DLINK - D-band Wireless Link with Fibre Data Rate

Lead Research Organisation: Lancaster University
Department Name: Engineering

Abstract

The extraordinary increase of wireless data traffic by smartphones and laptops, virtual reality, billions of IoTs or Industry 4.0 infrastructure need 5G, small cell densification and reduction of digital divide. High throughput connectivity everywhere is a fundamental requirement to support the growing data demand and the evolution of future wireless communication market. Affordable wireless networks with fibre data rate are needed.
Wireless links with multi-gigabit (Gb/s) distribution at millimetre waves have been demonstrated up to 400 GHz. However, the strong atmosphere attenuation at the increase of frequency and limitations of the present semiconductor-based millimetre wave technology limit their potentiality. E-band wireless links with 2 GHz bandwidth and theoretical few Gb/s are already in the market, but large antenna footprint and low transmission power are probably preventing wider adoption.
The portion of the spectrum above 100 GHz includes numerous wide bands which are presently unused, and could support tens of Gb/s, if adequate millimetre wave technology were available. In particular, the D-band (141 - 174.8) has about 28 GHz split in three sub-bands.

The DLINK project aims to bring the UK at the forefront of millimetre wave wireless technology through the realisation of the first high capacity link at D-band with unprecedented performance, to provide 45Gb/s, over 1 km range, and with 99.99% availability in ITU rain zone K (typical of UK and Europe). The DLINK system includes a high power vacuum traveling wave tube (TWT) of new generation driven by a novel resonant tunnelling diode (RTD) transmitter with an integrated vector modulator. The system will be demonstrated in Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), with two bands of 10 GHz each to provide about 45 Gb/s data rate. The high performance of DLINK is enabled by traveling wave tubes as amplifiers, with about 10W output power, which is more than one order of magnitude than solid state amplifiers at the same frequency. The TWT working mechanism is based on the transfer of energy from a high energy electron beam, flowing in a waveguide with high level of vacuum, to the electric field generated by the input signal. No D-band TWTs are available in the market. Substantial challenges must be solved for an affordable microfabrication of mm-wave waveguides, due to small dimensions and three dimensional shapes. The transmitter will be an RTD oscillator with very low phase noise to support QAM modulation generated by an on-chip PIN diode vector modulator. The DLINK system includes two transmitters, one for each FDD channel, integrating a RTD oscillator/transmitter, a TWT and an antenna. For the first time, the property of a transmission link with 20 GHz bandwidth above 100 GHz will be investigated by field tests at BT.
The DLINK project has a strong industry focus. It is a collaboration between Lancaster and Glasgow Universities with the strategic support of the wireless communication industry full chain, from devices to end users: IQE (semiconductor wafers), Filtronic (mm-wave links), Teledyne e2v (mm-wave TWT), Nokia (system manufacturer), Intel (chip manufacturer), BT (UK main network operator and end user).
The high impact of the project will enable new architectures of wireless high capacity networks by mesh of high data rate links at mm-waves. The DLINK project has the ambition to fully contribute to "Connected Nation", one of the four Prosperous Outcomes and to benefit other numerous ambitions of the Prosperous Nation outcomes. DLINK involves researchers and PhD students of two leading research groups and a number of industry partners that will work together for the success of the project, with a long term strategy for future industry exploitation. A particular attention is devoted to growth of talent, improving the gender balance in the millimetre wave technology sector highlighting role models in the Lancaster and Glasgow teams.

Planned Impact

Internet access is recognised as commodity at the level of water or electricity.
The wide use of smartphones, laptops, the urgency of full UK broadband coverage, new data hungry applications such as IoT or car-to-car are posing relevant technology challenges. Fibre is widely deployed, but too expensive for a full coverage. Wireless networks are gaining interest among operators, however, a suitable solution for the high capacity needed has not yet been found. The use of the millimetre wave spectrum to replace fibre connections is the only viable route, but advancements in mm-wave technology are needed. This DLINK project offer of 45 Gb/s wireless long distance D-band link opens the route to deployment of unprecedented capacity wireless networks, with substantial and broad impact in the UK as outlined in the following.

Impact on economy
The development of state of the art technology at mm-waves, production of novel mm-wave devices, fabrication and testing of new wireless high capacity transmission systems will boost the UK industry capability in the fierce race for new wireless networks. The high number of key industrial partners in the project demonstrates the high impact expected at industry level. World Economic Forum estimates the global economic impact of 5G in new goods and services at $12 trillion by 2035.
The UK mm-wave industry has the opportunity to gain leadership and create new high qualified jobs in a variety of sectors such as micromechanics, materials, mm-wave and solid state technology, network architectures and protocols. In particular, Filtronic, SME in mm-wave wireless links, will open new markets as supplier of major players, such as Nokia or Huawei. Teledyne-e2v could expand TWT production for the wide 5G market. BT, the main UK operator, will benefit of the full UK supply chain to build affordable tailored wireless networks and offer high end services. High data rate connectivity is the enabler of the Industry 4.0 vision. The report commissioned by the UK government to Jeurgen Maier, Made Smarter, clearly states that digital manufacturing is a UK strategic priority that needs high data rate infrastructure. Finally, 5G is strategic for BT and all the UK mobile operators. One or two new university spin-off companies are expected as follow up of the project.

Impact on people
DLINK is a great career opportunity for the group of early career researchers and PhD students that directly and indirectly will be involved in the project. The close interaction with industry and the networking plan will permit to grow a new generation of leaders in mm-wave technology for a robust and long term progress in RF Engineering. In terms of improving the gender balance in the RF engineering sector, the hope is that role models already present in the research teams will help attract a diversity of brilliant minds to overcome the actual skills shortage in the sector.

Impact on society
The availability of ubiquitous Internet coverage with high speed is the pillar of the modern society. Society and people are more and more interconnected with services, e-healthcare, e-commerce, social networks, e-entertainment. It has been also estimated that any increase of data rate per users has a direct effect on the increase the GDP. A step change in connectivity to support the unstoppable increasing data traffic must be provided with new wireless infrastructures. The DLINK mm-wave high capacity link technology will to respond to this quest.

Impact on knowledge
The DLINK project aims to shift to the UK the leadership in mm-wave wireless technology, so far mostly held overseas. It will benefit of the experience developed by the team by three major European Commission Horizon 2020 projects. The following outcomes are expected: production of a high number of scientific outputs, advanced fabrication processes, new technical skills, new learning routes for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and technology transfer.
 
Description DLINK is new project to realize a point to point wireless system above 150 GHz with multigigabit per second data rate is in progress. The upper side of the D-band (151 -174 GHz) offers about 20 GHz with 3 GHz forbidden band for full duplex transmission. The aims it to enable fiber on air capacity with more than 1 km range to provide up to 45 Gb/s data rate. The wireless system works in Frequency Division Duplexing and consists of two front-ends, each of them with a transmitter powered by novel traveling wave tubes (TWT) fed by a directly modulated Resonant Tunnelling Diode (RTD) oscillator. Two TWTs are designed using the double corrugated waveguide at 151 - 161.5 GHz and 161.5 - 174.8 GHz. Two TWTs have been designed to achieve about 35 dB gain and 12 W output power to satisfy the link budget in the two different frequency bands. The TWTs needs two double corrugated waveguide (DCW) section to achieve the specification. The electron gun and collector were built and tested. The electron gun provides an electron beam with about 50 mA and 12.7 kV with a diameter of 160 micron. The collector is a single stage collector that could be biased for depressed collector. The slow wave structures are ready to be fabricated. The fabrication is very challenging due to the small dimensions of the pillar (130 x 130 microns section).
A newly designed double corrugated waveguide with about 21 dB gain was built to reduce the risk of beam misalignment and maintaining the proof of concept validity. The machining is very difficult and depends on the quality of diffusion bonding. The work is in progress with improvement of the diffusion bonding process for an easy machining, and possible pre machining of the blocks forming the DCW.
The diffusion bonding process is now stable. An innovative structure of DCW for improving the diffusion bonding process has been designed. The quality of the fabrication permits to eventually correct possible leakage. A new RF window topology has been produced for a better brazing and electrical performance.
Exploitation Route The aim is to provide a wireless solution to replace fibre for long links, up to 1 km, with capacity of 40s Gigabit per second. Presently only E-band links are available with about 1 km distance and maximum 2 GB/s. The TWT is the enabling device to provide transmission power not available by solid state amplifiers. The TWTs will be ready at the end of the project. The plan is to set a field trial to demonstrate the features of the DLINK system and open new perspectives in long range high capacity links to enabling 5G and 6G concepts. The micro fabrication technology processes developed during the project will be of high interest for the realisation of a broad range of sub-THz components, in addition to different frequency TWTs.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Electronics

Environment

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

URL http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/dlink/
 
Description Lancaster pioneered to adoption of TWTs at sub-THz frequencies with two European H2020 projects, TWEETHER and ULTRAWAVE, and then D-LINK, for new high capacity networks for 5G and 6G, stimulating a debate in the vacuum electronics industry for the production of sub-THz TWTs at a large scale. My vision of using sub-THz TWTs for enabled high capacity wireless links has been adopted by a European Commission H2020 Project Thor "TeraHertz end-to-end wireless systems supporting ultra high data Rate applications". Both US and China researchers have recognized the new perspectives in the field of high societal and industry impact. A start up in US, Elvespeed, founded by one of my past collaborators, Dr. Diana Gamzina (SLAC) has started to commercialize of sub-THz TWT for wireless links. This startup is based in the outstanding facilities at University of California Davis and benefitted by number of experts in TWT technology that resigned from L3-Harris when the San Carlos plant closed. Elvespeed has also an internal production of cathodes, that it is strategic for market independency. China has a heavily funded programme for sub-THz TWTs, involving several large universities (UESTC Chengdu is the largest) and the Beijing Vacuum Electronic Research Institute, that is 4000 staff government industry/research institutions. China has an intense production of prototypes with successful results, with practically more than 60 % of journal publication in the field. BVERI has the internal production of cathodes with very competitive prices in comparison to US suppliers. In my knowledge the level of investment in TWT technology in China has been in the range tens of millions of pounds with the support of a National Key Technology programme. D-Link has been functional to attract substantial funding at Lancaster, both national (UKSA, DASA) and EU, that have allowed to improve the fabrication facilities, to develop new processes and to pave the way to a future small volume production of TWTs, first at E-band, then at D-band. The TWT Fab, a distributed laboratory for the production of sub-THz TWTs, is almost ready to be converted in a university spin-off. Presently, TWT Fab is fully independent for all the steps of TWT design, fabrication and testing. The only component that needs to be procured abroad is the cathode. UK and Europe have no cathode suppliers (probably big industries in the sector have an internal production). The availability of facilities to produce cathodes would substantially enhance the impact of the research, with full independence and could provide a very strong competitiveness in an emerging market area.
First Year Of Impact 2022
Sector Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)
Impact Types Economic

 
Description E-band Traveling Wave Tubes for High Throughput Satellites
Amount £239,000 (GBP)
Funding ID UKSAG22_0029_ETP1-012 
Organisation UK Space Agency 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 08/2024
 
Description E-band tactical wireless networks enabled by Traveling Wave Tubes
Amount £88,000 (GBP)
Funding ID ACC6023084 
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2021 
End 02/2022
 
Title Design and Fabrication of E-band Traveling Wave Tube for High Data Rate Wireless Links 
Description Data for generating the figures 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Data available to other institution to reproduce or compare results 
URL http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/datasets/design-and-fabrication-of-eband-traveling-wave-tu...
 
Title Design and fabrication of a D-Band Traveling Wave Tube for millimeter wave communications 
Description The dataset contains all the data to generate the figures and the graphs in the paper. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Simulation of output power for D-band TWT 
URL http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/datasets/design-and-fabrication-of-a-dband-traveling-wave-...
 
Title Development of a D-band Traveling Wave Tube for high data rate wireless links 
Description Data for generating graphs 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact No impact yet 
URL http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/datasets/development-of-a-dband-traveling-wave-tube-for-hi...
 
Title Long-range millimetre wave wireless links enabled by travelling wave tubes and resonant tunnelling diodes 
Description Data of the figures in the paperDescription 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact First front end at D-band in Point to point for 45 gb/s data rate over one kilometre link. 
URL http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/datasets/longrange-millimetre-wave-wireless-links-enabled-...
 
Title Sub-THz wireless transport layer for ubiquitous high data rate 
Description data for replicating figures 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact No impact yer 
URL https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/subthz-wireless-transport-layer-for-ubiquito...
 
Description DLINK 
Organisation Teledyne Technologies International Corp
Department Teledyne e2v
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We are in the design phase, when the electron gun is working we will start to discuss the TWT implementation.
Collaborator Contribution Participation to the Kickoff meeting and technical discussion
Impact Not yet available
Start Year 2019
 
Description DLINK Filtronic 
Organisation Filtronic
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We will provide the evidence of high power at D-band by TWTs
Collaborator Contribution Filtronic will help with the vector modulator
Impact N/A
Start Year 2019
 
Description 2nd Towards THz Communications Workshop, Brussels, 7th March 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This 2nd workshop aims at bringing together key actors currently working on, or having interest, in THz communications in order to explore future R&I plans for the period beyond 2020. The main goal of the workshop is an overview of the current state of the art of the research in this area, to discuss the main challenges still to be explored, to highlight key research directions for future R&I actions and to share opinions on the foreseen frequency bands which could be good candidate to be supported by the EU in the global allocation exercise.
The workshop was concluded by a panel session with the plenary speakers to summarise ideas and provide an input to EC for future calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://ultrawave2020.eu/second-thz-communications-workshop/
 
Description @ClPaoloni 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Use of twitter account @ClPaoloni to disseminate the main event and achievement of DLINK
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://twitter.com/ClPaoloni
 
Description Chair of Panel On the impact of Economics on the 6G technologies, at 2020 IEEE 31st Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), Virtual. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Neuromorphic computing, Tactile Internet, pervasive Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR), telepresence, and first quantum computing deployments can be named as some of the new ingredients of the forthcoming 6G system. In addition, Terabit links will not be only the backbone of a network architecture, but will also be needed to enable data hungry applications at user level. Fascinating concepts (it is already predicted brain to mobile or brain to brain) and guaranteed user experience are so far beyond any currently available networks.

As the step towards 6G seems quite steep from the technology point of view, indeed economic aspects will even play a bigger role than in the just ended definition of the 5G system. Bigger leap forward in user experience and capabilities of a system imply huge investments.
How sustainable are such investments, in parallel to the ones needed to make 5G networks a reality not only in city centers but for a ubiquitous experience?
Do we need to have new or different stakeholders, in order to make the vision of 6G a commercial reality as well?
Is the assessment of new or better technologies 'enough' to have them deployed in the market or some other ingredients are to be added to the equation to make 6G a success for all the players in the ecosystem?

The panel will explore the above mentioned and some more aspects, defining the backstage of the 6G, investigating the subtle relationship between economics and technology.

The four distinguished panelists have a diverse background and word leading expertise to offer an insight in the complex path of the 6G system definition and the impact that Economics has on it.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description DLINK Sponsored Forum Session Speakers: China and Europe together for beyond 5G 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The advert says.
THz wireless communications is the emerging field for enabling 5G and beyond 5G networks. High technology challenges, high implementation costs, relatively limited knowledge of the propagation scenarios need an outstanding research effort to bring THz communication systems from laboratory to real environment.
Europe and China are at the forefront of the THz communication technology.
This panel will explore by the contribution of distinguished panellists the great opportunity of a common road map between Europe and China for a quantum leap in THz communications.
The audience will be invited to engage with the panellists proposing questions before the panel and discussing from the floor in an informal manner.
Panel Chair: Prof Claudio Paoloni Panelist:
1. Prof. Maziar Nekovee (University of Sussex, UK)
2. Prof. Wei Hong (Southeast University, China)
3. Dr. Hairui Liu (China Institute of Information and Communication, China)
4. Dr. Haroon Khan (Huawei, Germany)
5. Mr. David Vizard (Vivatech, France)

It was a panel session very successful with presentations from the panelists to stimulate the discussion. Prof. Claudio Paoloni as moderator led the engagement with public. The audience much appreciated the event that had to be stopped due to the time constraints, but it would have continued. The outcome has been very important to foster a much stronger collaboration UK?China in the field of THz wireless communications.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://imws2014.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/technical-activities/panel-session/
 
Description DLINK Website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Website to disseminate the activities of DLINK. It is updated with new results when available.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/dlink/sample-page/
 
Description IEEE Electron Devices Society Distinguished Lecturer with talk "Renaissance of Travelling Wave Tube Technology for sub-THz Applications 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited talk, IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecture, "Renaissance of Travelling Wave Tube
Technology for sub-THz Applications", University of Calabria, Italy, 18 December 2023.
- Invited talk, IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecture, "Renaissance of Travelling Wave Tube
Technology for sub-THz Applications", Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Spain, 30 July 2023.
Both the talk increased the interest in sub-THz TWTs
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Invited talk "Sub-THz wireless links for new generation high-capacity X-haul architectures", December 18-19, 2023, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New-Delhi, India 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited talk "Sub-THz wireless links for new generation high-capacity X-haul architectures",
December 18-19, 2023, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New-Delhi, India
The talk sparked questions and raise awareness in sub-THz TWT technology and the advancements of Lancaster University in the field.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Invited talk "Technology and applications of sub-THz traveling wave tubes" IEEE co- sponsored Workshop on Metamaterial and Metamaterial Assisted Vacuum Electronic Devices, Durgapur, India, 29 May 2023. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited talk "Technology and applications of sub-THz traveling wave tubes" IEEE co-
sponsored Workshop on Metamaterial and Metamaterial Assisted Vacuum Electronic
Devices, Durgapur, India, 29 May 2023.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Kickoff meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Kickoff meeting was organised to inform the main stakeholder interested in the DLINK project and project partners of the aims, evolution and future perspective of the project.
10.00 Arrival and coffee
10.30 Claudio Paoloni Welcome
DLINK aims and perspectives
Traveling wave tube technology at Lancaster University
11.00 Edward Wasige RTD technology at Glasgow University
11.30 Andy Sutton, BT Small cell backhaul discussion
12.30 Lunch
13.30 Discussion on specifications, approach, contribution of project partners.
15.00 Kick-off end.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/dlink/sample-page/
 
Description Marvel of microfabrication for sub THz TWT 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact It is a short video on fabrication of sub-THz TWT at Lancaster University. It was promoted in Linkedin with about 3000 views of the post.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSTAmFRFDlY
 
Description Member Technical Programme Committee 2020 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC 2020), virtual, June 2020 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Member Technical Programme Committee 2020 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC 2020), review of papers for the conference and promotion.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.eucnc.eu/2020/www.eucnc.eu/index.html
 
Description Member of Technical Programme Committee 2020 IEEE 3rd 5G World Forum (5GWF) Bangalore India, virtual, September 2020 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Member of Technical Programme Committee 2020 IEEE 3rd 5G World Forum (5GWF) with responsibility to select the papers for the conference and promote the conference.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Special Invited Session 2: THz Communications 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Organisation of a special session on THz communication by inviting relevant expert in the field. The session was much appreciate by the audience for the high level of the talk and the discussion with speakers.

11:00-11:20
Short Range Multi-Gigabit Wireless Links
Prof. Edward Wasige
University of Glasgow, UK
11:20-11:40
GaAs Schottky Components for a 300 GHz Communication System
Prof. Yi Wang
University of Birmingham, UK
11:40-12:00
Review the Progress of Silicon Based THz
Prof. Kaixue Ma
Tianjin University, China
12:00-12:20
High Speed Signal Processing for Terahertz Band Communications
Prof. Zhi Chen,
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China
12:20-12:40
THz spatial modulator based on the active 2DEG metasurface
Prof. Yaxin Zhang,
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://imws2014.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/technical-activities/special-sessions/special-session-thz-communicat...
 
Description Stand at EUMW2020 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A stand has been set at the Exhibition at EUMW 2020 with the UKRI/EPSRC Research Cluster on "RF, Microwave and Millimetre Wave Device Engineering for Wireless Connectivity toward 6G".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Tutorial Lecture (3 hours) Evolution of traveling wave tubes towards sub-THz frequencies, 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact It was an Invited Tutorial Lecture (3 hours) Evolution of traveling wave tubes towards sub-THz frequencies, Conference on "Emerging Trends in Vacuum Electronic Devices & Applications (VEDA-2022)" Bangalore, India, 19 January 2023 delivered remotely to an audience of junior and senior researchers of more than 50 persons. There was substantial interest and a very positive feedback from organiser for future lectures.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Video Marvel of microfabrication for sub THz TWT 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A short video on the micro fabrication of a slow wave structure for a sub-THz TWT. The video had 3174 impression in Linkedin.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSTAmFRFDlY
 
Description Virtual booth UKRI/EPSRC Research Cluster on "RF, Microwave and Millimetre Wave Device Engineering for Wireless Connectivity toward 6G" 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A virtual booth of the UKRI/EPSRC Research Cluster on "RF, Microwave and Millimetre Wave Device Engineering for Wireless Connectivity toward 6G" was set at the 14th UK, Europe, China Millimeter Waves and Terahertz Technology Workshop that will be held virtually, organised by Lancaster University, UK, on 13-15 September 2021.
The booth included videos and presentation of the activities of the members of the cluster. The conference attracted more than 300 participants, with about 100 active visitor at the booth.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/dlink/event/
 
Description Visit European Space Agency - ESTEC 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The visit was to present to European Space Agency the progress in sub-THz TWTs of my research team, the facilities of the TWTFab for fabrication of sub-THz TWT. The unique results and capabilities have been considered timely for the future use of compact sub-THz TWT to increase the capacity of the new dense satellite constellations for ubiquitous coverage.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Website UKRI/EPSRC Research Cluster on "RF, Microwave and Millimetre Wave Device Engineering for Wireless Connectivity toward 6G". 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Website http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/epsrcrffor6gcluster/
for UKRI/EPSRC Research Cluster on "RF, Microwave and Millimetre Wave Device Engineering for Wireless Connectivity toward 6G".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/epsrcrffor6gcluster/
 
Description Workshop From Evolution to Revolution, a roadmap for beyond 5G - 2019 IEEE 5G World Forum, Dresden, Germany 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact 5G is not yet fully deployed, but its initial definition based on challenging targets, e.g. 1000 k connections per km2, billions of IOTs, 10s Gb/s connections, 1 ms latency, has been surpassed by unpredictable and new scenarios stemmed from the fast changes of the modern world. 5G is more a new environment rather than a distribution modality of internet. As soon as 5G started, its transformation and mutation are continuously reshaping it. It was an evolution, now it is a revolution.
As all the revolutions, enthusiasms, actions, ideas, achievements flourish every day. The question is: what after the revolution?
This workshop takes energy from a formidable congregation of leading scientists, members of the first ever cluster of EC Horizon 2020 projects. The ICT Beyond 5G Cluster is formed by the successful projects of the call ICT 09, worth more than €20M. Seven projects complementary and visionary funded to respond to the 5G revolution.
The workshop will explore new streams beyond 5G by invited speakers, by discussing the latest results of the H2020 projects members of the cluster and by soliciting visionary contributions from the 5G community.
The aim is to stimulate a collective brainstorming to predict where the revolution is heading, what the technology can achieve and what impact will be on future deployment, economy and society.
At the end of each talk, instead of the typical Q&A, audience will be asked to extract key concepts and noted on a virtual board.
Three focus groups in three different key areas will collate key words and concepts with the aim to shape future visions of beyond 5G.
A panel session will challenge those visions to converge in one or more "beyond 5G" revolutionary scenarios and landscapes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/wf5gworkshopb5g/