optimal design of Admixtures for concrete embedded Large Scale Antenna Array

Project Information

AceLSAA

Grant agreement ID: 752644

DOI

10.3030/752644

Project closed

EC signature date 29 November 2017

Start date 1 December 2018

End date 11 July 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 195 454,80

EU contribution

€ 195 454,80

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AceLSAA (optimal design of Admixtures for concrete embedded Large Scale Antenna Array)

Reporting period: 2018-12-01 to 2020-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

It is estimated that over 80% of mobile traffic takes place indoors, which is driven by the growing smart building, Internet of things (IoT), virtual reality (VR) and high definition video (HDV) applications. Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) technology has been widely studied during the last two decades and applied to many wireless standards since it can significantly improve the capacity of wireless systems. In a recent effort to achieve more dramatic gains on capacity, large scale antenna array (LSAA) has been introduced into cellular networks, where each base station (BS) is equipped with hundreds of antennas. Indoor small cell equipped with LSAAs is a promising technology to address capacity crunch problem in-building. However, in order to guarantee a low spatial correlation, the space intervals among antenna elements of the array have to be larger than half wavelength. LSAAs increase the physical dimension of the BS, generating negative consequences on weight and visual impact. The strict space constraints on antenna housing forces 5G/B5G LSAA design to exploit more advanced technologies to support a higher level of visually obscured integration in the natural surroundings of the users.
A potential approach of deploying LSAAs indoors is to embed them into building structures, e.g. concrete walls. This approach has the following advantages. Firstly, concrete is widely used for essential structures such as walls and columns. Secondly, by embedding an antenna element in a dielectric medium, the electrical length of the antenna is reduced. With a larger dielectric constant, the concrete, as a dielectric material for dielectric embedded antenna can reduce the size of antenna element and antenna array. Therefore, in a limited space, more antenna elements can be employed to facilitate LSAA deployment. Thirdly, the approach facilitates the deployment of LSAAs and even distributed antenna systems through the 3D printing of concrete. Fourthly, the blockage of the surface at the backside reduces the interference to the adjacent cells. And finally, by embedding metamaterials in the concrete as perfect lens, the bandwidth and the directivity of the antenna array can be enhanced to improve the performance of wireless networks.
This project addressed important challenges to embed LSAAs in concrete for the society. The objectives of this project are: 1) To assess the benefits and feasibility to embed LSAAs in building structures made of concrete; 2) To develop wireless performance metrics for concrete that can be used for concrete design; 3) To model concrete wireless performance metrics against admixture ratios and layouts; 4) To optimise ratios and layouts of admixtures to obtain desirable wireless and mechanical properties of concrete.

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 this project, the interaction between concrete building materials and indoor wireless performance with LSAA have been comprehensively investigated. Firstly, how the permittivity and conductivity of cement attenuates intended wave was analysed. Secondly, how the surface of cement reflect intended signal was investigated. Thirdly, based on above investigations, the characterization approach of building materials considering its impact on the wireless devices embedded in them have been modelled based on both analytical and machine-learning based models. Fourthly, the wireless-friendliness metric of concrete building materials is designed, evaluated. Finally, how the EM properties of the materials impact wireless performance, and how to design and optimise concrete to achieve desirable wireless performance has been studied.
Based on above contributions, 10 papers have been published.

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 project leads to the world's earliest metric design, modelling and optimisation of concrete building materials in terms of their wireless performance. The innovative ideas and technologies of the project have been disseminated via 10 research papers. Such technologies will transform concrete design and relieve network capacity crunch problem. (1) The project results will help structure engineers design concrete with desirable wireless performance while guaranteeing mechanical performance. (2) The performance of indoor wireless network will be further improved by enhancing wireless performance of concrete to relieve the capacity crunch. (3) The project will promote inter-disciplinary research and create a wealth of research opportunities that involve a huge number of professionals in many specialties. (4) The project will train the next generation of researchers in Europe by providing high calibre students and researchers with excellent collaboration opportunities with the ER. (5) The project will create new jobs, for example, software developers for concrete wireless performance evaluation and optimisation modules, researchers focused on enhancing wireless performances of concrete, structure designers and consultants. (6) The public, businesses and organisations will benefit from high capacity wireless networks will LSAAs and hassle-free provisioning of such networks.
The AceLSAA project helped the ER reach professional maturity in the area of wireless-friendly building materials. A fresh new area in concrete wireless performance modelling, analysis and optimization has been well established, which will provide opportunities for the ER to do ground breaking work in the future. During the two years, the ER has built a good track record of publications on this interdisciplinary topic. By the end of this project, the ER has scratched the surface of a research goldmine-wireless friendly built environment. Based on this work, he has submitted two fellowship proposals in a higher level.
The planned onsite secondment to Ranplan, a wireless technology company focusing on tools in 3D building modelling, radio propagation modelling, wireless system simulation and network optimisation, was not executed due to the COVID-19. However, based on monthly meeting with Ranplan employees, the ER has been well trained to use its product, Ranplan Professional. Based comparison between simulation results of Ranplan Professional and practical measurement, how the built environment impact wireless propagation channels are well analysed, and the ray-launching based algorithms are well verified in the Ka-band.
During the project, a research network has been built between the ER and the collaborators of the supervisors. Based-on the collaboration, the ER established collaborations with Loughborough University and Queen Mary University, London, and University of Twente, based on which, the ER submitted a Future Leaders Fellowship proposal.

Structure of concrete embedded antenna

Concrete embedded antenna performance versus EM properties of concrete