The project aims to solve the problem of wireless communication hardware (radios) which become too complex and expensive to allow future high-speed communications.
Wireless communication is extremely important for society as we all rely on it. During the past decades, the speed and quality of wireless communication have improved a lot, however extrapolating the current IC technology to the future will result in very expensive and complex radio. The reason is that in future technology nodes, the supply voltage will be so low, that linear amplifiers may not be possible anymore. This project aims at a radically different approach.
The objective is to design a receiver, which does not use any "gain", i.e. active amplification of weak antenna signals. Normally this is required to process the weak signals into larger ones, so they can be easily converted to digital. However, in that case, also strong interference is amplified, resulting in a deterioration of the received signal. By refraining from using gain, the latter effect will not happen and cost can be saved on filters, etc. however the analog to digital conversion needs to be completely reconsidered.
This project is of a high-risk nature, but if we succeed the benefits will be immense: cheaper and smaller radios, and more things connected to the internet without waste of energy. The overall objective is to investigate if we can design receivers and other analog interfaces without the use of active linear gain. This will make operation in future IC technologies possible.
