Smart Antenna & Radio for Access and Backhaul for Advanced Network noDes (SARABAND)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Alternative Paths to Components and Systems
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: France,Germany,France,Spain,United Kingdom,Poland
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-7, 2011)
Start date: 2011-10-03
End date: 2015-04-02
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5027496.0
EU funding (EUR): 3001277.0
Participants: 10
Project status: CLOSED

SARABAND project aims to take advantage of the Q-band frequency (40,5 to 43,5 GHz) in a cost effective way to provide higher performing and integrated network nodes for wireless backhaul of future mobile radio and last mile access for the digital divide by developing smart antennas and front-end radio modules. The use of millimeter waves, particularly the Q-band where 3GHz bandwidth has been regulated by EU, can bring large capacity with high throughputs, fast deployment, with lightweight and discrete equipment. As mobile operators face increasing density of base stations as well as growing bandwidth requirements backhaul has become the new challenge. To reduce the digital divide and as a complement to the Fiber to the Home, especially where cost to deploy fiber cannot be justified, it is proposed to deliver capacity to enterprises and households over the last miles at much more reasonable cost. High throughputs & capacities can be delivered with GHz bandwidth compact radios with advanced antennas and front ends radios. Performances and cost target will be met with: on the one hand low profile high gain and programmable multi-beam antennas and very high performance miniaturized analogue steerable antennas, on other hand advanced packaged Q-band circuits. Lens antennas are an attractive and inexpensive solution to produce highly shaped radiation patterns. The SARABAND lens shape will be designed in order to transform the feed pattern to the desired radiation pattern. Other very attractive concept proposed in SARABAND for electronic beam steering studies is the Circular Switched Parasitic Array (CSPA) antenna that is proposed as one solution for the agile Q-Band antenna in the repeaters. SARABAND will propose very advance packaging and interconnection process for Q-band radio front-end modules achieving high thermal efficiency performances, high reliability and lifetime and low costs. In this way, Q band wide spectrum and free space attenuation, pattern control of antenna beams, and consumption improvement with integration of smaller chips with better yields lead to low level radiation under 0.1V/m and less energy consumption, making SARABAND a Green Technology. The collaboration of the SARABAND partners will go further by creating state of the art, smart, high gain & agile Q-band antennas with miniaturized Q-band radio head inside. They will associate the latest best performing modems and integrate the products within an IP network with management and traffic shaping on a real environment test bed. The aim is to convince operators of the capabilities of the massive bandwidth available in millimeter, and to present the most cost-efficient and easily deployed wireless backhaul and access networks solutions.

Keywords: agile antenna - low profile antenna - q band - miniaturised radio module - future network - broadband wireless network - packaging and interconnexion