New Opportunities in

Wireless Communications
Ali M Niknejad
Robert W Brodersen
Understanding and Increasing Mesh Capacity

MSR Mesh Networking Summit

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Presentation Outline

60 GHz CMOS Radio Research

Cognitive Radio at BWRC
Overview of COGUR Project

60 GHz CMOS Radios

Chinh Doan, Sohrab Emami, David Sobel
Mounir Bohsali, Sayf Alalusi

Why is operation at 60 GHz

interesting?

57 dBm

40 dBm

Lots of Bandwidth!!!

7 GHz of unlicensed bandwidth in the U.S. and Japan

Same amount of bandwidth is available in the 3-10 UWB band, but the
allowed transmit power level is 104 times higher !

Applications of 60 GHz WLAN

60 GHz Challenges

High path loss at 60 GHz (relative to 5 GHz)

Silicon substrate is lossy high Q passive elements difficult

to realize?

Antenna array results in better performance at higher frequency

because more antennas can be integrated in fixed area

No, the Q factor is even better at high frequencies with T-lines, MIM
caps, and loop inductors (Q > 20)

CMOS device performance at mm-wave frequencies

CMOS building blocks at 60 GHz
Design methodology for CMOS mm-wave
Low power baseband architecture for Gbps communication

60 GHz CMOS Wireless LAN

System

10-100 m

A fully-integrated low-cost Gb/s data communication using

60 GHz band.
Employ emerging standard CMOS technology for the radio
building blocks. Exploit electronically steer-able antenna
array for improved gain and resilience to multi-path.

Advantages of Antenna Array

Antenna array is dynamic and

can point in any direction to
maximized the received signal
Enhanced receiver/transmitter
antenna gain (reduced PA
power, LNA gain)
Improved diversity
Reduced multi-path fading
Null interfering signals
Capacity enhancement through
spatial coding
Spatial power combining means

Less power per PA (~10 mW)

Simpler PA architecture
Automatic power control

Multi-Stage Conversion

9 GHz VCO is locked to reference. Power consumption of

frequency dividers is greatly reduced.
A frequency tripler generates a 27 GHz LO.
Gain comes from RF at 60 GHz, at IF of 33 GHz, and
through a passband VGA at 6 GHz (easier than a
broadband DC solution).

130-nm CMOS Maximum Gain

VGS = 0.65 V
VDS = 1.2 V
IDS = 30 mA
W/L = 100x1u/0.13u

Co-planar (CPW) and Microstrip TLines

CPW

Microstrip

Microstrip shields EM fields from

substrate
CPW can realize higher Q inductors
needed for tuning out device
capacitance
Use CPW

First Ever 60 GHz CMOS

Amplifier!

11.5-dB Gain
@ 60 GHz

Gain > 11 dB ; Return loss > 15 dB

Design methodology is incredibly accurate!

Reference: Millimeter-Wave CMOS Design, to appear in JSSC

Chinh H. Doan, Sohrab Emami, Ali M. Niknejad, and Robert W. Brodersen

Modeling of 60-GHz CMOS Mixer

Conversion-loss is better than 2 dB

for PLO=0 dBm

IF=2GHz
6 GHz of bandwidth

System Design Considerations

60 GHz CMOS PA will have limited P1dB point

Tx power constraint while targeting 1Gbps

Must use low PAR signal for efficient PA utilization

60 GHz CMOS VCOs have poor phase noise

-85dBc/Hz @ 1MHz offset typical (ISSCC 2004)

Modulation must be insensitive to phase noise

From IFTX

LOTX

PA

LNA

To IFRX

SLO(f)

Vout

LORX
Vin
fc

Modulation Scheme Comparison

OFDMQPSK

High-order
modulation (16QAM)

Singlecarrier
QPSK

Constant
Envelope
(MSK)

7dB

12dB

7dB

7dB

~10dB

~5.5dB

~3dB

0dB

PA linearity reqt

High

High

Moderate

Low

Sensitivity to Phase
Noise

High
(ICI)

High
(Symbol Jitter)

Moderate

Low

Moderate
(FFT)

High
(Equalizer)

High
(Equalizer)

High
(Equalizer)

Modulation
SNRreq (BER=10-3)
PARTX

Complexity of Multipath
Mitigation Techniques

Beamforming to combat multipath.

Simple modulation (MSK) for feasible CMOS RF
circuits.

The Hybrid-Analog Architecture

Proposed Baseband
Architecture

RF

IF

Clock Rec

BBI

BBI
VGA
BBQ

Clk

Complex
DFE

BBQ

Timing, DFE
Carrier Phase,
Estimators

LOIF
Analog
Digital

Condition the signal prior to quantization

Phase and timing recovery, equalization in analog domain

Greatly simplifies requirements on the ADC/VGA circuitry

Synchronization estimators in the digital domain

Can still use robust digital algorithms for synchronization

60 GHz Conclusions

At 130 nm, mainstream digital CMOS is able to exploit the

unlicensed 60-GHz band
Accurate device modeling is possible by extending RF
frequency methodologies
A transmission-line-based circuit strategy provides
predictable and repeatable low-loss impedance matching
and filtering
Analog equalization with digital domain estimation and
calibration will enable low-power Gb/s baseband

Cognitive* Radios
Danijela Cabric

* Adapting behavior based on external factors

Window of Opportunity
Recent measurements by the
FCC in the US show 70% of the
allocated spectrum is not utilized

Bandwidth is expensive and good

frequencies are taken

Time scale of the spectrum

occupancy varies from msecs to
hours

Unlicensed bands biggest

innovations in spectrum efficiency

Frequency (Hz)

Existing spectrum policy forces

spectrum to behave like a fragmented
disk

Time (min)

Spectrum Sharing

Existing techniques for spectrum sharing:

Drawbacks of existing techniques:

Unlicensed bands (WiFi 802.11 a/b/g)

Underlay licensed bands (UWB)
Opportunistic sharing
Recycling (exploit the SINR margin of legacy systems)
Spatial Multiplexing and Beamforming
No knowledge or sense of spectrum availability
Limited adaptability to spectral environment
Fixed parameters: BW, Fc, packet lengths, synchronization,
coding, protocols,

New radio design philosophy: all parameters are adaptive

Cognitive Radio Technology

What is a Cognitive Radio?

Cognitive radio requirements

co-exists with legacy wireless systems

uses their spectrum resources
does not interfere with them

Cognitive radio properties

RF technology that "listens" to huge swaths of spectrum

Knowledge of primary users spectrum usage as a function of
location and time
Rules of sharing the available resources (time, frequency, space)
Embedded intelligence to determine optimal transmission
(bandwidth, latency, QoS) based on primary users behavior

Application Scenarios
Licensed network

Third party access in

licensed networks

Cellular, PCS band

TV bands (400-800 MHz)

Improved spectrum
efficiency

Non-voluntary third party

access

Improved capacity

Licensee sets a protection

threshold

Secondary markets

Unlicensed network

Public safety band

ISM, UNII, Ad-hoc

Voluntary agreements
between licensees
and third party

Automatic frequency
coordination

Limited QoS

Co-existence

Interoperability

FCC Announcement

Released on Dec 30th 2003, (ET Docket No. 03-108)

Facilitating Opportunities for Flexible, Efficient, and Reliable Spectrum
Use Employing Cognitive Radio Technologies
We recognize the importance of new cognitive radio technologies,
which are likely to become more prevalent over the next few years and
which hold tremendous promise in helping to facilitate more effective
and efficient access to spectrum
We seek to ensure that our rules and policies do not inadvertently
hinder development and deployment of such technologies, but instead
enable a full realization of their potential benefits.

Channel and Interference Model

Measurement of the spectrum

usage in frequency, time, and
space
Wideband channel

30
0

210

330
240

270

300

Angular domain

Clustering approach
Interference correlation

Power level
Bandwidth
Time of usage
Inactive periods

60

180

Common with UWB

Derive statistical traffic model of

primary users

90

150

Spatial channel model

120

Frequency
(Hz)

Time (min)

Cognitive Radio Functions

Sensing Radio

Wideband Antenna, PA
and LNA
High speed A/D & D/A,
moderate resolution
Simultaneous Tx & Rx
Scalable for MIMO

PA

LNA

Physical Layer

OFDM transmission

Spectrum monitoring

Dynamic frequency
selection, modulation,
power control

Analog impairments
compensation

D/A

IFFT

A/D

FFT

RF/Analog Front-end

MAE/
POWER CTRL

CHANNEL
SEL/EST

ADAPTIVE
LOADING

INTERFERENCE
MEAS/CANCEL

Digital Baseband

MAC Layer

Optimize transmission
parameters

Adapt rates through

feedback

Negotiate or
opportunistically use
resources

TIME, FREQ,
SPACE SEL

QoS vs.
RATE

LEARN
ENVIRONMENT

FEEDBACK
TO CRs

MAC Layer

Sensing Radio

A/D converter:

High resolution

Speed depends on the application

Low power ~ 100mWs

RF front-end:

Wideband antenna and filters

Linear in large dynamic range

Good sensitivity
Interference temperature:

Protection threshold for licensees

FCC: 2400-2483.5 MHz band is

empty if:

( N I N )dw 30dB

B 1.25 MHz

Need to determine length of

measurements

Spectrum usage in (0, 2.5) GHz

-40

Cell

-45

Signal Strength (dB)

-50
-55

PCS

TV bands

-60
-65
-70
-75
-80
-85
-90
0

0.5

1.5

Frequency (Hz)

2.5
9
x 10

Measurement taken at BWRC

Cognitive Radio Baseband Processing

PHY
IFFT

FFT

ADAPTIVE
LOADING

MAE/
POWER CTRL

CHANNEL
SEL/EST

INTERFERENCE
MEAS/CANCEL

MCMA processing

OFDM System
Agile, efficient FFT

Spatial processing:
Exploits clustered model
Scalable with # of antennas

MAC
TIME, FREQ,
SPACE SEL

LEARN
ENVIRONMENT

QoS vs.
RATE

FEEDBACK
TO CRs

PHY adaptive, parametrizable

MAC intelligent, optimization algos
PHY+MAC can be implemented on:
Software Defined Radios
Reconfigurable Radios

From WiFi to Cognitive Radios

Functionality

WiFi

Cognitive Radio

Multiple channels for agility

27 fixed 20MHz
channels

Variable # and BW

Sensing collisions/interference

WiFi interference only

Any interference

Simultaneous spectrum sensing

and transmission

Not possible

Necessary

Modulation scheme, rate

Fixed per packet

Adaptive bit loading

Packet length, preamble

Fixed

More flexible

Power level

Fixed per packet

Adaptive control

Interference mitigation

WiFi interference only

Any interference

Spatial processing

Some (802.11n)

Lots

QoS, rate, latency

Limited

Sophisticated

Test Scenario at 2.4 GHz, Indoor

CR1

Unlicensed band 80 MHz bandwidth

OFDM system (like 802.11a/g)
Multiple antennas for interference
avoidance and range extension
Centralized approach through AP

Microwave oven
AP
802.11 b/g
c
i on
mi c t
na ele
Dy cy S
n
ue

eq
Fr

CR2

Cordless phone

Bluetooth

CR3

Testbed for Wireless Experimentation

BWRC infrastructure:

BEE Processing Units (4)

2.4 GHz RF Front-ends (32)
Scalable multiple antenna
transmission system

Research Agenda

Derive system specification from measurements

Analog front-end specification and design

Develop and implement algorithms for:

Sensing environment

Dynamic frequency selection and adaptive modulation

Transmit power control and spatial processing

Interference cancellation in spatial domain

Spectrum rental strategies

Test algorithms in realistic wireless scenarios

Design an architecture for a Cognitive Radio

COGUR
Cognizant Universal
Radio
Axel Berny
Gang Liu
Zhiming Deng
Nuntachai Poobuapheun

COGUR Design Goals

An agile dynamic radio cognizant of its environment

Universal operation ensures multi-standard and future
standard compatibility
Cognitive behavior allows spectrum re-use, underlay, and
overlay
Dynamic operation allows low power (only need linearity
and low-phase noise VCO in a near-far situation)
Multi-mode PA can work in linear mode for OFDM and
high PAR modulation schemes. Efficiency is maintained
while varying output power

Dynamic Operation: Near-Far

Problem

High power consumption due

to simultaneous requirement
of high linearity in RF frontend and low noise operation
The conflicting requirements
occur since the linearity of
the RF front-end is exercised
by a strong interferer while
trying to detect a weak signal

The worst case scenario is a rare event. Dont be

pessimistic!
A dynamic transceiver can schedule gain/power of the
front-end for optimal performance

COGUR Transceiver

Broadband dynamic
LNA/mixer
Wide tuning agile
frequency synthesizer
Dual-mode broadband
PA with integrated
power combining and
control
Linear VGA or
attenuator
High-speed
background calibrated
ADC/DAC

Acknowledgements

BWRC Member Companies

DARPA TEAM Project
STMicroelectronics and IBM for wafer processing and
design support
Agilent Technologies (measurement support)
National Semiconductor
Qualcomm
Analog Devices