buon kiong lau

Dual-Frequency Distributed Deployment for 6G – The Sub-THz Story

6G research is well underway. The current focus is on the so called FR3 (Frequency Range 3, 7-24 GHz), to strike a balance between the coverage capability of FR1 (sub-6GHz) and the high capacity of FR2 (millimeter-wave frequencies). On the other hand, there is significant interest in harvesting even larger available bandwidths in the sub-THz range to leverage the promised 6G peak data rate of 1 terabit per second, despite the known limitations of very high propagation loss and link reliability in these frequencies. In this talk, I will present a vision of a 6G system that features both low-frequency (sub-10 GHz) and high-frequency (sub-THz) bands, where the two parts are designed to work in tandem to fulfill 6G requirements. In the 6G-Tandem vision, the low frequency subsystem that provides reliable coverage and high performance is complemented by the high frequency subsystem which offloads users requiring ultrahigh data rate services. One significant novelty in this approach is in the deployment of “radiostripes” to provide the sub-THz coverage, which involves the distributing radio frequency (RF) signals through polymer microwave fiber (PMF) cables to radio units (RUs) placed at regular spacing to provide localized coverage at each RU. I will describe how this new architecture enables simpler antenna solutions which can be readily integrated with the associated RF circuitry in the low-cost and flexible embedded wafer level ball grid array (eWLB) packaging technology. Finally, I will provide preliminary results demonstrating the feasibility of the distributed deployment concept, which represents a promising path to practical deployment of sub-THz frequency bands in 6G.

Buon Kiong Lau (IEEE Fellow) is a Professor, a Division Head, and the Deputy Department Head at the Department of Electrical and Information Technology, Lund University, Sweden. Dr. Lau is best known for his contributions to various aspects of multi-antenna systems in wireless communications. Dr. Lau is the Senior Editor of IEEE Open Journal on Antennas and Propagation and a Senior Editor of IEEE Journal of Selected Topics on Electromagnetics, Antennas and Propagation (JSTEAP). He was an Associate Editor (AE), Senior AE and inaugural Track Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation (TAP) (2010-2016). He received an award from TAP for exceptional performance as an Associate Editor during 2014-2015. He was also the Lead Guest Editor of Special Issues in TAP, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, and IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine. Dr. Lau was an Education Committee Member in the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) (2011-2023), where he served as the Student Design Contest Coordinator (2013-2015). He was an AP-S Distinguished Lecturer (2017-2019). He is an elected AP-S Administrative Committee (AdCom) Member, the Vice-chair of the AP-S Technical Directions Committee and the Vice-chair of the Ad-hoc Committee on Geographical Distribution of Elected AdCom Members. Dr. Lau initiated the international Characteristic Modes Special Interest Group (CM-SIG) in 2014 to promote new breakthroughs and foster collaboration in CM research. Currently, nearly 120 research groups/companies are members of the SIG.