Mobile and wireless communication rates from phase space

Project description

Modern mobile and wireless communication is using ever more sophisticated antenna arrays (such as in massive MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) systems) and smart reflecting surfaces to boost commination rates. Ray-tracing is a core tool in the physical modelling of these technologies – and in the very large and complex environments typically encountered, it’s often the only game in town.

This project centres around developing mathematical techniques that leverage ray-tracing simulations to gain as much information as possible about the communication rates that are possible in a given physical environment. This typically involves using the geometry of flows in a corresponding phase space to approximate intrinsically wave-based models of communication. The setting for this activity is directly analogous to “semiclassical” treatments of quantum mechanical wave phenomena, in which we aim to quantify eigenvalues of operators in terms of the properties of classical solutions and the geometry of their phase space.

In particular, for example, communication channels and their signal strengths for a massive MIMO set up can be obtained from an eigenvalue problem that is in some ways analogous to the problem of determining eigenvectors and eigenvalues of a quantum observable, such as the Hamiltonian. We borrow techniques developed in the quantum-mechanical context to glean useful information about these eigenvalues which allows us then to develop direct approximations of the overall communication rate. It should be noted that, although the foundation of the approach lies in quantum mechanics, an extensive background in this subject is not necessary to start the problem. The main ingredient will be an interest in wave phenomena generally and in methods of dealing with corresponding ray or mechanical phase spaces.

The output of the project will be directly relevant to an EU consortium RISE-6G, in which members of the School collaborate to create technologies in which Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces are used to control and direct mobile communication signals.