Millimetre wave measurement equipment

在过去的5年里，智能手机和平板电脑等移动设备的使用出现了爆炸式增长。这些是需要宽带互联网连接的无线连接设备。到2020年，随着家庭、交通、医疗、军事和基础设施等不同领域的嵌入式“智能”功能和用户可操作性水平不断提高，全球范围内的数字预计将达到400亿。政府首席科学顾问兼政府科学办公室主任Mark Walport爵士认为，“物联网”（IoT）为英国经济提供了巨大的机遇，需要越来越多地使用无线通信方法，如Wi-Fi、蓝牙、ZigBee、NFC和其他物联网标准。在移动宽带等领域，移动宽带的普及推动了3G/4G技术的发展，并以两位数的速度增长。68%的英国成年人使用手机或便携式电脑上网，目前全球有超过30亿的移动宽带用户。目前的移动宽带工作频率高达6千兆赫。然而，越来越多的人意识到，低于6ghz的频谱无法支持未来用户和应用所要求的巨大数据速率。下一步是开发利用非常高频率的5G技术，即所谓的毫米波频率（mmwave），以提供与未来需求兼容的数据速率。目前，ETSI和国际电联等世界授权机构已经确定了30 GHz至90 GHz的频率是最有可能进行频谱扩展的频率。传统上，毫米波技术还没有被用于（或适合）移动、低功耗、手持产品，相反，它的应用一直集中在固定无线和蜂窝回程基础设施上。这是由于成本和高频信号在短距离内传播的事实-后者将通过采用小型本地蜂窝来克服。然而，低成本、高能效和高性能的毫米波收发器将变得至关重要，特别是在消费者移动设备中使用——电池能量预算和“材料清单”成本是最重要的。毫米波系统的关键部件包括材料、天线、晶体管和放大器等器件、电路、元件和滤波器。这些组件需要研究和开发，以降低成本和提高效率，以维持电池寿命。需要为毫米波频率开发新的低损耗材料。实现低成本高效设计的最有效方法是将所有系统组件集成到芯片或晶圆上，然后可以以非常高的产量和低成本生产。从战略上讲，英国必须发展无线技术，以在世界舞台上竞争，并提高其竞争力，特别是在与远东的竞争中。超高速5G级电信基础设施是英国政府一直倡导并在十大综合战略支柱中宣布的产业战略绿皮书的核心。所要求的设备将基于谢菲尔德大学并由其提供支持，并提供毫米波组件的旗舰测量系统。所有的英国大学和企业都可以使用。它提供了对设备、组件、天线、电路、材料和集成系统的测量。它为英国提供了一个独特的设施来测试晶圆天线，这将是用于生产低成本系统的技术。测量系统可分为三个部分——天线测量扫描仪；提供信号传输和接收的矢量网络分析仪；以及与片上元件接触的探测站。

Over the past 5 years there has been a massive explosion in the use of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. These are wirelessly connected devices requiring broadband internet connection. Numbers are forecast to reach 40 billion worldwide by 2020 as areas as diverse as the home, transport, healthcare, military and infrastructure experience increasing levels of embedded 'smart' functionality and user operability. The 'Internet of Things' (IoT) was recognised by Sir Mark Walport, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office for Science, as offering great opportunities for the UK economy, requiring increasing use of wireless communication methods such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, NFC, and other IoT standards. In areas such as mobile broadband uptake has driven the development of 3G/4G technologies and is growing at double digit rates. 68% of UK adults use mobile phone or portable computers to access the Internet and there are currently over 3 billion mobile-broadband subscriptions globally. Current mobile broadband operates at frequencies up to 6 GHz. However, there is a growing realisation that the spectrum below 6 GHz cannot support the huge data rates being demanded by future users and applications. The next step is to develop 5G technologies utilising very high frequencies, so called millimetre wave frequencies (mmwave) to give data rates compatible with future demand. Currently world licencing bodies such as ETSI and ITU have identified frequencies from 30 GHz to 90 GHz as most likely for this expansion in the spectrum. Conventionally, mmwave technologies have not been used (or suitable) for mobile, low power, handheld products, instead its applications have been focused on fixed wireless and cellular backhaul infrastructure. This was due to costs and the fact that high frequency signals propagate over short distances - the latter will be overcome by adopting small local cells. However, low cost, power efficient and high performance mmwave transceivers will become vital, especially for use in consumer mobile devices - where the battery energy budget and 'Bill of Materials' costs are of prime importance. Critical components for millimetre wave systems include materials, antennas, devices such as transistors and amplifiers, circuits, components and filters. Such components require research and development to reduce costs and improve efficiency to sustain battery life. New low loss materials need to be developed for millimetre wave frequencies. The most efficient method to achieve low cost efficient designs is to integrate all the system components onto chips or wafers which can subsequently be produced in very high volume and at low cost. Strategically the UK must develop wireless technologies to compete on the world stage and increase its competitiveness particularly in competition with the far east. Superfast 5G level Telecoms infrastructure is central to the Industrial Strategy Green Paper that the UK government have been championing and announced in ten pillars of combined strategy. The requested equipment will be based at and supported by the University of Sheffield and provide a flagship measurement system for millimetre wave components. It will be accessible to all UK universities and industries. It provides for measurements on devices, components, antennas, circuits, materials and integrated systems. Uniquely for the UK, it provides a facility to test antennas on wafer which will be the technology used to produce low cost systems. The measurement system can be split into three components - the antenna measurement scanner; the vector network analyser which provides the signal transmission and reception; and a probe station which makes contact to the on-chip components.