Rethinking Wireless: MIMO Hardware Innovations

Purpose and goal

The collaborative project at the antenna group at Chalmers has developed new decade bowtie antennas. This technology has been transferred to Gapwaves AB. The developed hardware can be employed for test and characterization of wireless devices such as smart phones in RIMP environments and cars in Random-LOS, but also as antenna elements in compact small-cell base stations operating in wireless environments. The project has succeeded in generating Swedish IPR that can be exploited by Bluetest AB and Huawei.

Expected results and effects

The results of the project include new hardware designs in the form of prototypes, patent application(s) (IPR) and scientific publications in prestigious journals and relevant conferences in the antenna research area. The expected effect of renewed competence and new business opportunities in the Gothenburg region within the antenna systems area has begun to prove itself. A patent pertaining a new Random-LOS OTA test set-up for automotive applications has been filled in. Based on this technology the company Ranlos AB has been started-up.

Planned approach and implementation

The project builds upon the idea that if a wireless device works well in both the RIMP and the Random-LOS propagation environments it will also work well (in the statistical sense) in any other environment. Bluetests way to characterize wireless devices in RIMP has achieved great commercial success. On the other hand, the start-up Ranlos will commercialize the automotive Random-LOS OTA method. Thereby, it will be possible to set new measurable and well-defined requirements on multi-port antennas for MIMO systems, enabling hardware innovations with quantifiable improvements.