Description:
Reference #: 01628
The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for waveform-triggered reception and buffering for millimeter-wave software-defined radios.
Background:
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) communications is one of the key enablers for high-throughput systems by allowing directive links over a large bandwidth. While there has been extensive research activity for mmWave systems, experimentation in real-world environments is still a major challenge due to the lack of low-cost and portable mmWave software-defined radios (SDRs), as compared to the ones for sub-6 GHz. One of the problems is the large difference between the sample rate of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and the CC’s processing speed in mmWave systems. It is very challenging to find the transmitted signals via a host-based signal processing when the signals are transmitted so quickly (in the level microseconds). Our innovations address this problem and finds the signals without continuously monitoring the signal at the CC.
Invention Description:
This process addresses the large difference between the processing speed of a companion computer (CC) of an SDR and the sample rate of the corresponding analog-to-digital converters in the SDR, particularly for millimeter-wave software-defined radios (SDRs), we propose a method, called waveform-triggered reception (WTR), where a hard-coded block detects a special trigger waveform to acquire a pre-determined number of IQ samples upon the detection. We also introduce a buffer mechanism to support discontinuous transmissions. This innovation substantially improves the flexibility of an SDR as it reduces the computation burden at the CC.
Potential Applications:
Existing solutions use either a complete FPGA design (which compromises the flexibility of the SDR) or use exhaustive correlators at the companion computer (which causes a heavy computation burden). Our innovation simplifies both processes.
Advantages and Benefits:
The proposed process maintains the flexibility of the companion computer (CC)-based baseband signal processing even if the sample rate of the SDR is extremely large. This reduces the need for fast CC and effectively reduces the cost of the SDR. It also enables practical tests, design, research, and measurement in millimeter bands as it leads to portable and
low-cost mmWave SDRs.