SBIR Phase I: Ultra-Wideband Wireless Optical Transceiver

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small-Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to lead the develop of next generation wireless communication technology and provide ultra-high-speed, broadband connectivity to consumers. The enormous consumer demand for mobile multimedia content on smart phones and tablets is accelerating growth of data traffic on wireless networks. This trend will continue in the next decade as billions more devices will be connected to the Internet-Of-Things including automobiles and home appliances. To support such growth, wireless smart phones and tablets need to have faster connectivity speeds to the network. The networks must also adapt to handle the exponential growth in data traffic with smaller cells and higher backhaul capacity. With the congestion of existing commercial spectrum, new innovations in wireless technology are required to meet this challenge. This project offers a new technology and solution to multiply the bandwidth of of wireless devices and networks and help expand ultra-fast broadband access to consumers. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is focused on the proof-of-concept demonstration of a wireless optical transceiver module that can increase the connectivity speeds of next generation wireless devices by several folds. Novel device and material designs will be investigated to achieve the target performance of this project. Today, the fastest WiFi technology is capable of nearly one Gigabit per second (Gbps) speed while the next-generation WiFi solution can deliver 5Gbps. The speed limitation of wireless modems are due to limited availability of commercial spectrum. The speed required to transfer ultra-definition video content without compression is 20Gbps. As 4G-LTE wireless technology is rapidly gaining adoption, wireless operators are wrestling with data capacity bottlenecks in their networks. Concurrently, wireless industry is beginning to debate requirements for fifth-generation (5G) wireless devices and networks and increased connectivity speed is high on their agenda. The technology pursued under this project can offer a viable solution for the 5G generation of mobile devices. In addition to smart phones and tablets, the proposed technology can expand wireless backhaul capacity and provide novel communication solution for connected cars, unmanned aerial vehicles and other devices connected to the Internet.