ORF-RE Workshop

Intelligent Multiple Antenna Structures for Adaptive Wireless Systems

Hyper-Connectivity Lab (HCL) Tour

12:00 – 1:00

Wireless networks are constantly evolving to support higher data rates at a lower cost. This constant growth is severely affected by the limitations on “spectrum” and “battery life”. It is predicted that a ten-fold improvement in the bandwidth efficiency is needed to handle the wireless traffic by 2010. This projected need is far beyond the reach of the current technology and breakthroughs are required to address this urgent need. Intelligent antenna structures are the key enabling technique to overcome these limitations. Recent advances in the application of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna systems predict potentially huge improvements in spectral and power efficiency of wireless systems. The HCL laboratory includes several advanced software defined radio platforms for MIMO wireless transmission. This includes several MIMO units from Lyrtech which can implement up to 8x8 antenna systems operating in the ISM band, as well as WARP MIMO units. These units provide flexible platforms to design and implement various PHY/MAC Layer algorithms. The platforms are composed of a 4 or 8 channel RF front-ends oriented for smart (array) antennas/MIMO development. It is connected to ADC/DAC boards, and FPGA/DSP-based cards for signal processing. The systems supports the combination of System Generator for DSP from Xilinx and Simulink tools for model-based design, permitting the designers to write the VHDL code and/or the DSP code in either low level, or using C, or even using MathWorks’ SIMULINK tool. This laboratory provides a flexible environment to gather data, test and design antennas as well as PHY/MAC layer algorithms for MIMO systems.


802.11n MIMO Setup


802.11n MIMO Node