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2022
2023
2022
The general objective of ASTRID is to contribute to sound-field deployment systems by the design and development of test beds, algorithms and computational kernels, that improve the performance, increase the resiliency, and reduce the energy consumption in order to transfer knowledge and tools to the productive sector. ASTRID will address complex sound deployment scenarios along three research fields: Fast multichannel adaptive algorithms, Distributed and collaborative systems and Psychoacoustic aspects of listening; focused on four related application target domains: Active sound field control, Personal sound zones and spaces, and Computational and mathematical tools for sound processing.
VISION: Sounds will be rendered to the users at any location and any time, efficiently, with the help of low-cost devices, maximizing the user’s quality-of-experience.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate on sound space control applications in real and dynamic environments using inference and classification tools based on novel machine and deep learning techniques, aiming at maximum performance, energy efficiency and feasibility.
2020
2022
2023
FURTHER-SAT se trata de un proyecto autonómico que, desde un punto de vista científico-tecnológico, se centra en todas las tecnologías de alta frecuencia disponibles: las clásicas basadas en circuitos planos y guías de ondas, las más recientes guías de ondas planas integradas con/sin sustrato dieléctrico (es decir, SIW, ESIW y ESICL), y el prometedor concepto de guías de ondas groove gap waveguides. También se estudian materiales avanzados (como los artificiales -metamateriales-, cristales líquidos y cerámicas de alta permitividad), así como diversas técnicas de fabricación (fresado de alta precisión, métodos de fabricación aditiva, cerámica cocida a baja temperatura -LTCC- y procesos de micromecanizado).
2020
Los sistemas de comunicaciones espaciales son un activo clave para soportar los servicios y aplicaciones más relevantes de cualquier Sociedad Digital moderna. Entre ellos están los servicios de telecomunicaciones instantáneos y ubicuos (voz de alta calidad, datos a alta velocidad o difusión de radio y televisión), sistemas globales de radionavegación por satélite (Galileo en Europa y GPS en EE. UU.), así como los programas de observación de la Tierra (como Copernicus y Living Planet, financiados por la Comisión Europea -CE- y la Agencia Espacial Europea -ESA) orientados a la seguridad, estudio del medio ambiente y del cambio climático. Incluso las recientes redes de telefonía móvil terrestre 5G y 6G se verán reforzadas a través de una infraestructura basada en satélites. Como resultado, los ciudadanos de todo el mundo (y en particular los europeos y españoles) se benefician enormemente en términos de crecimiento económico, bienestar social y avances científicos y tecnológicos.
En la actualidad, el Programa Espacial Europeo está siendo impulsado (por la ESA, la CE y el sector industrial) a través de satélites de próxima generación al servicio de importantes proyectos espaciales: la segunda generación de Galileo y la tercera generación de METEOSAT, las próximas cinco misiones Sentinel y el satélite EarthCARE de los programas Copernicus y Living Planet, y las nuevas líneas de producto en satélites de telecomunicaciones denominadas Spacebus y Eurostar Neo. Además, las mega constelaciones de pequeños satélites (proyectos SpaceX y OneWeb) que brindan conectividad global a Internet están en plena expansión. Y todo gracias al establecimiento de enlaces avanzados de comunicación por satélite, basados en nuevos equipos de alta frecuencia (componentes pasivos y antenas) que utilizarán tecnologías emergentes.
Por lo tanto, como también sugieren los principales actores del sector espacial (la ESA, así como empresas multinacionales y españolas), se deben idear y diseñar soluciones novedosas para dispositivos pasivos de alta frecuencia y elementos radiantes. Estos nuevos equipos tendrán que abordar desafíos múltiples e interdisciplinares, en términos de tamaño eléctrico (compactos), frecuencia adaptativa y recursos de ancho de banda espectral (reconfigurables), mayores niveles de potencia de transmisión (lidiando con los efectos de
descarga e intermodulación) y viabilidad de fabricación (problemas de precisión y repetibilidad). Además, estos requisitos deberán abordarse adecuadamente en diversos rangos de frecuencia (que cubren las bandas de ondas de RF, microondas, milimétricas y submilimétricas).
Para ello, se propone un proyecto coordinado (IMPULSE) a realizar por un equipo de 5 grupos académicos de investigación (con colaboraciones previas exitosas). Cuatro subproyectos complementarios desarrollarán conjuntamente investigaciones de primer nivel sobre equipos innovadores de comunicación por satélite, considerando tecnologías de alta frecuencia tradicionales y emergentes: es decir, las basadas en circuitos planares y en guías de ondas 3D, las soluciones híbridas (guías de ondas planas implementadas en sustratos dieléctricos y vacíos), y el conjunto recién propuesto de guías con paredes corrugadas (o gap waveguides). También se investigarán materiales avanzados y sintonizables (como bioplásticos, grafeno y cristal líquido), así como técnicas de fabricación clásicas (fresado, LTCC) y más recientes (fabricación aditiva, micro mecanizado).
Este subproyecto, que actúa como coordinador del proyecto general y de los equipos participantes, además de revisar el trabajo conjunto sobre las herramientas CAE (métodos asistidos por ordenador de análisis, síntesis y optimización), y desarrollar completamente un demostrador integrado para una etapa de salida de múltiples haces en banda Ka, contribuye en el avance del uso práctico de varias tecnologías de guía de ondas para comunicaciones espaciales. En particular, se centra en la tecnología de guía de onda integrada de sustrato (SIW) coaxial, topologías plegadas y estriadas de la versión SIW vacía (ESIW) y componentes mecánicamente sintonizables (principalmente filtros y diplexores) utilizando cavidades de guía de onda 3D. También se aborda la implementación práctica de prototipos mediante técnicas LTCC e impresión 3D (con resinas metalizadas), así como la validación experimental de equipos (efectos de alta frecuencia y experimentos de comunicación con pequeños satélites).
2023
In the new generation of wireless communications systems in the millimeter band, reconfigurable antennas are becoming an essential technological pillar, as they must compensate for the high propagation losses at high frequencies. As a consequence, the development of new high-performance terminals for moving vehicles, trains, airplanes or rescue equipment is today a goal pursued by many companies worldwide. In this context, the main objective of this project is the development of electronically beam-steerable antennas for communications systems in the millimeter band. Specifically, this project aims at improving the efficiency of these antennas by integrating low-loss waveguide technologies instead of traditional printed technologies. The research will focus on the design, fabrication and experimental validation of two technological demonstrators in the K/Ka bands, valid for satellite communications in motion.
Nowadays, telecommunications systems have become an integral part of our daily lives and have an undeniable impact on our private and professional activities. The anyone to anything, anytime, anywhere paradigm, originally conceived for 5G mobile communications networks, is progressively becoming a reality. The primary needs driving this change have been high-throughput mobile connections, reliable low-latency connections, and massive machine-to-machine communications. This trend is leading technological advances in all segments of the ecosystem, where the use of millimeter waves is crucial to implement high-capacity wireless networks. Currently, the electromagnetic spectrum below 6 GHz (sub-6) is highly saturated, so the use of these higher bands allows for a significant increase in data rates. These new millimeter-wave systems are even becoming a valid alternative to copper and fiber connections in urban areas. Their role, already crucial in 5G infrastructure, will be even more important in the future. The 6G network architecture currently being conceived is strongly oriented towards a hierarchical infrastructure, referred to as a vertical heterogeneous network, providing universal coverage by integrating terrestrial, aerial, and space communication links.
This new scenario calls for a new generation of high-efficiency antennas in the millimeter-wave band, being one of the key enabling technologies for the successful deployment of this global network. Due to the heterogeneity of the different nodes and links, the characteristics of the antennas to be developed are very diverse, being possible to use different technologies and typologies. Among other specifications, this project addresses fixed-beam antennas for backhaul links, antennas capable of covering multiple bands, including combinations of mm-wave with sub-6 bands, beam-steerable antennas for communications on the move, or multi-beam antennas for 5G/6G base stations, all of which will be strongly demanded in the next decade.
In addition, the sustainability and affordability of such a huge mm-wave global network demand cost-effective antenna technologies with an enhanced trade-off between fabrication cost and energy efficiency. With this aim, this project investigates different antenna technologies, such as novel versions of gap waveguides with simpler fabrication processes, traveling and leaky-wave radiation mechanisms based on novel slow-wave structures, glide-symmetric holey metasurfaces, or innovative 3D printed configurations. The proposed antenna solutions should be carefully validated through prototyping, with particular attention to low-cost fabrication procedures such as additive manufacturing or conventional printed-circuit-board techniques.
2022
Massive access by society to new broadband communications systems in the millimeter-wave band seems to be an imminent reality. However, there are still some technological barriers to overcome from the antenna point of view. The development of low-cost mobile terminals for Ka-band satellite communications, for example, is one of the most complex challenges for those working in the telecommunications sector. In particular, the ability to reliably control beam steering while keeping the antenna fixed is one of the great challenges of today's technology. This feature has a very important impact on the antenna profile and can really make a difference compared to existing terminals, especially in the aeronautical sector.
Since the antenna is considered a key enabling technology for the envisioned industrial sector, the main objective of this project focuses on demonstrating that the mechanical phase shifter can indeed be operational in an antenna with the size and specifications associated with SATCOM applications, and in general with new millimeter band communications systems. This full-scale evaluation is of vital importance. Some specifications, such as bandwidth, sweep range and polarization purity, are highly dependent on antenna size. A larger size of the internal feed network is more difficult to design and limits the bandwidth. In addition, coupling between radiating elements in the array aperture, especially for scan angles close to the horizon line, quickly spoils the radiation pattern and beam pointing.
The manufacturing cost of the radiating subsystem is another key factor in developing an easily industrializable product. In this project, alternative guiding technologies to the one used in the original prototype are studied in order to reduce costs. The size occupied by the phase-shifting structure is also another feature to be improved in order to achieve a competitive prototype. The final goal of this project is the experimental demonstration of the concept by means of a functional prototype and the dissemination and commercialization of the results among the sectors of interest.
2021
The new application technologies envisioned for the next decade make that technical performance requirements of 6G must be higher than those currently achieved by 5G. Requirements of large bandwidths (to be defined, but higher than 400 MHz), high peak data rate (more than 1 Tbps), high user experience rate (on the order of 1 Gbps), density of connected devices (107 devices/km2) and user plane latency (from 25 µs to 1 ms), to mention the most representative, require technical challenges at the PHY layer, but also new improvements in the core network. To overcome these technical challenges, 6G wireless channels need to be thoroughly studied, since the knowledge of the channel is the basis for designing, optimizing and evaluating the performance of any wireless system. As in 5G, the definition of 6G once again represents a challenge in channel measurements and modelling. The introduction of new enabling technologies, e.g., very large arrays and distributed arrays, and large bandwidths require more complete and robust channel models.
Based on the starting hypothesis, the objective of the project is to develop wireless channel models and generate the channel knowledge required to the definition, standardization, and deployment of the future 6G systems. As indicated in the future vision of channel models in Section 1, important contributions are expected to be made in the three following challenges:
- Definition of a new taxonomy of radio channels.
- Inclusion of very large MIMO arrays and distributed MIMO arrays in the wireless channel model.
- Development of hybrid Quasi-Deterministic channel models.
To achieve the objective of the project, we define a methodology that combines channel measurements, channel simulations, and experimental and theoretical channel modelling.