GENERAL PARAGRAPH
Advanced Wireless/Mobility
This thrust explores the implementation of electronic devices, high-speed interconnects, circuits, sub-circuits, antenna technologies, new artificial materials and devices, and systems for advanced wireless communications. The goal is to develop innovative technologies that will enable to reduce the size and cost, increase the bandwidth and enhance the performance of wireless communication hardware. This thrust collaborates closely with the “Novel Microwave Technologies” Thrust.
Thrust leader: Prof. George V. Eleftheriades
THRUST DESCRIPTION
Research > Thrusts > Advanced Wireless/Mobility
"This thrust explores the implementation of electronic devices, high-speed interconnects, circuits, sub-circuits, antenna technologies, new artificial materials and devices, and systems for advanced wireless communications."
This thrust explores the implementation of electronic devices, high-speed interconnects, circuits, sub-circuits, antenna technologies, new materials & related devices, and systems for advanced wireless communications. The goal is to develop innovative technologies that will enable to reduce the size and cost, increase the bandwidth and enhance the performance of wireless communication hardware. This thrust collaborates closely with the “Novel Microwave Technologies” Thrust. They share common needs in equipment and are co-located in the Open Research Facility.
Applications Areas
Wireless communications (hardware)
Voice and high-speed data networking
Broadband mobile communications
Seamless wireless extensions to optical networks
Current Research Projects
Novel metamaterial-enabled RF/microwave devices are under development ranging from compact and linear phase-shifters, short coupled-line couplers, phase-agile microstrip couplers, diplexers and filters, and RF power-combining networks. Microelectronics hardware for RF and baseband circuits in silicon BiCMOS and CMOS as well as silicon micromachining technologies are under development in implementations ranging from full custom to system-on-a-chip (SoC).
Recent Results
Demonstration of “left-handed” negative-refractive-index metamaterials based on periodically loading a network of transmission lines with chip capacitors and inductors.
Metamaterial-enabled ultra-compact and linear phase-shifters.
Metamaterial-enabled compact and phase-agile microstrip couplers
Dispersion compensating metamaterial transmission lines
Innovative techniques for mitigating “switching-noise” in high-speed PCBs using photonic-band-gap substrates.
Simple slot antennas were made unidirectional by utilizing destructive interference to eliminate back radiation and unwanted surface waves.
Lightweight bulk-silicon micro-machined waveguide components have been produced - for example, a cavity resonator with an unloaded quality factor of over 4000 at 30 GHz, the highest yet reported.
Facilities
DSP Lab, computing infrastructure for simulation studies
UNIX work stations for the development of advanced CAD algorithms and software
Matlab and C compilers to write simulation programs that run on personal computers
Dual PIII 1GHz Dell PowerEdge 2500 Server with 1.5GB memory and 108GB of secondary storage, seven x86
PCs, and three x86 laptop computers
Anechoic chamber for antenna measurements up to 75 GHz (magnitude and phase)
Circuit characterization open laboratory: 3 vector network analyzers (VNAs):
2-port from to 10kHz to 6GHz
4-port from 3MHz to 6GHz
vector measurement from 45MHz to 94GHz in a single sweep
spectral analysis to 50GHz
synthesizers and sources from (max.) 3GHz to 50GHz
noise figure measurement from 10MHz to 26.5GHz
phase-noise measurement from 100kHz to 26.5GHz
load-pull capability from 800MHz-18GHz with 2nd and 3rd harmonic tuning
load-pull capability from 10-40GHz with 2nd harmonic tuning
differential TDR with 20ps risetime
50GHz bandwidth sampling scope
10Gb/s pattern generation
Capability to measure on-wafer using a Karl Suss PM-5 with 4 PH-250 manipulators. We probe circuits on-wafer with up to 10-40GHz bandwidth ports and traditional two-port RF circuits to 100GHz. Circuit assembly (board manufacture and wirebonding).
Bulk silicon micromachining capability
Future Directions
Metamaterials are artificial periodic media with unusual properties that do not exist in nature. A defining feature of these periodic metamaterials is that the constituent unit cells are much smaller than the operating wavelength and therefore effective material parameters such as permittivity, permeability and a refractive index could be defined. In particular, our interest lies with the emerging metamaterials that exhibit a negative index of refraction. Electromagnetic waves propagating in these negative-refractive-index (NRI) metamaterials lead to intriguing and potentially very useful phenomena such as self focusing and near-field confinement. We have pioneered isotropic planar NRI metamaterials at microwave frequencies and experimentally demonstrated near-field focusing of RF waves. Our unique approach for implementing these metamaterials is based on reactively loading networks of transmission lines over ground thus leading to planar cellular metamaterials.
We are using these metamaterials to develop innovative RF/microwave devices for wireless hardware such as phase-shifters, couplers, diplexers, filters, power-combiners etc. The new metamaterial-enabled devices and circuits lead to dramatically reduced size and cost when compared to their traditional counterparts while providing new or enhanced functionality.
Other emerging areas include high-Q silicon micromachined components, miniaturized antennas, and RF-MEMS controlled metamaterial devices, novel antenna beam steering techniques and associated adaptive antenna arrays.
For more information, please contact:
Prof. George V. Eleftheriades
Tel: 416-946-3564