NETS: SMALL: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: OSTARA: AN OPTICALLY-BASED SIMULTANEOUS TRANSMIT AND RECEIVE ARCHITECTURE FOR ENHANCING WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

Improving the usage of communication spectrum resources is critical to future wireless systems. The OSTARA project focuses on the development of RF photonic techniques that support the ability to simultaneously transmit and receive in wireless devices. The effort involves a mix of theoretical development (specifically investigating potential improvements in capacity), as well as systems validation efforts involving building an opto-cancellation circuit capable of cancelling out co-site interference associated with simultaneous transmission and reception. . Specifically, the theoretical component of the effort will involve using ray-tracing to understand the role of cancelation of multipath components on communication rate, as well as an investigation into the impact of idealized cancellation on network capacity using graph coloring. The systems component of the effort will involve developing photonic circuits that subtract off the transmitted signal from the receiver chain, as well as potential multipath images of the transmitted signal. Validation will involve field testing the opto-canceller by setting up test scenarios on the ORBIT testbed at WINLAB.Broader Impact: The proposed research will improve the spectrum utilization of future wireless systems, an issue of critical national importance. Additionally, the project will educate students and post-doctoral fellows in the inter-disciplinary area of RF-photonics as applied to advanced radio systems.