Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GATE (Glass Assessment Technology for glass Embedded antennas)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-10-10 al 2021-10-09
To address the communication capacity crunch problem in-building while maintain the aesthetics of the building, indoor small cell antennas or antenna arrays should be integrated into the glass which is the most common and popular building materials.
The objectives of this project are: 1. To assess the benefits and feasibility of embedding antennas in building structures made of glass; 2. To develop wireless performance metrics for glass that can be used for glass design; 3. To model glass wireless performance metrics against ingredient ratios and structure; 4. To optimise the glass design to obtain desirable wireless, optical and thermal properties of glass.
The success of the project will significantly advance the glass embedded antenna technologies and open-up the gate for vast adoption of glass embedded antennas in the built environment, which is regarded as one of the last frontiers of information and communication technology.
The action has achieved most of its objectives and milestones for the period, with relatively minor deviations. A number of original work have been performed and some innovative results are obtained. The researcher has received sufficient training from this action which has enhanced his potential for future career. Communication actions are carried out to disseminate this project.
The objectives of this project are: 1. To assess the benefits and feasibility of embedding antennas in building structures made of glass; 2. To develop wireless performance metrics for glass that can be used for glass design; 3. To model glass wireless performance metrics against ingredient ratios and structure; 4. To optimise the glass design to obtain desirable wireless, optical and thermal properties of glass.
The success of the project will significantly advance the glass embedded antenna technologies and open-up the gate for vast adoption of glass embedded antennas in the built environment, which is regarded as one of the last frontiers of information and communication technology.
The action has achieved most of its objectives and milestones for the period, with relatively minor deviations. A number of original work have been performed and some innovative results are obtained. The researcher has received sufficient training from this action which has enhanced his potential for future career. Communication actions are carried out to disseminate this project.
1. We have proposed several glass-integrated antennas, such as a triple-band glass-integrated grid antenna, UWB MIMO metal mesh antenna and optical transparent MIMO antenna, the benefits and feasibility of embedding antennas in building structures made of glass are assessed by simulation and measurement. 2. We propose the concept of wireless friendliness of building material, and take the spatially averaged capacity as an evaluation metric of wireless friendliness that can be used to determine the optimised permittivity and thickness of glass. 3. We have modelled the radiation efficiency, gain and input impedance of the glass integrated antenna varying with glass permittivity and thickness, and several protypes of glass integrated antenna are fabricated. 4. We have proposed a set of machine-learning based optimisation method which can model and optimise glass integrated antenna efficiently to obtain desirable wireless, optical and thermal properties of glass.
Overview of the results:
During the work, we propose the first investigation on the impact of glass integrated with antenna arrays on the performance of indoor MIMO communications. We propose wireless friendliness as a new property that can be used to assess the wireless performance of building materials and to guide the design of a wireless friendly building; we propose a transparent ultrawideband (UWB) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna based on wired metal mesh (MM) structure, compared to the current transparent MIMO antennas it has relative wider bandwidth, higher efficiency, higher gains, lower coupling and comparable transparency; we proposed an indium tin oxide (ITO) based transparent antennas for ultra-wide band and MIMO applications, the impacts of ingredient ratios and structures of glass on the wireless performance of antenna are investigated and optimised; we propose a multi-fidelity surrogate based optimisation method which can be used in efficient optimisation of antenna integrated in complex environment.
Overview of the exploitation and dissemination
The conferences attended:
(1) 2021 15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, Dusseldorf, Germany, 2021.03.22-2020.03.26.
(2) 2020 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Osaka, Japan, 2021.01.25-2021.01.28.
Scientific publications:
(1) Yang Zhou, Yu Shao, Jiliang Zhang and Jie Zhang, “Wireless performance evaluation of building materials integrated with antenna arrays”, IEEE Communication Letters, 2022. (Early Access)
(2) Zhangjian He, Yu Shao, Changhong Zhang, Ping Wang and Jie Zhang, “A miniaturized angularly stable dual-band FSS based on convoluted structure and complementary coupling”, International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering. (Early Access)
(3) Ju Tan, Yu Shao, Jiliang Zhang and Jie Zhang, “Artificial neural network application in prediction of concrete embedded antenna performance”, 2021 15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Dusseldorf, Germany, 2021.03.22-2021.03.26.
(4) Ju Tan, Yu Shao, Jiliang Zhang and Jie Zhang, “Empirical Formulas for Performance Prediction of Concrete Embedded Antenna”, 2020 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP), Osaka, Japan, 2021.01.25-2021.01.28.
Communications:
(1) We visited Durham University in November 2019 and introduced this project to the researchers.
(2) We attended poster exhibition held by the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering in the University of Sheffield.
(3) We attended The Kroto Research Inspiration Poster Competition held by the University of Sheffield.
Overview of the results:
During the work, we propose the first investigation on the impact of glass integrated with antenna arrays on the performance of indoor MIMO communications. We propose wireless friendliness as a new property that can be used to assess the wireless performance of building materials and to guide the design of a wireless friendly building; we propose a transparent ultrawideband (UWB) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna based on wired metal mesh (MM) structure, compared to the current transparent MIMO antennas it has relative wider bandwidth, higher efficiency, higher gains, lower coupling and comparable transparency; we proposed an indium tin oxide (ITO) based transparent antennas for ultra-wide band and MIMO applications, the impacts of ingredient ratios and structures of glass on the wireless performance of antenna are investigated and optimised; we propose a multi-fidelity surrogate based optimisation method which can be used in efficient optimisation of antenna integrated in complex environment.
Overview of the exploitation and dissemination
The conferences attended:
(1) 2021 15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, Dusseldorf, Germany, 2021.03.22-2020.03.26.
(2) 2020 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Osaka, Japan, 2021.01.25-2021.01.28.
Scientific publications:
(1) Yang Zhou, Yu Shao, Jiliang Zhang and Jie Zhang, “Wireless performance evaluation of building materials integrated with antenna arrays”, IEEE Communication Letters, 2022. (Early Access)
(2) Zhangjian He, Yu Shao, Changhong Zhang, Ping Wang and Jie Zhang, “A miniaturized angularly stable dual-band FSS based on convoluted structure and complementary coupling”, International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering. (Early Access)
(3) Ju Tan, Yu Shao, Jiliang Zhang and Jie Zhang, “Artificial neural network application in prediction of concrete embedded antenna performance”, 2021 15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Dusseldorf, Germany, 2021.03.22-2021.03.26.
(4) Ju Tan, Yu Shao, Jiliang Zhang and Jie Zhang, “Empirical Formulas for Performance Prediction of Concrete Embedded Antenna”, 2020 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP), Osaka, Japan, 2021.01.25-2021.01.28.
Communications:
(1) We visited Durham University in November 2019 and introduced this project to the researchers.
(2) We attended poster exhibition held by the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering in the University of Sheffield.
(3) We attended The Kroto Research Inspiration Poster Competition held by the University of Sheffield.
During this project, we have proposed a glass-integrated grid antenna, a transparent ultrawideband MIMO antenna based on wired metal mesh structure, and an indium tin oxide (ITO) based transparent antennas for ultra-wide band and MIMO applications. The prototypes of wired metal mesh antenna and ITO based antenna has been fabricated. Their performances are tested in anechoic chamber. We also define wireless friendliness as a metrics for antenna embedding glass, and propose a set of machine learning based efficient optimisation method.
The innovative ideas and technologies of the project have the potential to transform glass design and relieve network capacity crunch problem. (1) The project result help material engineers design glass with desirable wireless performance. (2) The performance of indoor wireless network is improved by enhancing wireless performance of glass to relieve the capacity crunch. (3) The project promotes inter-disciplinary research and creates a wealth of research opportunities that involve a huge number of professionals in many specialties. (4) The project trains the next generation of researchers in Europe by providing high calibre students and researchers with excellent collaboration opportunities with the researcher. (5) Some results have been applied by Ranplan to simulate he building environment with the inclusion of the different wall/window/door types with different RF properties, which has strengthened competitiveness and growth of Ranplan company.
The innovative ideas and technologies of the project have the potential to transform glass design and relieve network capacity crunch problem. (1) The project result help material engineers design glass with desirable wireless performance. (2) The performance of indoor wireless network is improved by enhancing wireless performance of glass to relieve the capacity crunch. (3) The project promotes inter-disciplinary research and creates a wealth of research opportunities that involve a huge number of professionals in many specialties. (4) The project trains the next generation of researchers in Europe by providing high calibre students and researchers with excellent collaboration opportunities with the researcher. (5) Some results have been applied by Ranplan to simulate he building environment with the inclusion of the different wall/window/door types with different RF properties, which has strengthened competitiveness and growth of Ranplan company.