Thin antenna beam steering systems with exceptional performance. This project aims to develop a revolutionary antenna beam steering method. A high-gain antenna with the ability to steer its pencil beam to any direction in two-dimensions within a wide range is an essential part in many telecommunication and defence systems. The project expects to produce compact, low-cost antenna systems with high performance, to circumvent the limitations of existing methods in applications such as providing int ....Thin antenna beam steering systems with exceptional performance. This project aims to develop a revolutionary antenna beam steering method. A high-gain antenna with the ability to steer its pencil beam to any direction in two-dimensions within a wide range is an essential part in many telecommunication and defence systems. The project expects to produce compact, low-cost antenna systems with high performance, to circumvent the limitations of existing methods in applications such as providing internet connectivity to those who are unconnected or poorly connected, or data transfer from satellites to earth stations. The proposed technology should significantly improve internet services in regional Australia and connect billions of people worldwide who do not have regular internet access at present.Read moreRead less
Opening a New Era of High-Performance Microwave Devices. We propose a conceptually new method of manufacturing high-performance microwave components at the low-cost and short lead time using liquid form conductors and 3D printing technology. Innovation consists in developing surface roughness free waveguide- and coaxial-based RF and microwave devices, in one-single-piece. This technique can be further extended to create high-performance reconfigurable RF and microwave devices such as filters, an ....Opening a New Era of High-Performance Microwave Devices. We propose a conceptually new method of manufacturing high-performance microwave components at the low-cost and short lead time using liquid form conductors and 3D printing technology. Innovation consists in developing surface roughness free waveguide- and coaxial-based RF and microwave devices, in one-single-piece. This technique can be further extended to create high-performance reconfigurable RF and microwave devices such as filters, antennas, directional couplers, phase shifters and switches by manipulating the locations of the liquid conductors. Furthermore, the method will enable the management of heat generated in high-power applications. Australian telecommunication industry and defence will benefit from the outcome of this project.Read moreRead less
Compact Millimeter-Wave Terminal for LEO Satellite Communications. On the basis of the cutting-edge and concept-proofed beam-steerable antenna invented by the team, this project aims at tackling the system-level challenges and developing a commercial-ready millimeter-wave satellite terminal to deal with the digital inequality facing rural and remote Australia. The proposed terminal can lead to a household-affordable price system that is compact and can be installed on a fixed/mobile platform for ....Compact Millimeter-Wave Terminal for LEO Satellite Communications. On the basis of the cutting-edge and concept-proofed beam-steerable antenna invented by the team, this project aims at tackling the system-level challenges and developing a commercial-ready millimeter-wave satellite terminal to deal with the digital inequality facing rural and remote Australia. The proposed terminal can lead to a household-affordable price system that is compact and can be installed on a fixed/mobile platform for broadband connectivity. The project will have an immediate socio-economic impact for families and small businesses located in rural areas in Australia that have poor digital access, meanwhile, it has great potential to transform the local industry partner' business into a highly profitable emerging market.Read moreRead less
Enabling wide area mm-wave mobile broadband networks. This project will define a new architecture and algorithms based around a network of access points with overlapping coverage that will support broadband, wide-area services to mobile users in mm-wave bands. The project will develop tools to characterise the information carrying capacity of this network, and tradeoffs between key parameters. The outcomes will be used by Mobile Network Operators in planning their deployments and developing thei ....Enabling wide area mm-wave mobile broadband networks. This project will define a new architecture and algorithms based around a network of access points with overlapping coverage that will support broadband, wide-area services to mobile users in mm-wave bands. The project will develop tools to characterise the information carrying capacity of this network, and tradeoffs between key parameters. The outcomes will be used by Mobile Network Operators in planning their deployments and developing their operations software to deliver diverse and flexible data services. The benefit will be an unlocking of radio spectrum beyond isolated hot spots, supporting vastly greater traffic densities and data rates worth billions of dollars to the economy.
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Engineering the Next Generation of Broadband Terahertz Technologies. This project proposes a new broadband, high-power, laser technology for THz sensing. This semiconductor laser based THz technology is crucial for a wide range of applications requiring the acquisition of THz spectral signatures of materials and high-frame rate hyper-spectral THz imaging. We propose two pathways to engineer this novel THz technology: using a tuneable, coupled-cavity quantum cascade semiconductor laser and by c ....Engineering the Next Generation of Broadband Terahertz Technologies. This project proposes a new broadband, high-power, laser technology for THz sensing. This semiconductor laser based THz technology is crucial for a wide range of applications requiring the acquisition of THz spectral signatures of materials and high-frame rate hyper-spectral THz imaging. We propose two pathways to engineer this novel THz technology: using a tuneable, coupled-cavity quantum cascade semiconductor laser and by creating the broad emission spectra through active mode locking in a THz semiconductor laser. The THz laser coupled with the self-detection technique is the key to realising this, and will be explored both in model and experiment.Read moreRead less
Airborne passive radiometer for high resolution soil moisture monitoring. The project proposes to create a novel technology to measure soil moisture. Accurate knowledge of soil moisture profiles at high resolution is important for sustainable land and water management including efficient irrigation scheduling and cropping practices. A passive multi-band soil moisture-measuring radiometer at L-, Ku- and Ka-bands is proposed. The radiometer comprises a three-band shared aperture antenna array, a ....Airborne passive radiometer for high resolution soil moisture monitoring. The project proposes to create a novel technology to measure soil moisture. Accurate knowledge of soil moisture profiles at high resolution is important for sustainable land and water management including efficient irrigation scheduling and cropping practices. A passive multi-band soil moisture-measuring radiometer at L-, Ku- and Ka-bands is proposed. The radiometer comprises a three-band shared aperture antenna array, a receiving electronics, a digital controller and a data logger. The array antenna comprises dual polarised stacked patch elements. Beamforming networks form agile beams to scan the ground. Sensitive radiometer receivers apply brightness temperature downscaling for high resolution. The high-resolution passive radiometer would revolutionise airborne soil moisture monitoring by removing the mechanically steerable bulky and heavy scanheads.Read moreRead less
High performance, optimized chip-scale packaging for millimetre wave and THz integrated circuits. This project aims to revolutionise electronic packaging by depositing a thin, protective layer of diamond on top of high-performance, millimetre-wave and THz integrated circuits. Leveraging existing technology for removing heat from high-powered optical electronics, the project aims to deliver a miniaturised packaged chip, protected from the environment and ready for mounting in a system, without se ....High performance, optimized chip-scale packaging for millimetre wave and THz integrated circuits. This project aims to revolutionise electronic packaging by depositing a thin, protective layer of diamond on top of high-performance, millimetre-wave and THz integrated circuits. Leveraging existing technology for removing heat from high-powered optical electronics, the project aims to deliver a miniaturised packaged chip, protected from the environment and ready for mounting in a system, without seriously degrading the circuit's performance as occurs in current packaging technologies. The project aims to enable cheaper and more energy-efficient applications as wide ranging as wireless HD video, multi-gigabit telecommunications, and black-body passive imaging technologies for security, defence, medical and agricultural applications.Read moreRead less
Terabit mm-Wave Backbones for Integrated Space and Terrestrial Networks. This project aims to develop the theory and enabling techniques to achieve high-speed millimeter wave (mm-wave) backbones for integrated space and terrestrial networks. New scientific breakthroughs will be in fundamental transmission theory, efficient self-interference cancellation and spatial multiplexing techniques using hybrid antenna arrays. These will enable Terabits per second wireless transmission that is 10 times fa ....Terabit mm-Wave Backbones for Integrated Space and Terrestrial Networks. This project aims to develop the theory and enabling techniques to achieve high-speed millimeter wave (mm-wave) backbones for integrated space and terrestrial networks. New scientific breakthroughs will be in fundamental transmission theory, efficient self-interference cancellation and spatial multiplexing techniques using hybrid antenna arrays. These will enable Terabits per second wireless transmission that is 10 times faster than current technologies. A proof-of-concept prototype will be developed to demonstrate the feasibility and performance of the new system architecture and algorithms, thus paving the way for commercialisation. The developed technology will enhance Australia’s information infrastructure as well as defence capacity.Read moreRead less
Multi-beam Transmitarrays for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communications. This project aims to develop fundamental technologies for multi-beam conformal transmitarrays with independent beam steering capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications. Compared to current UAV antennas, the proposed antennas can be flush mounted to the body of UAVs, improving aerodynamic performance while also achieving significantly higher data rates for wireless connectivity. This project is expected to ge ....Multi-beam Transmitarrays for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communications. This project aims to develop fundamental technologies for multi-beam conformal transmitarrays with independent beam steering capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications. Compared to current UAV antennas, the proposed antennas can be flush mounted to the body of UAVs, improving aerodynamic performance while also achieving significantly higher data rates for wireless connectivity. This project is expected to generate scientific breakthroughs in many aspects of antenna research and enable UAVs to leverage big data technologies by transmitting/receiving large amounts of data, thus serving as a powerful tool for emergency management and for transforming many industry sectors, such as agriculture, food and water.Read moreRead less