Efficient Millimetre-Wave Communications for mobile users

Project Information

MyWave

Grant agreement ID: 860023

DOI

10.3030/860023

Project closed

EC signature date 19 August 2019

Start date 1 October 2019

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 4 005 487,80

EU contribution

€ 4 005 487,80

Coordinated by

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MyWave (Efficient Millimetre-Wave Communications for mobile users)

Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Our society is on the brink of a new age with the development of new visionary concepts such as internet of things, smart cities, autonomous driving and smart industries. This stimulates the use of the millimetre-wave frequencies up to 100 GHz to support much higher data rates and increase the capacity of mobile wireless communication systems. To achieve this, new system concepts are needed, such as Distributed Massive Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (DM-MIMO), which replaces the concept of a single base station per cell by multiple remote antenna stations connected to a central unit. To overcome existing limitations, such as poor power efficiency and signal quality, the MyWave project proposed to investigate an innovative antenna system concept utilizing both silicon and III-V semiconductor technologies, advanced signal processing concepts and radio-over-fibre interconnect between a central unit and the remote antenna stations.

MyWave is a European funded Marie Curie project that started October 1, 2019, with partners from Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands. Its main purpose was to train 15 early stage researchers (ESRs, PhD students) to become experts in key technologies for future mobile telecommunication systems. Throughout the training programme, the ESRs worked on an individual research topic that is of high relevance for the successful further development of next generation mobile telecommunication systems (5G and beyond). Each ESR spend at least 18 months at an industrial partner. In this way, the outcome of the research directly benefited the European industry, while the ESRs gained experience in an industrial work environment.

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

With the MyWave project finalized, the training program has been completed by the ESRs.

Scientifically, several achievements were made on very divers topics. In order to aid the research and design of signal processing algorithms for millimeter-wave communication, an automated testbed suitable for beyond-5G distributed MIMO experiments was developed. Using this system, co-located and distributed MIMO communication antenna configurations were compared in a real in-door environment. The results show that distributed MIMO provides significantly more uniform power distribution and better overall MIMO capacity compared to co-located MIMO.

With respect to millimeter-wave electronics, different common and promising PA architectures were analyzed under time-varying load conditions, just like in active antenna array systems. Their sensitivity in terms of linearity, efficiency and output power was compared under LTE signal excitation in an attempt to identify the most suitable PA architecture to be integrated in active antenna systems.

For the air interface, various types of antenna elements as potential candidates for wideband and wide-scan arrays at W-band were investigated and also a fundamental research question has been answered: Can the use of Huygens’s source as antenna element decrease the negative effects of lossy silicon for on-chip antennas, as was demonstrated in several non-silicon PCB designs? The numerical comparison of an electric dipole, a magnetic dipole and a Huygens source antenna that was conducted as part of the MyWave project showed that there is no apparent advantage. Instead, the work has resulted in a proposal for another definition for a Huygens source in multi-layer structures.
These results have been presented at leading international conferences, i.e. the International Microwave Symposium (IMS), the IEEE Topical Conference on RF/Microwave Power Amplifiers for Radio and Wireless Applications (PAWR) and the European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP). The links to those as well as all other publications and deliverables are available on the project website.

The research work in the MyWave project resulted so far into 29 scientific papers that were presented at conferences and were published in Journal. The work also resulted in 3 patent applications covering technologies that are further being exploited by the industrial partners. All results were presented as part of the 5G Symposium closing event.

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)

With MyWave, necessary breakthroughs in mm-wave communication systems were achieved, which resulted in a competitive advantage in the coming decades for the ESRs on the job market and for the European wireless industry as a whole. The results published thus far lay the foundation for novel ideas and concepts beyond state-of-the-art. For example, the study on the performances of PA architectures under varying load conditions will form the basis for innovative PA designs while the investigation of wideband and wide-scan arrays at W-band marks the beginning of the development of novel energy-efficient and highly compact beam-steering array antennas. Both concepts are vital ingredients for implementing widespread high performance yet sustainable millimeter-wave communication in the EU as well as worldwide.

In addition to academic research and thanks to their close collaboration with industry, the ESRs were able to identify essential research questions that are of high relevance to the commercial sector. They also received guidance on how their research could be potentially used in commercial deployments. Moreover, the exposure to industry taught the PhD students practical approaches that are common in industrial settings but cannot be taught at universities, e.g because they require a complete system solution or access to an advanced product portfolio. Two ESRs accepted job offers from the project industry partners. Furthermore a start-up company was created based on project results and new research projects were defined from the network that was created via the MyWave project.

MyWave logo

MyWave - the team

MyWave closing event - poster session during 6G Symposium