The Heterogeneous Technology Alliance (HTA), a group of four microelectronics research institutes in Europe, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary in Brussels. Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, CEO of the French Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (Leti), a member of the Alliance, accepted An exclusive interview with EE Times, introducing some research advances from this French technology research institute, including outdoor Super Wi-Fi communication networks based on its multi-carrier block filtered Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (BF-OFDM) waveform technology.
The HTA Consortium is composed of four major micro and nanotechnology research institutions in Europe, including Leti in France, Fraunhofer in Germany, CSEM in Switzerland and VTT in Finland. During this week's event, four research institutes and G-Core Several industry partners, such as Globalfoundries, Soitec, Nestlé and Murata, have shown all the strategies and visions needed to develop electronic products for the future of Europe.
Emmanuel Sabonnadiere said that Leti's short-term strategy (for the next three to five years) is mainly focused on four areas: advanced data and computing, advanced communications and network security, emerging applications of mobility, and biologically inspired wisdom. Medical device.
He particularly emphasized 5G devices and technologies. He said: 'As the industry increasingly focuses on millimeter-wave (mmWave) communications, we are working on the types of devices that will enable the front-end to be more digital and closer to the antenna, as well as This is in cooperation with many industry partners. This also means that the future will use more FD-SOI technology. 'Sabonnadiere said that it is currently working on a number of 5G plans. 'This is very important, because 5G will be more and more It is important, therefore, that the cooperation of HTA is very important for Europe, and we have learned how to achieve through joint efforts.
Sabonnadiere emphasized the 5G system prototype demonstrated by the company at the beginning of this year's participation in South Korea's 2018 Winter Olympics and its success. 'This prototype display includes buses traveling at speeds of 60km/h (60km/h) at 5Gbps. The speed of receiving information and allowing people to receive two sports events at the same time.
Sabonnadiere addressed the low-power intelligence and security technologies of the ultra-connect era in this event. He also displayed Leti’s outdoor Super Wi-Fi broadband technology, which uses dynamic spectrum access (DSA) technology for next-generation wireless networks. Road to create a flexible solution based on patented scalable waveforms.
He said: 'The wireless communications below 6GHz are facing the dilemma of spectrum shrinkage: The lack of sufficient wireless spectrum to support consumer devices will have a profound impact on the future. Outdoor Super Wi-Fi aims to solve problems through maritime communications and rural broadband. This problem overcomes the inherent drawbacks of traditional 4G and Wi-Fi technologies, providing robustness against interference, versatility, and flexibility.
Leti's research results provide a new BF-OFDM multi-carrier waveform for the air interface, which satisfies the requirements for a uniform physical layer in the same system bandwidth. Last year, the company conducted field tests on the technology and pointed out the technology. Solve various shortcomings inherent in actual OFDM waveforms (Wi-Fi/LTE) and backwards compatible with existing receivers.
By using BF-OFDM's outdoor Super Wi-Fi, Leti demonstrated rural wide-band content transmission using a non-continuous channel within 20 kilometers. The Leta test platform using over-the-air (OTA) is based on FPGA, ARM processor and flexible The RF front-end to demonstrate broadband transmission. Leti conduct field tests on 5G radios using the same set of equipment. In addition to the need for efficient wireless connectivity in rural areas, this technology is also ideal for low-cost maritime wireless networks. The waveform was also lifted. Restrictions on the use of spectrum sharing, such as white space and licensed shared access in citizen broadband radio services.
Sabonnadiere also mentioned that the Cyber Physical System (CPS) and bio-inspired devices are the focus areas of Leti's attention. He said: 'We are developing the actuators, sensors and edge processing capabilities of NetEase's physical systems so that they do not have to Go to the cloud. '.
As for the bio-inspired device, he said that Leti is studying some brain computing plans and concepts that simulate organs such as the pancreas.
One of the HTA's activities demonstrated this week is the application of quantum sensors in biomedical imaging, especially quantum magnetometers, which will help reduce the cost of magnetoencephalography (MEG) devices while improving patient diagnosis and treatment.
Sabonnadiere said: 'This show shows that the first magnetometer operating at ambient temperature has enough sensitivity to provide instant images of the current circulation of the brain and heart for medical diagnosis. The MEG sensor allows the cost of MEG scanning. Reducing at least one-fifth, while improving the diagnosis of epilepsy and guiding surgeons during brain surgery. It will reduce the cost of magnetoencephalography from 2.7 million euros to 400,000 euros (equivalent to a reduction from 3.3 million US dollars to About $500,000.) '
Although Sabonnadiere focuses on Leti's research field, it also emphasizes the importance of cooperation within the scope of the HTA and the wider global academic network. He said: 'We are currently working with Stanford University to optimize various types of cooperation. Architecture, Microfluidics and nanofluidics with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Shanghai Institute of Technology (ShanghaiTech University) to develop SOI in China, and also in cooperation with the French INRIA to develop software.
Compilation: Susan Hong