RoF Active MIMO Antenna for Broadband Communications

未来的宽带无线通信网络必须更加无处不在和灵活，以支持具有超可靠性的极端移动的宽带服务、容量和连接。使用毫米波载波频率上的新无线电（NR）波形沿着配备有波束成形（BF）能力的有源大规模多输入多输出（mMIMO）天线的未来无线技术正在导致网络中从基于静态小区的网络到基于动态波束的网络的范式转变。这种重大的技术转变要求将光通信的使用从网络的回程部分扩展到其前传，以满足基站和网络数据中心之间的超宽带容量和超高数据速度要求，如增强的通用公共无线电接口eCPRI所规定的。这一趋势将进一步推动下一代（6 G）无线通信。该研究提案旨在为上述挑战发明和提出新的创新解决方案和无线电架构。这些系统的下一个演进步骤是通过将载波的频率增加到更高的毫米波（mm波）以及通过在配备有具有波束成形能力的有源多天线发射机的不同无线电接入终端之间采用频率重用来拓宽通信信号。这些有源天线对于克服由于毫米波频率处的高路径损耗而引起的信号传播问题至关重要。它们还提供了生成可以转向多用户的多波束的能力。这种有源多天线收发器将允许频谱被动态且高效地共享，从而在需要时和需要时产生更多容量，沿着更好的灵敏度、固有的内置干扰减轻、对变化的信道和业务条件的适应以及动态认知网络拓扑配置。功率效率，超宽带多天线发射机以及此类发射机到mMIMO架构的可扩展性将成为该拨款提案的重点，因为它们是确保下一代无线和卫星通信系统无缝部署和可持续性的主要挑战之一。该研究计划有可能在未来宽带无线和卫星通信领域产生有价值的知识和HQP培训;对加拿大ICT行业至关重要。本授权申请具有与未来无线电系统的收发器设计相关的四个主要目标：（i）用于有源BF-MIMO发射器的宽带和并发多频带信号处理能力; ii）使用光纤无线电（RoF）技术的可扩展宽带收发器设计; iii）使用GaN技术的有源毫米波前端模块（FEM）设计;以及iv）减轻mMIMO阵列天线中的非线性失真和硬件损害。

Future broadband wireless communications networks must be more ubiquitous and agile to support extreme mobile broadband service, capacity, and connectivity with an ultra-reliability. Future wireless technology using the New Radio (NR) waveform on millimeter-wave carrier's frequencies along with active massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (mMIMO) antennas equipped with beamforming (BF) capabilities, is leading to a paradigm shift in the network from static cell-based network to dynamic-beam based one. This significant technological shift calls to extend the use of optical communications from the backhaul segment of the network to its fronthaul for ultra-broadband capacity and ultra-high data speed requirements between base stations and the network data's centers as stipulated by the enhanced Common Public Radio Interface eCPRI. This trend will further surge for the next generation (6G) of wireless communications. This research proposal aims at inventing and proposing new innovative solutions and radio architectures for the mentioned challenges. The next evolutionary step for these systems is the broadening of communications signals by increasing the carrier's frequencies to higher millimeter waves (mm-waves) and by adopting frequency reuse across different radio access terminals equipped with active multi-antenna transmitters with beamforming capabilities. These active antennas are critical to overcoming the signal propagation issues due to high path loss at mm-wave frequencies. They also provide the ability to generate multi-beams that can be steered towards multi-users. Such active multi-antennas transceivers will allow the frequency spectrum to be shared dynamically and efficiently, yielding more capacity when it is needed and where it is required, along with better sensitivity, inherent built-in interference mitigation, and adaptation to varying channel and traffic conditions, as well as dynamic cognitive network topology configuration. Power efficiency, ultra-broadband multi-antenna transmitters and the scalability of such transmitters to mMIMO architectures will be the focus of this grant proposal since they are among the major challenges to overcome to ensure seamless deployment and sustainability of next-generation of wireless and satellite communication systems. This research program has the potential of generating valuable knowledge and training of HQP in the areas of future broadband wireless and satellite communications; critical to the Canadian ICT industry. The present grant application has four main objectives related to transceiver's design of future radio systems: (i) wide-band and concurrent multi-band signal-processing capabilities for active BF-MIMO Transmitters; ii) scalable broadband transceiver's design using Radio over Fiber (RoF) technologies; iii) design of active mm-wave Front-end Modules (FEM) using GaN technology; and iv) mitigation of nonlinear distortion and hardware impairments in mMIMO array antenna.