Smart and performances-demanding platform for millimeter-wave sensing systems

基于无线传感器网络的智能家居系统是在安全、舒适和技术管理方面改善生活的技术和服务的组合。在智能家居场景中，将传感器、RFID、本地定位系统和决策算法结合在一起，实现了完整的智能自主系统的各种功能。这款智能家居超越了房主的刻板印象，房主可以在智能手机上检查自己的房子，并验证安全警报或供暖系统等内部设备的状态。此外，可穿戴和非接触式医疗设备可以监控居民的血压、心率和其他指标(姿势、心电、呼吸)，并将数据传输到居民智能手机，作为医疗远程监控系统的一部分。这些室内系统应该工作在毫米波范围内，以兼容毫米波技术在5G平台等无线通信中的未来应用，特别是传感器网络的信息共享和无线功能之间的功能交互；工作在毫米波范围内的系统应该处理室内环境中的一些约束，如动态范围、传播阻塞和噪声。电路和系统的可重构性为满足苛刻的频率和功率要求提供了额外的工具，即使在这些系统固有的操作环境变化的情况下也是如此。此外，可调谐电路响应可以补偿敏感射频电路中老化和温度变化的有害影响。在毫米波波段和更远的波段，使用瞬变模式波导的实际有源元件受到传输损耗、制造容差等问题的困扰。像基片集成波导(SIW)这样的非瞬变模式提供了更好的解决方案。因此，基于类似于固态半导体器件的“非线性”介质的“真”有源波导技术的概念应该得到发展。“有源”波导应该呈现具有波相互作用的“分布式”特征，而不是二极管和晶体管等“集中”的电压和电流特征。为此，创新的厚膜和思维薄膜和衬底，如BST，铁电和液晶材料，将集成在SiW线的内部或作为层。该提议的战略目标是开发可重构电路和波导，用于不同室内应用的毫米波系统中。本项目中开发的可调谐波导将用于设计基于BST的分布式移相器，允许不同的调制和智能天线操作。不同的器件和光波导将集成在同一个平台上，以评估性能的提高。当然，这样的最终平台将提供“智能”和“高性能”的动作。

The smart home system based on wireless sensor networks is a combination of technologies and services that improve the life in the areas of safety, comfort and technical management. In the smart home scenario, sensors, RFID, local positioning system and decisional algorithms are combined to achieve various functionalities in complete smart and autonomous system. The smart home goes beyond the stereotype of a homeowner who can check his house on a smartphone and verify the status of interior devices such as security alarm or heating system. In addition, wearable and no-contact healthcare devices can monitor resident blood pressure, heart rate and other metrics (posture, ECG, breathing) and transmit data to the resident smartphone as part of a medical tele-monitoring system. These indoor systems should work in millimeter-wave range to be compatible with future applications of millimeter-wave technology in wireless communications such as 5G platforms, especially information sharing of sensor networks and functional interplay among wireless functionalities.System working in millimeter-wave range, should deal with some constraints in indoor environment like dynamic range, propagation blockage and noise. Reconfigurability in circuits and systems gives an additional tool to meet the stringent frequency and power requirements, even in the changing of operating environment inherent in these systems. In addition, tunable circuit responses can be made to compensate for the deleterious effects of aging and temperature changes in sensitive RF circuits.At millimeter-wave band and beyond, the actual active components which use TEM-mode waveguide are troubled by transmission loss, fabrication tolerance and other problems. Non-TEM modes such as SIW (substrate integrated waveguide) guide offers much better solutions. Therefore, the concept of “true” active waveguide techniques based on “nonlinear” media similar to the solid-state semiconductor devices should be developed. The “active” waveguide should present “distributed” features with wave interactions instead of voltage and current characterized “lumped” such as diodes and transistors. To do so, innovative thick- and think-films and substrate such as BST, ferroelectric and liquid crystal materials, will be integrated inside or as layer in SIW line.The strategic goal of this proposal is to develop reconfigurable circuits and waveguides to be integrated in millimeter wave systems for different indoor applications. Tunable waveguides developed in this project will be used to design distributed phase shifters based on BST that allow different modulations and smart antenna operations. The different developed components and waveguides will be integrated in the same platform to estimate the performances enhancement. Of course, such final platform will provide “smart” and “performance demanding” actions.