前端。(2)带宽推进：发展高速高分辨率数据转换器。(3)迁移推力：开发新的波束形成方法，产生高度定向的波束，同时可以跟踪节点的迁移。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。

Sub-THz, which is usually defined as the spectrum between 100 and 300 GHz, can provide enormous bandwidth with 10s-GHz-wide channels for unmatched communication throughput, and is widely considered to be a promising frequency band for beyond-5G communications. To truly harness sub-THz bands in large-area city-scale wireless networks, we need semiconductor and wireless technology breakthroughs to simultaneously support wide coverage, ultra-large bandwidth, and high node mobility. The goal of this project is to build a team in South Texas with expertise covering different aspects of the communication system design and to investigate key technologies in the sub-THz bands. This project also involves a coherent workforce development and outreach plan to develop a diverse workforce that is critical to the semiconductor industry and address the every-growing talent gap it faces.There are three research thrusts in this project to realize the vision of TeraCity, involving co-design of sub-THz devices, circuits, antennas, packaging, and algorithms. (1) Power thrust: to develop high-power and energy-efficient sub-THz radio front-end. (2) Bandwidth thrust: to develop high-speed high-resolution data converters. (3) Mobility thrust: to develop new beamforming methods to generate highly directional beams yet can track node mobility.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.