National Instruments (NI) has made a donation to the New York University Wireless research team to further mmWave communications, channel measurement and channel emulation research for 5G communications. As part of the nearly $1 Million donation, NI will equip NYU Wireless labs with hardware and software from its software defined radio (SDR) solutions.
In the last year, the FCC, 3GPP and other standardization bodies for 5G fixed and mobile networks have earmarked mmWave frequencies. Only in the last few years has the mmWave radio spectrum become widely accepted as holding potential for the next generation of wireless networks.
mmWave technologies are in full development. They require new test and measurement systems to move from concepts and simulation in the laboratory to operate in a real-world environment.
According to NI, the tight pairing of its hardware and software reduces the time to ramp up an SDR system. So the NYU Wireless group can go beyond simulations to build and evaluate concepts, identify system-level bottlenecks and solve problems that are critical in achieving high-throughput wireless systems.
With this support, the laboratory will continue its work to contribute to the development of future broadband wireless communications system in the field of millimeter waves.
“mmWave wireless prototyping demands platforms with enormous baseband processing power along with advanced antenna array systems,” said Sundeep Rangan, director of NYU Wireless and NYU Tandon associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. “These systems have been extremely difficult to develop in university labs. With NI’s SDR solutions, we will now be capable of rapid prototyping and experimentation to push the envelope in mmWave channel sounding, emulation and communication system design and drive the development and commercialization of mmWave technology in partnership with our sponsors.”
NI is part of the 18 sponsors with Keysight, Intel, AT & T, Qualcomm, etc. of the NYU Wireless research center founded in 2012.
