Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

In the quest for more available bandwidth in connection with wireless development, much attention is being paid to the unlicensed band at 60 GHz (usually called V-band) where as much as 7 GHz of spectrum has been allocated. This unprecedented amount of spectrum holds the potential for much higher data rate. The frequency range also presents a perfect candidate for inter-satellite communication links. This grant application is concerned with the acquisition of a V-band antenna measurement module covering 59-66 GHz frequency range that will be integrated in our existing antenna measurement facility in the form of a compact range in the Poly-Grames Research Center at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. This supplementary module will be purchased from the same company that designed and produced our existing system so that it will be completely compatible with our present platform. This is critical for measurement accuracy and system continuity as well as low-cost installation and maintenance. The proposed antenna measurement system will play a critical role in our current and future millimetre-wave research and development, which will serve the entire research community in Quebec and part of Ontario including our faculty members and graduate students in the newly formed consortium called "Centre de recherche en électronique radiofréquence (CREER) - a regroupement stratégique de FQRNT-Québec". The applicant, for example, has an NSERC-sponsored strategic project dedicated to the development of a low-cost V-band transceiver including various innovative dual antenna configurations for ultra-broadband wireless applications. Two co-applicants have also research projects that are closely related to the use of 60 GHz antenna measurement systems, namely, novel reconfigurable spacecraft antennas and full-space scanning one- and two-dimensional fan-beam and pencil beam, passive and active leaky-wave antennas. Those antennas will be measured and characterized with the acquired module, which will provide a fundamental training ground for our students and researchers over this emerging frequency range.