FIber-Wireless Integrated Networks for 5th Generation delivery.

Project Information

FIWIN5G

Grant agreement ID: 642355

DOI

10.3030/642355

Project closed

EC signature date 10 December 2014

Start date 1 January 2015

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 867 896,88

EU contribution

€ 3 867 896,88

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FIWIN5G (FIber-Wireless Integrated Networks for 5th Generation delivery.)

Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2018-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Over the past four years, the FiWiN5G Innovative Training Network has been training and educating the next generation of early stage researchers (ESRs) who will enable Europe to take a leading role in the development of future devices, systems and networks supporting the 5G high-speed wireless internet. The researchers employed by the network have been undertaking research projects concerning next generation devices to enable photonic based mm-wave communications; systems, sub-systems and functionalities for signal processing; and system demonstrations of advanced mm-wave communications. Through a comprehensive programme of secondments, exchanges and training the ESRs have been educated to understand the broad context of their work, whether it is systems/network engineers understanding the devices and technologies that make up the networks or device engineers understanding the networks in which their devices will function. To do this they have been exposed to world-leading partners, selected for their complimentary and excellence and expertise from industry’s to ensure an understanding of the key application areas of the technologies in this area.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first 16 months of the project, the full cohort of 15 ESRs were recruited to the network. The project has put on 8 summer and winter schools to provide specific training for the ESRs as well as 15 separated training courses that ESR could elect to attend. ESR have undertaking 24 separate periods of secondments – 5 of which were to industry laboratories. ESR have produced over 80 publications including 20 in Journals including the OSA/IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, OSA Optics Express, Optics Letters and IEEE Microwave and Optics Letters. They have been featured in local newpapers, facebook sessions and primary school outreach activities as part of their dissemination activities. The research work of the ESR has focuses on 3 key technology areas: next generation devices to enable photonic based mm-wave communications; systems, sub-systems and functionalities for signal processing; and system demonstrations of advanced mm-wave communications. They have developed new optical and microwave devices, implemented devices in photonic integrated circuits or microwave photonic sub-systems and have demonstrated system effectiveness through mm-wave communications demonstrations.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The ESR projects have developed new devices, technologies and sub-systems across a wide range of areas. Some examples include:

• The development of compact quasi-optical zero-bias Schottky barrier diode (QO-SBD) envelope detectors which can receive and convert signals mmWave/sub-THz frequencies for multi-Gbps wireless communication systems.
• Design and fabrication of a full packaged photonic transmitter in the E-Band (60-90GHz).
• Development of a polarisation insensitive received for high data rate communications.
• Fabrication of a Dual-Wavelength Heterodyne Millimeter and Terahertz Generator on a single photonic integrated circuit.
• Production and testing of flexible radio frequency (RF) transmission lines based on a polymer substrate called Flexlines. These novel and innovative devices will support higher bandwidth optical backhaul and fronthaul systems and support the evolution to millimetre wave frequencies predicted to be a central part of 5G techniques.
• Novel modulation schemes for signal transmission over mm-wave radio over fiber (RoF) system have been investigated including Universal Filtered Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing 4-PAM and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) multi-sub-bands FBMC

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