Project Details
Projekt
Cross-Domain Multiplexing Testbench for Terahertz and Photonic Communication Systems (CrossLink)
Subject Area
Communication Technology and Networks, High-Frequency Technology and Photonic Systems, Signal Processing and Machine Learning for Information Technology
Term
from 2020 to 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 434501119
There is an unbowed trend for increasing channel bandwidths and symbol rates on a single communication link channel. This is true for mobile and wireless communication as well as for optical communications. Thus, the broadband measurement equipment has to cover both the baseband reaching from DC to about 100 GHz as well as the radio frequency pass-bands which today push into Terahertz frequencies. Moreover, it has to provide, both, time domain as well as frequency domain measurement capabilities, since while the actual data transmission experiment is carried out in time domain, the frequency domain is far more powerful in evaluating the system impairments imposing limitations on the usable bandwidth and the spectral efficiency of the employed modulation formats.This project proposes an innovative and versatile measurement platform combining wideband time and frequency domain characterization in a unified instrumentation for communication systems, covering the digital baseband of fibre-optic links and the RF passband of Terahertz communication links at beyond 300 GHz. Four synchronous channels for signal generation and four channels for signal analysis will be multiplexed in a cross-domain configuration, allowing for instantaneous time and frequency domain hardware-in-the-loop testing of ultra-wideband transceiver components reaching from photonic devices, ADCs and DAC’s to Terahertz circuitry. Symbol rates of 128 GBd and arbitrary modulation formats will be made available in the baseband through beyond state-of-the-art arbitrary waveform generators and sampling oscilloscopes. For wireless THz communication, beyond state-of-the-art 8-channel network analyzers and novel 4-channel up- and down-converter modules for the WR-3 waveguide band from 220 to 325 GHz will allow for nonlinear vectorial network analysis and channel aggregation in line with the new THz frequency standard IEEE 802.15.3d. The novel instrumentation will allow for a large variety of measurement configurations combining the synchronized time and frequency domain evaluation of ultra-wideband communication channels, enabling such new measurement features as the testing of custom-designed high-speed multiplexers and de-multiplexers, the multi-tone analysis of THz transceivers, and the instantaneous characterization of transceivers during wideband data transmission. The project is proposed by four experienced principal investigators from two institutes at the department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the University of Stuttgart. Both institutes have strong prior art as well as ongoing and starting DFG projects in the area of high data rate communication. Four additional institutes at the University of Stuttgart, all pursuing active research in IC design and communication systems, have confirmed the wish to collaborate, and several external and international research institutions from academia and major research have expressed their support.
DFG Programme
Major Instrumentation Initiatives
Major Instrumentation
Analysator & Generator
Subsampling Oscilloscope, 8 channel with 120 GHz bandwidth
Up/Down-Converter up to 325GHz
arbitrary wave generator, 128 GS/s, 4 channel
Subsampling Oscilloscope, 8 channel with 120 GHz bandwidth
Up/Down-Converter up to 325GHz
arbitrary wave generator, 128 GS/s, 4 channel
Instrumentation Group
6380 Frequenzanalysatoren, Schwingungsanalysatoren
Applicant Institution
Universität Stuttgart
Co-Investigators
Professor Dr.-Ing. Manfred Berroth; Dr.-Ing. Sebastien Chartier; Dr.-Ing. Markus Grözing
