ITR/SI-Adaptive Integrated Radio Frequency Transceiver Frontends for High Data Rate Wireless Communications

The technical focus of this project is to develop a unified approach for the design of low-cost batch fabricated adaptive radio frequency (RF) transceiver frontends with a goal of achieving robust, high speed and low power wireless communications. These adaptive RF frontends are suitable for either high mobility radio channels or environments with variable fading conditions, such as microwave and millimeter-wave local area networks where movements of personnel and objects can vary a channels' attenuation and fading characteristics.

The proposed research is an interdisciplinary effort in material science and electrical engineering that encompasses the development and characterization of adaptive RF frontends, consisting of frequency and polarization agile antenna arrays, electronically tunable delay lines, matching circuits and filters all incorporating thin film barium strontium titanate (BST). BST technology provides many advantages over conventional devices because of its miniaturization and integration features. This research investigates the development and characterization of a broad range of RF devices and components for the design of low cost smart transceivers, which entails physical and RF design, layout, simulation, fabrication and testing.