Subject to approval
Novel Broadband MicroPhotonic
Smart Antenna
Project Team:
Prof. Khalid Al-Begain (Project Leader)
Dr. Ifiok Otung
Photonics and Sensors
RG, University of Cambridge
Prof. Bill Crossland
Dr. Tim Wilkinson
International
Partners
Edith
Cowan University,
WA Centre of Excellence for MicroPhotonic Systems (COMPS)
Prof.
WA National
Tele-Test Facility
Prof. Adam Osseiran
Dr. Alfred Tan
Summary
Tremendous efforts are made recently towards increasing capacity and bandwidth of wireless systems. The IEEE 802.11 and .16 technologies are approaching the 100Mbps limits. However, higher data rate will need new and revolutionary solutions. One main problem in achieving the broadband wireless is the limitation in the efficient use of available frequency spectrum. A smart antenna is an adaptive phased array antenna that can locate and track various types of signals to extend its main lobe toward an active user with nulls adapted toward co-channel interferers, hence increasing reception accuracy significantly and enabling many wireless users to operate within the same frequency band, as illustrated in Figure 1. Finding a practical broadband beamformer is currently the major obstacle preventing wireless communication equipment from cost-effectively accessing the Internet to download large amounts of data, including video-quality images at high data rates.
