mmMAGIC and US-Europe bridge

5G PPP mmMAGIC will participate as US-Europe bridge in US NSF research coordination network on mm-wave.

The newly formed US National Science Foundation (NSF) research coordination network (RCN) spans the important and timely area of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) wireless networks that is the focus of intense current research in academia and industry for achieving multi-Gigabit data rates and low latency as part of the emerging vision for 5G wireless networks. Due to its very nature, the research and development of mm-wave wireless networks is driven by innovations in three key areas:

1. communication and signal processing techniques,
2. mm-wave hardware, circuits, and antennas, and digital hardware,
3. wireless networking protocols,

including prototypes and testbeds. While there is significant ongoing research in all these areas, it is happening in relative isolation in the respective domains. However, there is a growing realization that harnessing the full potential of mm-wave wireless technology will require a coordinated approach that facilitates cross-fertilization of research advances in the various areas as well as across industry and academia. This RCN project is aimed at filling this gap and will bring academic and industrial researchers from all three areas, including international representatives, to facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas, and to guide and accelerate the development of mm-wave wireless technology and standards.

The RCN includes a steering committee of sixteen leading researchers from industry and academia involved in mm-wave research and development, including representatives from the European mmMAGIC project and the NIST 5G Channel Modeling Alliance.

In particular, as the flagship mm-wave project in the EU’s Horizon 2020 5G PPP Program, representation and participation from the mmMAGIC project will serve as a “US-Europe bridge” in the area of mm-wave research and technology development.