Researchers from N.C. State are developing a radio receiver system that will transfer greater amounts of data at a faster rate than current technology allows. The National Science Foundation is granting the University $1.08 million to fund the project.
This research is being conducted in an attempt to integrate a receiver with the Multi-Input-Multi-Output method that enables a large transfer of data from a limited bandwidth, according to Brian Hughes, an electrical engineering professor and co-investigator on the venture.
In other words, MIMO technology is a way of sending multiple signals in the same bandwidth, but MIMO requires multiple antennas spaced far apart without interaction in order to achieve the full benefits of data transfer.
“Here we’re sending more information in the same bandwidth,” Hughes said. “We’re achieving the same result as increasing bandwidth without actually using more bandwidth, which is precious.”
Download speeds could also increase significantly via MIMO processing.
Jacob Adams, an electrical engineering professor, specializing in antenna design and the other co-investigator on the project, said MIMO could have great benefits.
“In the ideal scenario, MIMO throughout will scale linearly with the number of antennas,” Adams said. “That is, with two antennas, you could reduce your download time by half, [and] with four antennas you could cut your download time by 75 percent.”
The researchers must also develop new technologies for the device’s creation.
“We’re not going to be using the existing antennas that you see on tops of buildings,” Hughes said. “We’re going to try to use information theory and antenna design to design new antennas that extract the most information from the environment.”
This technology could be integrated into various technologies and increase the amount of data being transferred.
“What this technology would enable us to do is to have multiple antennas in very close proximity that would enable us to realize the benefits of MIMO in a very small space like a cellphone or a car,” Hughes said. “That could boost the amount of data rate, reduce the amount of signal fading in the environment and more simultaneous users.”
Moreover, this could also impact the technology at N.C. State by reducing the crash rates of sites such as MyPack or Moodle where the rates are limiting, Hughes said.
The project is multi- disciplined because Hughes, Adams and Brian Floyd, an electrical engineering professor specializing in circuits, will design a system that will maximize the information being sent in a limited space. Each researcher teaches and researches different concentration within electrical engineering.
The researchers will have a prototype by the beginning of 2015 that will incorporate their individual disciplines and potentially allow the group to build larger systems.
