Design, Development, and Implementation of a Millimeter Wave Beamformer for 5G Mobile Communication Systems
Design, Development, and Implementation of a Millimeter Wave Beamformer for 5G Mobile Communication Systems
Funding Agency: RFTONICS
Status: Completed (May 2016)
The race to search for innovative solutions to enable the fifth generation (5G) era has recently begun worldwide. Wireless communications are rapidly moving to millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency bands due to the need for greater data throughputs, while data centers and computers of the future are evolving to greater reliance on wireless interconnectivity. High frequencies can carry more data, but have the disadvantage that they generally can be blocked by buildings and lose intensity over longer distances. This project concentrates on developing adaptive or smart and more cost-effective array transceiver technology operating in the millimeter-wave Ka bands for the future 5G cellular communications. Specifically, the proposed project is divided into the following main objectives:
- Design, fabricate, and test novel 28/38GHz antenna elements and arrays for the future 5G mobile communications, and experimentally demonstrate an antenna array prototype.
- Investigate possible system engineering architectures of the mmWave beamforming in the 28/38GHz frequency band.
- Develop an efficient, simple, reliable and flexible mmWave BF for the future 5G mobile communications, and experimentally demonstrate a BF prototype.
It is expected that the transmissions at the ultra-high 28/38 GHz frequency will offer more bandwidth than the frequencies used for 4G networks. Adaptive array transceiver technology with large number of antenna elements, can be a viable solution for overcoming the weaker propagation characteristics of millimeter-wave bands, which are much higher in frequency than conventional wireless spectrum.
