Revolutionizing wireless communications

Advancing wireless communications and sensing systems

ASU’s Center for Wireless Information Systems and Computation Architectures (WISCA) places the university at the research and development nexus of the next revolution in wireless communications and sensing systems. DUMTE, the Dynamic Unmanned Threat Emitter, will be used to train pilots to identify and respond to threats, such as surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft artillery. WISCA works across the research space: basic theory, novel system concepts, advanced algorithms, new advanced computing architectures, implementations and experimental validation. It provides the underlying technology for a wide range of applications, such as autonomous air and ground vehicles, multifunction low-cost satellites, next generation communications systems and many more.

WISCA develops:

• A novel framework and hardware design for radio frequency (RF) systems that are as easy to program as a field programmable gate array and as efficient in performance as an application specific integrated circuit.

• Mixed radar position-navigation-and-timing (PNT) systems. Prior development led to a PNT system that achieves phase-accurate timing and relative positioning accurate to a centimeter. This is critical research for the development of flying cars.

• Advanced distributed coherent technologies to enable groups of radios or phones to work as a single high-performance antenna system, dramatically improving robustness and range.

• The next generation concept for spectral employment called RF convergence that enables multiple-function (communications, radar, PNT, etc.) systems that provide much more efficient use of the limited spectrum.

• A self-interference mitigation system that enables the simultaneous transmit-receive of RF signals, a feat traditionally considered to be technologically impossible.

• Small-scale radar use in vital signs monitoring, including respiration and heart rate.

A collaboration between Luke Air Force Base airmen and ASU researchers resulted in DUMTE, which tied for first place at Spark Tank, a national Air Force innovation competition.