Designing Radio Waves that Can Automatically Heal Their Own Connection

Outcome/Accomplishment

Researchers developed a novel theoretical foundation for designing waveforms that can preserve connections in wireless networks amid today’s crowded airwaves in research funded by the Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at Columbia University.

Impact/Benefits

Reliable wireless network connections are crucial for creating livable and safe communities through real-time, hyper-local streetscape applications. Scientists at CS3 achieved the first-ever, high-throughput low-latency, full-duplex spread-spectrum link that uses a system-on-a-chip platform and supports the recording and playback of uncompressed high-definition video.

Explanation/Background

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is well understood as a crucial component in 5G and future communications. Using a Center testbed and a Radio Frequency System on a Chip (RFSoC), NSF CS3 investigators designed and implemented a new broad-spectrum link that uses MIMO frequency-division-duplex (FDD)—and demonstrated real-time, high-definition video streaming.

The researchers addressed the challenge of creating a dynamic MIMO link over a fixed wireless band amid widespread interference. The resulting publications highlighted how optimized waveforms can help maintain “clean” communications in extreme interference environments, which is crucial to autonomous, machine-to-machine communications. The team’s formal theory publication (in the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Special Issue on Electromagnetic Signal and Information Theory for Communications) was selected and discussed as a Research Highlight by Nature Reviews (May 2024). For more detail, see S. Naderi, D. A. Pados, G. Sklivanitis, E. S. Bentley, J. Suprenant, and M. J. Medley, “Self-optimizing near and far-field MIMO transmit waveforms,” IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., vol. 42, no. 6, Art. no. 6, Jun. 2024, doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2024.3389123.

Image

Location

New York City, NY

e-mail

streetscapes@columbia.edu

Start Year

Microelectronics and IT

Microelectronics, Sensing, and Information Technology Icon
Microelectronics, Sensing, and Information Technology Icon

Quantum, Microelectronics, Sensing, and IT

Lead Institution

Columbia University

Core Partners

Florida Atlantic University, Lehman College, Rutgers University, University of Central Florida
Image

Outcome/Accomplishment

Researchers developed a novel theoretical foundation for designing waveforms that can preserve connections in wireless networks amid today’s crowded airwaves in research funded by the Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at Columbia University.

Location

New York City, NY

e-mail

streetscapes@columbia.edu

Start Year

Microelectronics and IT

Microelectronics, Sensing, and Information Technology Icon
Microelectronics, Sensing, and Information Technology Icon

Quantum, Microelectronics, Sensing, and IT

Lead Institution

Columbia University

Core Partners

Florida Atlantic University, Lehman College, Rutgers University, University of Central Florida

Impact/benefits

Reliable wireless network connections are crucial for creating livable and safe communities through real-time, hyper-local streetscape applications. Scientists at CS3 achieved the first-ever, high-throughput low-latency, full-duplex spread-spectrum link that uses a system-on-a-chip platform and supports the recording and playback of uncompressed high-definition video.

Explanation/Background

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is well understood as a crucial component in 5G and future communications. Using a Center testbed and a Radio Frequency System on a Chip (RFSoC), NSF CS3 investigators designed and implemented a new broad-spectrum link that uses MIMO frequency-division-duplex (FDD)—and demonstrated real-time, high-definition video streaming.

The researchers addressed the challenge of creating a dynamic MIMO link over a fixed wireless band amid widespread interference. The resulting publications highlighted how optimized waveforms can help maintain “clean” communications in extreme interference environments, which is crucial to autonomous, machine-to-machine communications. The team’s formal theory publication (in the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Special Issue on Electromagnetic Signal and Information Theory for Communications) was selected and discussed as a Research Highlight by Nature Reviews (May 2024). For more detail, see S. Naderi, D. A. Pados, G. Sklivanitis, E. S. Bentley, J. Suprenant, and M. J. Medley, “Self-optimizing near and far-field MIMO transmit waveforms,” IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., vol. 42, no. 6, Art. no. 6, Jun. 2024, doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2024.3389123.