Analog Integrated Circuits for IoT and 5G Transceiver

在未来十年，无线技术将在物联网(IoT)设备的演进和传播中发挥重要作用。物联网的目标是将手机、不同类型的传感器、家用电器和工业家电等各种设备互联在一起。由于幅员辽阔，人口密度不规则，加拿大是在加拿大开发和维护无线网络成本要高得多的国家之一。因此，加拿大是从其5G和物联网无线基础设施的发展中获益最多的国家之一，这些基础设施在人口密度高的地区(例如GTA)可以利用点对点来提高网络效率，而新兴的低功耗广域网络(LP-WPAN)可以在偏远地区使用来监控安装，而不需要持续的现场人员。 物联网和5G设备引入的各种工作模式和频率载波设置了如此多的限制，以至于在单一芯片中集成通用无线收发器仍然是一个梦想。虽然智能终端的数字元素通过利用人工智能和机器学习而快速发展，但无线收发器的射频前端仍然主要是模拟和僵化的，因为5G操作模式设置的一些要求限制了其数字化。无线电灵活性差也是LP-广域网收发信机急需研究的一个瓶颈。这种系统的突发模式操作需要较短的初始化时间和高水平的可重新配置，以调整性能以适应可变的操作条件。 拟议的研究计划旨在探索一些创新和突破性的想法来解决上述问题，并极大地改变用于无线通信(5G和LP-WAN)的混合信号集成电路的设计。特别是，我们提出了量化无线电的概念，它具有彻底改变模拟混合信号设计(不仅是无线)的潜力，因为它导致了可数字重新配置的量化结构，因此更适合软件优化算法提供的可能性。 从事这些新IC设计方法研究的研究生将受益于UofT实验室的独特培训，这将引导他们开发和表征创新的解决方案和设备。因此，拟议的计划不仅是扩大加拿大创新组合的绝佳机会，也将是对高素质人才(HQP)的特殊培训经验。

In the next decade, wireless technologies will play an important role for the evolution and the diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. IoT aims to interconnect together a wide variety of devices such as mobile phone, different kind of sensors, home and industrial appliances. Due to its vastness and irregular population density, Canada is one of the countries where it is much more expensive to develop and maintain a wireless network in Canada. For this reason, Canada is one of the nations that most will benefit from the evolution of its 5G and IoT wireless infrastructures that in high density populated regions (e.g. the GTA) can take advantage from peer-to-peer to improve the efficiency of the network, while emerging low-power wide area networks (LP-WPANs) can be used in isolated areas to monitor installations without requiring a constant human presence on-site. The variety of the operative modes and frequency carriers introduced by IoT and 5G devices set so many constraints that the integration of a universal wireless transceiver in a single chip remains a dream. While the digital elements of the smart terminals are rapidly evolving by exploiting artificial intelligence and machine learning, the RF front-end of a wireless transceiver remains mainly analog and rigid since some requirements set by 5G operative modes limit its digitalization. The poor flexibility of the radio is also a bottle-neck for emergent research on LP-WAN transceivers. The burst mode operation of such systems demands short initialization times and high level of re-configurability to adjust the performance to the mutable operative conditions. The proposed research program aims to explore some innovative and ground-breaking ideas to address the above issues and dramatically transform the design of mixed-signal integrated circuits for wireless communications (both 5G and LP-WANs). In particular, we propose the concept of a quantized radio which has the potential of revolutionizing analog-mixed signal designs (not only wireless) since it leads to quantized structures that are digitally reconfigurable and hence better fit with the possibilities offered by the software optimization algorithms. Graduate students engaged in the investigation of these new IC design approaches will benefit from a unique training in the UofT Labs which will lead them to the development and the characterization of innovative solutions and devices. Hence the proposed program not only represents a great opportunity to enlarge the portfolio of innovation in Canada but it will be also an exceptional training experience for high qualified personnel (HQP).