II-New: 60 GHz Millimeter-Wave Testbed for Multi-Gigabit Wireless Networking

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

The next generation of wireless networks must meet the ever-increasing mobile traffic demand due to the rapid growth of mobile and wearable devices and newly emerging applications such as virtual/augmented reality and ultra high-definition video streaming. Today's wireless networks such as legacy WiFi networks operating at 2.4/5 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum fall short in providing multiple gigabit per second data rates on wireless links. In recent years, the use of millimeter-wave spectrum (especially the unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum) has been shown to achieve 7 gigabits per second per-link data rates. In spite of the potential, there are many outstanding challenges in terms of reliability, mobility, interference and coverage that need to be addressed to enable enterprise-grade millimeter-wave networks. The main objective of this project is to design a millimeter-wave networking and sensing testbed using reconfigurable 60 GHz software radios. The testbed will be a state-of-the-art infrastructure that will foster research, education and development of the next generation high-speed wireless networks. With the electronic beamforming capabilities, integrated phased antenna array, multi-Field-Programmable Gate Array processing functionality and development of the Physical and Medium Access Control layer modules, the multi-link testbed will enable detailed measurements and characterization of coverage, mobility and interference in 60 GHz Wireless Local Area Networks. The insights gained from the study will be used to devise intelligent network deployment strategies that can provide reliable coverage in the presence of indoor mobility and unpredictable link outages. Innovative multi-level codebook design and low-complexity Direction of Arrival (DoA)-based channel estimation techniques will be developed for agile and energy-efficient beamforming. Interference-aware multiple access protocols based on Angular Division Multiple Access (ADMA) will be investigated where users from different angles are separated in the angular domain through beamforming and users from the same angular cluster may access the channel simultaneously via orthogonal coding. Additionally, outage mitigation techniques based on Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) and cross-technology coordination will be studied to guarantee reliable connectivity in the presence of blockage and mobility. The millimeter-wave testbed will be used to design low-cost, highly-accurate radio frequency sensing techniques for healthcare and activity sensing in assisted living facilities, ubiquitous remote interaction in smart spaces, and accessible computing applications including automatic sign language recognition for the deaf and hard of hearing users. Solutions further enhancing the networking and sensing performance through network mobility will be explored and evaluated.