Short Range Multi-Gigabit Wireless Links

Professor Edward Wasige (University of Glasgow, UK)

Abstract– The demand for broadband content and services worldwide is growing at a tremendous pace. Soon, traffic from wireless devices will exceed that of wired setups. Currently, high-resolution videos account for about 69 % of all data viewed on mobile devices and are expected to reach 79 % by 2020. At this pace, short-range wireless communication will soon require data transfer speeds of tens of gigabits per second (Gbps), which current wireless technology cannot support. A host of technologies are being actively researched to meet this challenge. In this talk, we will describe our research on the resonant tunnelling diode (RTD) technology to create ultra-broadband wireless communications. RTDs are compact, high-speed semiconductor devices that can function as transmitters and receivers. They can be modulated using electronic or optical signals and can also be used to modulate lasers. This makes them potentially valuable as a link between fibre and wireless domains. We will report on short range wireless links with data rates of over 10 Gbps using new RTD transmitters developed for the 100 GHz and 300 GHz regions of the radio spectrum. These speeds are over 1 000 times faster than the rates available at the moment.

Biography – Edward Wasige is a Professor and leads the High Frequency Electronics Group at the University of Glasgow. He joined the University of Glasgow as a Lecturer in 2002. Before that, he was a UNESCO Postdoctoral Fellow at The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. His current research covers gallium nitride device technologies for power electronics and for microwave electronics, and indium phosphide based device and integrated circuit technologies for microwave, millimetre-wave and terahertz electronics. He leads a number of projects on these topics with funding by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme and by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

GaAs Schottky Components for a 300 GHz Communication System

Professor Yi Wang (University of Birmingham, UK)

Abstract– This talk will first give an overview of the microfabrication work at Birmingham for millimetre-wave and terahertz devices. The fabrication techniques used include silicon deep reactive ion etching, laser ablation and SU8 photolithography. They have been used to achieve micrometre structure accuracy in a single layer for multi-layer device configurations. Filters, antennas and waveguide-integrated active devices have been demonstrated and examples will be presented. The talk will further give a few examples of recent GaAs Schottky diode components with hollow metal waveguides. A new matching technique based on coupled resonators and its co-design method will be discussed. This approach transfers the matching circuitry from the relatively lossy microstrip lines to low loss waveguide cavities and improves the efficiency of the interconnection.

Biography – Yi Wang received the B.Sc. degree in physics and M.Sc. degree in condensed matter physics from the University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China, in 1998 and 2001, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic and electrical engineering from the University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, U.K., in 2005. In 2011, he became a Senior Lecturer and then Reader at the University of Greenwich. In 2018, Yi joined Birmingham as a Senior Lecturer. His current research interests include millimeter-wave and terahertz devices for metrology, communications and sensors, micromachining, microwave circuits based on multiport filtering networks, and filter-antenna integration.

Review the Progress of Silicon Based THz

Professor Kaixue Ma (Tianjin University, China)

Email: makaixue@tju.edu.cn

Abstract– With the advantages of excellent penetration, low operation power and good security, THz has been drawn much attention in USA, Japan, Europe, China and worldwide recently. THz band, which is between the well-known microwave band and optic band, has broad absolute bandwidth, which is crucial spectrum resource with unique features and much wider than all of the commercial wireless bands used today. In twenty first century, THz technique has been recognized as the one of ten techniques which can change the future world. With the downscaling progress of the silicon technique, silicon has been verified as one of excellent candidates for commercial THz applications in terms of the low cost, compact size and high integrity etc. Thus this talk will study the applications and the progress of THz especially the silicon based THz techniques. Some progress of THz in China and our group will also be introduced. The challenge and future trend of the silicon based THz will also be presented.

Biography – Kaixue Ma (M’05–SM’09) received the B.E. and M.E. degrees from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, and the Ph.D. degree from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

From 1997 to 2002, he was with the China Academy of Space Technology, Xi’an, where he became the Leader of the Millimeter-Wave Group for space-borne microwave and millimeter-wave components and subsystems for satellite payload and very-small-aperture terminal ground stations. From 2005 to 2007, he was the Research and Development Manager with MEDs Technologies. From 2007 to 2010, he was the Research and Development Manager, the Project Leader, and the Technique Management Committee Member with ST Electronics. From 2010 to 2013, he was a Senior Research Fellow and the Millimeter-Wave RFIC Team Leader with NTU, where he was involved in the 60-GHz Flagship Chipset Project. From 2013 to 2018, he was a Full Professor with the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. He is currently a Professor and the Dean of the School of Microelectronics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China. He has given invited talks and keynote addresses over 20 times. He has authored or co-authored two books and over 230 referable international journals and conference papers in the related area and filed 41 patents. His current research interests include RF/microwave/ millimeter-wave/ terahertz-integrated circuits and system design using CMOS, GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit, MEMS, and LTCC for applications such as satellite communication and software-defined radio.

Dr. Ma received eight international technique awards including the Best Paper Award. He is also a project PI of National Key R&D Program of China on THz. He was named in the China Thousand Young Talent Program in 2012 and The National Distinguished Young Scholar Program in 2016. He is on the Review Board for several international journals, Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques and the Coordinator of IEEE IMS MGA R10 CN/SG Since 2018.

High Speed Signal Processing for Terahertz Band Communications

Professor Zhi Chen (UESTC, China)

Abstract –  Terahertz (THz) communication has been envisioned as a promising candidate to support ultra-broadband for future beyond 5G. However, there are still some critical challenges that need to be addressed for THz communication. To overcome the bottleneck of high complexity signal processing faced in THz communication, we employ signal processing method based on low bit quantization and the circuit design method based on probability calculation to effectively reduce power consumption and the hardware cost. As for the serious attenuation in THz frequency band, the beamforming technique is an appropriate choice, and the low complexity beam selection method based on machine learning is proposed. Moreover, due to the existence of the potential obstacles, the line-of-sight communication links for indoor THz communication are not reliable. To enhance the indoor coverage capability, we investigate the utilization of intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) to provide the reflecting transmission for THz communication system.

Biography – Zhi Chen is currently a Professor with the National Key Lab of Science and Technology on Communications, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), since August 2013. He received B. Eng, M. Eng., and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from UESTC, in 1997, 2000, 2006, respectively. On April 2006, he joined the National Key Lab of Science and Technology on Communications, UESTC. He was a visiting scholar at University of California, Riverside, during 2010-2011. He was also a senior visiting professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in 2016. He is the deputy director of Key Laboratory of Terahertz Technology, Ministry of Education. His current research interests include Terahertz Band Communication, 5G/B5G Mobile Communications. He is a senior member of the IEEE.

THz spatial modulator based on the active 2DEG metasurface

Professor Yaxin Zhang (UESTC, China)

Abstract– The past decades witnessed a substantial increase in THz research activities. Utilizing THz waves to transmit data for communication and imaging places high demands in phase and amplitude modulation. However, till now active THz devices including modulators and switches still cannot meet the demands of THz systems.

In this presentation, we present different kinds of Spatial THz modulators based on the active 2DEG metasurface. The high speed modulator with various mechanisms such as resonant mode conversion, tunable collectivization-atomization state conversion and mode coupling have been shown. The amplitude modulator with up to 93% modulation depth and more than 3GHz modulation speed; the phase modulator with 137 degree phase shift in the THz transmission mode have been achieved.

Biography – Dr. Yaxin Zhang received the B.Sc.degree from Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, in 2003, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Professor with the China Terahertz Science and Technology Research Center, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. His main research interests include terahertz high-speed wireless communication technology, including new terahertz signal source for wireless communication and terahertz functional devices (terahertz modulator, resonator, filter, etc.).