SBIR Phase I: Wireless-Wireline Convergence

Award ID: 2136977

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Phase I project is to improve connectivity for everyone by enabling widespread 5G cellular phone coverage at significantly lower costs and substantial energy savings. The proposed technology may result in accelerated 5G deployment and ubiquitous 5G availability in both urban and rural areas. This coverage will have positive impacts, bridging the digital divide across different geographical areas of the US and across different socioeconomic groups, by bringing new opportunities for telework, tele-education, telehealth, and telemedicine to traditionally un- and under-served communities. The technological innovation of this project may allow mid-band and high-band cellular signals to be carried over existing twisted-pair copper wires, as well as coaxial cables, optical fibers, and Ethernet wires, to enable the delivery of 5G-based services across barriers that signals delivered over the air from a tower cannot penetrate. The technology developed in this project will reuse the existing wireline infrastructure and reduce the need for deployment of more cellular towers, providing a more environmentally-friendly solution. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project has the potential to provide a low-cost solution to the problem of extending 5G cellular coverage to the interior of homes and buildings. The proposed project seeks to address critical technical issues related to the overall feasibility and performance potential of the cellular subscriber line (CSL) technology, as well as the corresponding high-level deployment guidelines. These issues will be resolved through the development of a detailed simulation platform, the design and development of network-side and customer-side prototype units using existing radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) components, including the protocol for communication between the two units, and the validation of the technology though testing of the prototype units in the laboratory of a major wireless carrier. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Muralidharan Nair