Engineering researchers at Columbia University in the United States have devised a method for implementing full-duplex radio ICs in nanoscale CMOS. These devices are said to support simultaneous transmission and reception on the same frequency. Things that were previously thought impossible. His work was presented at a recent San Francisco ISSCC event.
"This is a game changer," said Associate Professor Harish Krishnaswamy. "With our new technology, the network can effectively double the spectrum resources available to devices such as smartphones and tablets."
Because data communications are facing capacity shortages, the ability to send and receive at the same frequency may double the network capacity. Professor Krishnaswamy pointed out that other research groups and companies have demonstrated the theoretical feasibility of simultaneous transmission and reception at the same frequency, but no one has made a chip with this capability.
"Our job is to show for the first time products that can simultaneously receive and send ICs," he said. "If you want to have a broad impact and bring this functionality to handheld devices and cellular and WiFi base stations to support full-duplex communications, It is critical to do this in the IC. "
The team now plans to test multiple full-duplex nodes to understand the benefits at the network level. He concludes: "We are working closely with Gil Zussman, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Columbia School of Engineering's network theory expert. If we can indeed achieve the performance improvements we promise, it will be very exciting. "
