In order to expose the ESRs to a realistic research situation within a system context and to foster collaboration between the ESRs, their individual PhD projects are defined around a given system architecture.
In MyWave, the fellows will investigate particular aspects of the base-station concept, which is highly scientifically relevant. For this, they will develop novel active antenna architectures that exhibit a large antenna gain, therefore requiring comparably less transmit power. To achieve low-complexity RRHs, radio-over-fibre concepts for the front-haul will be investigated. Moreover, antenna and electronics co-design using multi-physics modelling approaches is a key enabler towards more efficient, high performance radio-access hardware. All concepts will be optimized to meet the requirements of C-RAN/DM-MIMO. However, the skills and expertise they will obtain are also transferrable to scientific challenges of other system architecture concepts in the mm-wave domain.
The system architecture that will serve the ESRs as common guideline within the MyWave research and training programme is shown in the figure above. The scope of the individual ESR projects range from radiating elements, mm-wave electronics (ICs), beamforming mechanisms and front-haul concepts to multi-disciplinary design flows for antenna-electronics co-design as well as system synchronisation, calibration and testing. The design of such complex antenna systems requires international cooperation of several disciplines. The ESRs will form a research team that is embedded in leading R&D labs in this domain from European industry and academia. This will bridge the gap between these different disciplines by uniting their research efforts to solve the challenges. The programme will strongly enhance the employability and career prospects of the ESRs by offering a high-quality consortium with in-depth training in the technical areas as well as a comprehensive set of transferable skills relevant for innovation and long-term employability. The research fellows will all spend at least 18 months of their time at industry, ensuring that the training includes a significant industrial experience and application know-how. To ensure long-term collaborations, we will set up Erasmus partnerships and organise a formal recognition of courses in line with joint PhD programmes. Note that the research design is not influenced by biological characteristics and/or social/cultural factors and thus gender aspects do not play a role in the research.