SBIR Phase I: High Performance Millimeter-Wave RF Front-End Technology for Multi-Gigabit Wireless Communications

The broader impact/commercial potential of this SBIR Phase I project is significant since the platform is an enabler of a range of high-speed wireless applications for the next generation of broadband communications. The proposed technology platform will solve some of the key challenges of millimeter-wave (MMW) wireless radios and networks and can serve a wide set of wireless related applications and markets, particularly the telecommunication backhaul and fixed wireless access markets, among others. This Radio Frequency (RF) front-end system, integrated with the base-band circuitry in a wireless module, provides the hardware necessary to enable the vision of a truly fiber-speed backhaul network for 10s of millions of 5th generation (5G) cell deployments to provide the ultimate network robustness, agility, with significant cost savings for the operators and businesses. This advanced wireless technology will enable rapid and robust roll-out of the next generation network as well as a wide range of broadband wireless applications and can play a pivotal role in overall pace of 5G technology penetration. This in turn will impact many industry sectors, ranging from smart transportation, manufacturing, and healthcare to smart city, and the Internet of Things. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop an ultra-high performance MMW wireless RF front-end technology for the next generation of multi-gigabit applications. Driven by the rising demand of the data-intensive applications, there is a growing need for more advanced wireless equipment for high data-rate communications. That is why with the emergence of multi-gigabit applications, there is a significant focus on MMW technology as the frontier of the wireless communication. The existing MMW RF front-end technologies, however, are either limited in their functionality or suffer from high power-consumption, which makes them not suitable for emerging massive deployments such as 5G backhaul, last-mile broadband for enterprise and service providers, etc. As a result, there is a need for new MMW RF front-end technologies to unlock the full potential of fiber-speed wireless communications. The proposed technology offers an order of magnitude higher performance compared to the best-in-class wireless technologies and can serve as an enabler to multiple high-speed applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.