Mixed-Signal, RF & Microwave Seminar

During the past 50 years, phased-arrays have being largely developed for the defense sector.  Today, due to the increased demand for data, there is a need for base-station and mobile-user phased-arrays which can provide high-capacity data services through directional links. Therefore, there is an amazing investment by the telecom industry in this sector at highly accelerated time scales (24-36 months) to meet the commercial demand.  Today, both digital-beamforming at the element level (sub-6 GHz) and hybrid (i.e. analog/digital) beamforming for the mm-waves bands are being developed for next-generation 5G telecom systems.  These commercial investments are leading to dramatic changes in phased-arrays: High EIRP, high-performance systems at 28 GHz, 39 GHz and even 60 GHz, and with multiple beams, are now available at low-cost (<$1K). This talk will summarize our work in this area, and present a roadmap for the future.