Revolutionizing fibre-wireless communications through space-division multiplexed photonics

2017

COMISION DE LAS COMUNIDADES EUROPEA

INV. COMPETITIVA PROYECTOS

Gasulla Mestre Ivana

ERC Grant Next generation global telecomnunication paradigms vill require entirely new technologies to address the current limitations to massive capacity and connectivity. A full integration between optical fibre and wireless networks will be the key for the upcoming multigigabit-per-second 50 wireless comunications and the era of lnternet of Things. Microwave Photonics (MWP) is the multidisciplinary technology to achieve such a convergence. There is one revolutionary approach that has however been left untapped in finding innovative ways to increase the end user capacity and provide adaptive radiofrequency-photonic interfaces: exploiting space - the last available degree of freedotn for optical multiplexing. Space-Division multiplexing (SDM) has been recently touted as a solution for the capacity bottleneck in digital conununications by establishing independent light paths in a single fibre. My pioneering idea is to develop a novel area of application for SDM by exploiting for the fírst time its inherent parallelism to implement a broadband tuneable true time delay line for radiofrequency signals, which is the basis of multiple MWP functionalities. Within this project I envision an unprecedented revolution in fibre-wireless communications through the powerful concept of SDM that will lead to unique processing capabilities as well as to a reduction of size, weight and power consumption.