Antenna technologies for beyond 5G Wireless Communication

Research Project, 2020 – 2025

We aim to develop robust, energy-efficient and highly-compact antenna array solutions for frequencies beyond 100 GHz as future enabling technologies for beyond-5G (B5G) applications, products, and services. The project is based on the existing and newly established collaboration links between 5 academic groups in Sweden and Taiwan with relevant complementary scientific expertise for resolving the challenges for these applications. We will investigate an innovative antenna system concept utilizing (a) state-of-the-art antenna array modularization methodologies to solve the major challenge of physical and manufacturing complexities at mm-wave frequencies; and (b) new mm-wave circuit design concepts for non-conventional antenna functionalities, to maximize energy efficiency; (c) advanced silicon-micromachining as an enabling technology for highly-compact antenna arrays, with integrated microelectromechanical reconfigurability for beamforming. The inter-disciplinarity of the academic expertise along with the early industrial involvement will enable us to design B5G antenna concepts by taking all system layers and associated industrial perspectives into account. The project is supported and actively guided by several industrial supporters, including SMEs and one of the world’s largest telecom system providers, to optimize impact and utilization of the developed technologies, and for these industrial supporters to learn about possibilities and limitations of emerging technologies.