SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will involve research on and development of a reconfigurable wireless platform enabling secondary access of wireless spectrum via simultaneous data transmission across several disjoint frequency channels. In particular, the proposed innovations will advance the current state-of-the-art in the area of non-contiguous orthogonal frequency division multiple access (NC-OFDMA) architectures. The anticipated reduction in NC-OFDMA out-of-band emissions and transmitted peak-to-average power ratio will greatly improve the co-existence of primary and secondary wireless transmissions. The resultant improved dynamic spectrum access (DSA) capability will then permit much more efficient use of limited spectrum resources. The proposed work will be targeted towards the development of a high throughput and robust hardware implementation for the 802.22 wireless regional area network, a recently ratified Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard that employs NC-OFDMA. The research will result in an NC-OFDMA optimization framework that will help shape the direction of this field and guide the design of viable 802.22 products. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project stems from the opportunity to develop wireless products for the rural broadband and machine-to-machine markets. Data communication networks are needed by modern society for access to the Internet, providing both essential services and modern conveniences. Unfortunately, many communities, especially rural, currently lack the infrastructure to support such networks, with roughly three billion people in the world with little if any wireless service. Therefore, conducting research to optimize NC-OFDMA for high-speed communications systems including 802.22 in rural areas will benefit society while providing enormous commercialization potential. The optimization techniques and technology resulting from the proposed activities will also yield products for smart grids and sensor networks and support the public safety, emergency services, and first responder community efforts to provide better communications access to the network.

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project will involve research on and development of a reconfigurable wireless platform enabling broadband communications in rural areas via secondary access of television white spaces (TVWS) spectrum. The recently ratified IEEE standard, 802.22, is the most promising technique proposed for TVWS operation. Unfortunately, current 802.22 implementations create unacceptable levels of out-of-band (OOB) emissions, greatly degrading the performance of both primary and secondary TVWS users. Current designs also fail to sense the presence of other TVWS users as necessary for coexistence. Such limitations have prevented the rollout of 802.22 solutions. The proposed work overcomes these limitations, leading to a low-cost, high throughput, and robust implementation for the 802.22 wireless regional area network (WRAN). Phase II laboratory and field testing will validate the viability of Phase II developed 802.22 WRAN prototype devices for rural broadband deployment. The activities described in this proposal will significantly advance the community?s understanding of methods to make cognitive radio networks such as 802.22 practical and effective in offering broadband services in rural areas.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project centers on offering a low-cost broadband solution to the 14.5 million Americans who live in rural areas currently beyond the reach of broadband access, while appealing to those in rural areas that have broadband access but are unable to afford the high equipment and service costs of current solutions. Rural communities with broadband access have lower unemployment, higher per capita earnings, and greater educational opportunity. Broadband improves rural area healthcare effectiveness while lowering cost. Public safety, emergency service, and first responder communities also call for high data-rate communications to better predict and respond to natural disasters.