Project set to develop next-gen wireless communications

Engineers from Glasgow University are teaming up with colleagues from the Tyndall National Institute’s Wireless Communications Laboratory (WCL) at University College Cork for the AR-COM (Active intelligent Reconfigurable surfaces for 6G wireless COMmunications) project.

AR-COM is supported by £1m in funding from UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) plus €500K from Research Ireland.

In a statement, principal investigator Professor Qammer H. Abbasi, director of the Communications, Sensing and Imaging (CSI) hub at Glasgow University’s James Watt School of Engineering, said: "Current materials used in wireless communications face significant limitations, especially at the higher frequencies that 6G networks will require. With AR-COM, we’re building on the expertise of Glasgow University and the Tyndall Institute with the support of key industry partners to develop truly next-generation technologies.”

Over the next three years, the AR-COM partners will develop new materials and methods to help IRS technologies achieve their full potential in the millimetre-wave and terahertz ranges of the communications spectrum.

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Intelligent reflecting surfaces are capable of intercepting weak wireless signals indoors and outdoors to actively guide them to devices, boosting the strength of the signal in the process to maximise performance.

IRS devices could one day provide better mobile coverage in buildings with poor reception, enable more reliable high-speed internet connections and support new 6G applications that will require extremely reliable wireless connections.

The researchers will initially focus on creating advanced switches engineered from transition metal oxides (TMOs) to enable precise and rapid control over wireless signal strength.

Next, the team will develop technology to control the direction of wireless signals. The researchers will study how signals move through carefully designed layers of metal and TMO materials and find new ways for signals to be steered around obstacles in complex indoor environments.

In the third stage of their research, the team will develop miniature signal amplifiers built using resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs), which can boost weakened signals while requiring very low amounts of power to operate.

Finally, the team will integrate all their newly developed elements into a fully functional IRS system which can manipulate wireless signals with no signal loss and low latency, and maximise signal quality in challenging environments.

Dr Senad Bulja, who is leading Tyndall National Institute’s contribution to AR-COM, said: “Resonant tunnelling diodes, which can amplify signals while using very little power, and transition metal oxides, which can act as ultra-fast switches, have a great deal of potential to help overcome the bottlenecks of current generations of IRS technologies. Together, these technologies will help us create surfaces that not only redirect signals but also boost them with minimal energy consumption, which will help them find use in a wide range of devices in the years to come.”