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Paving The Way For 5G Realization and mmWave Communication Systems – Article Reprint

Article Reprints

Paving the Way for 5G Realization and mmWave Communication Systems

Article Reprint

This article first appeared in the April 2016 edition of Microwave Journal. Reprinted with kind permission from Microwave Journal

Paving The Way For 5G Realization and mmWave Communication Systems

Today’s wireless communications industry is on the verge of a revolution. While much has already been written about the need for higher data rates and therefore, wider bandwidths, the industry is also being driven to find ways to serve more users in a given area—a concept generally referred to as “densification.” This need has prompted interest in utilizing less populated frequency spectrum in the microwave and millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, and it is shifting the industry from one in which power is transmitted over a physically broad area to one where it is transmitted in a very directive manner. In this new era of directive communication, one or more beams of energy can be sent directly to a single user, enabling higher frequency reuse, as well as a higher quality of service and better overall experience. Directive communications is quite a technological leap at consumer price points and if realized, promises to enable a wealth of possibilities for 5G and beyond, including a host of new terrestrial and airborne applications, with data services provided much more effectively and inexpensively to a wider population. 

Key to enabling this “5G densification” is the antenna, which for directive communication must be physically large (typically greater than 8×) relative to the wavelength of the transmission. Keeping the antennas to a size manageable for commercial use, however, requires short wavelengths or higher frequencies—a fact that has driven great interest in the unregulated 60 GHz band. The most commonly used standard is IEEE 802.11ad (WiGig) that provides multigigabit data rates up to 7 Gbps by utilizing a beam forming protocol that employs phased array transmitters and receivers to improve channel efficiency and system performance, and assist users in aligning the transmission path.

While the promise of 5G and multi-gigabit speed wireless communication is enticing, enabling this reality has required two key breakthroughs: development of low cost phased arrays and proof that they can actually be used in a 5G communications link. The latter part of that challenge is exactly what researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), in collaboration with Keysight Technologies, set out to address last year. What resulted represents a significant step forward in achieving those breakthroughs—successful demonstration of the world’s first 64 (8×8) and 256-element (16×16), 60 GHz silicon wafer-scale phased array transmitter with integrated high efficiency antennas for Gbps communications over several hundred meters. The demonstration not only proved the viability of such a link, but that it could deliver record performance as well.

A Strong Foundation

Getting to that demonstration took a great deal of effort and hinged on two critical factors. One was the development of the industry’s first 64- and 256-element system-on-a-chip (SoC) phased arrays operating at 60 GHz. That development sprung from an earlier effort between UCSD and TowerJazz that was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The resulting wafer-scale SoCs each comprised a 60 GHz source, amplifiers, distribution network, phase shifters, voltage controlled amplifiers and high efficiency on-chip antennas. This SoC is targeted for 5G advanced communications systems and aerospace/ defense applications. The other factor was a long history of collaboration between UCSD and Keysight; one that began some 10 years earlier when Keysight began funding a MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) development effort at UCSD. In 2015, Keysight solidified its relationship with UCSD by officially signing on as an industry affiliate for its Center for Wireless Communication.

It was about this time that UCSD had just finished developing its phased array SoCs and were ready to take the next step—proving that the chips could be used in a 5G communication link. To do that, UCSD needed a hardware and software measurement system; one that had the necessary performance and accuracy, and could be operated by the small number of UCSD researchers working on the project.

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