Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

A new age of global information and communication technology is transforming the modern landscape, propelling the world toward industry's 5.0 digital revolution. New and, as yet, unimagined services will soon require fully integrated and global connectivity spanning terrestrial, vehicular, aerial, and aerospace communication technologies. To support this shift, millimeter-wave and sub-terahertz (MMW/ST) communication technology (MSCT) are key to unlocking seamless, fast, reliable, accurate, and power-efficient transmission of unprecedented volumes of data by these services. Yet, the full realization of the MSCT benefits is conditional not only to the successful development of innovative solutions at the application layers, but also on the access to viable physical layer solutions. Specifically, component-level physical layer MSCT research into real-time digital signal processing (RT-DSP), MMW/ST transceivers, and antenna arrays does not often consider performance at the system level after their integration and thus cannot steer the design feedback process to iteratively improve system performance. The applicants request calibrated and wideband MMW/ST vector signal generation and analysis measurement capabilities to augment an existing vector network analyser at Waterloo. This will form a comprehensive characterization system for research into physical layer at MMW/ST frequencies by meeting the requirements for i) native frequency range up to 67 GHz with extension to 330 GHz using existing frequency extenders, ii) high-quality vector signal generation and analysis with bandwidth of up to 6 GHz, iii) multiple characterization domains, iv) single-ended and differential connectivity, v) time and phase coherency between at least 2 inputs and 2 outputs. These will allow diverse types of measurements essential to MMW/ST physical-layer research including i) scattering parameters and radiation-characteristics of antenna elements/arrays, ii) scattering parameters, distortion characteristics, phase noise, and noise figure of the transceivers building blocks, iii) indoor and outdoor channel response and statistics, and iv) signal quality and compliance characteristics. The requested measurement capabilities will be the first of its kind in Canada, enabling cutting edge research and support into future communication technology and physical layer MSCT, from RT-DSP algorithms to transceiver hardware and baseband to sub-terahertz. Further, the requested capabilities will help characterize propagation channels at MMW/ST frequencies to be used for 6G systems, an area of research currently under studied. They will also contribute to the acquisition of core skills and knowledge in the training of highly qualified personnel, ensuring Canadian industry, such as communication service providers, satellite and telecommunications equipment manufacturers, test and measurement solution providers have access to highly-skilled labor.