Executive Summary : | Traditional cellular networks, operating at sub 1-GHz and sub 6-GHz, are limited in spectrum for future wireless data services. However, the development of wireless communication technologies for the Millimeter Wave (mmWave) spectrum (30 GHz-300 GHz) is underway for 5G and 6G systems. 6G wireless is a relatively new research topic, but recent literature suggests efforts to integrate mmWave radios into wireless local area networks (WLAN) to make use of the huge mmWave spectrum. To overcome high attenuation at mmWave frequencies, communication is assisted by employing highly directional antennas. However, these directional links can be easily blocked by obstacles, leading to outages. A feasible solution is to focus the transmitted beam on an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), which redirects it ""smartly"" to the intended user. IRS technology is promising for assisting communication in challenging 5G/6G wireless scenarios. Current research on IRS technology focuses on reflection-optimization, deployment, and channel estimation problems. However, there is a gap in literature regarding random-access for the IRS assisted mmWave uplink.
The research proposal aims to investigate IRS surface mounted-on-UAV enabled mmWave communication, as UAV technology is crucial for defense and disaster management applications. The proposal targets four specific research problems relevant to 6G mmWave communications: (1) Analysis of IRS assisted MIMO mmWave link, (2) Develop efficient beam training random-access procedure for IRS assisted mmWave uplink, (3) Good thumb-rules for efficient utilization of massive MIMO in mmWave communications, and (4) Adaptive deployment of IRS mounted-on-UAV to enable 6G networks. |