STTR Phase I: Design and Implementation of New Wafer-Scale Millimeter-Wave Massive-MIMO Transceivers

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project studies the implementation of the world?s first wafer-scale 100+ element massive MIMO transceiver operating at millimeter-wave frequency. An essential attribute of this system is the resource sharing of transceiver chains, leading to great saving of area. The proposed system is capable of accommodating any multi-antenna scheme, including spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity (including orthogonal space time block codes, maximal-ratio combining, and beamforming). This will result in significant improvement of performance and reduction of power consumption. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it transforms the landscape of the broadband multi user wireless access across the globe and helps the U.S. wireless sector to be the leader of the world. The wafer-scale massive MIMO base stations will have tremendous impact on the emerging multi-function multi-antenna wireless communications by exploring theories and developing circuits and systems. The telecommunications sector is changing at warp speed, driven by technological innovation that results in new equipment and services. This STTR project will precisely contribute to this innovation in the United States by providing a foresight for the future direction of research and development in wireless communications.