New Communication Paradigm by Compelling Wireless Technology Yuichi Kado Kyoto Institute of Technology Department of Electronics Matsugasaki Sakyo-ku Kyoto 606-8585 Japan
[email protected] Abstract— The development of advanced wireless technology that applies energy harvesting, near-field coupling mechanism, and THz waves to wireless transceivers is expected to play an important role in the creation of a new communication paradigm that meets social needs. This paper discusses three directions toward the paradigm with concepts of “field intelligence,” a “universal interface,” and a “highly realistic sensation.” Keywords-communication paradigm; wireless technology; field intelligence; universal interface; highly realistic sensation
I.
INTRODUCTION
After the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 and the subsequent severe nuclear accident, we believe that the power-supply grid in Japan must change drastically. We will be asked to further diversify the composition of energy sources we will actually use in the 21st century. Even in fields other than energy, we should be able to obtain resources (agriculture, marine, forestry, and fisheries), ensure safety and security (communicable diseases, disaster prevention), build an information society (ubiquitous, security, and private information), recover community relations, and deal with the issue of an aging population (medical treatment, and robots), among other things. These are merely examples.
compelling wireless technologies such as those in energy harvesting sensor network, near-field coupling communication, and THz ultrahigh-speed wireless links. II.
ADVANCED WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES
Three categories of the key wireless technologies are classified by the communication distance and data rate. These wireless communication systems easily connect to broadband optical networks. The new paradigm will be produced by fusing the advanced wireless links and next generation optical networks shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 gives the average power consumption versus data rate for the advanced transceivers used in future wireless link systems.
Figure 2. Mapping of advanced wireless technologies
Figure 1. Three directions toward new paradigm
Considering these social challenges, I propose a new communication paradigm that can respond to social needs. Fig. 1 shows three directions toward the paradigm that will address the nation’s most pressing problem with concepts of “field intelligence,” a “universal interface,” and a “highly realistic sensation.” It is to be based on a fixed mobile convergence infrastructure driven by
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Figure 3. Performance mapping for advanced transceivers
A. Energy harvesting networks for field intelligence A wide variety of services is expected to help make the aging society safe, secure, and more efficient in the
field of sensor networks. We propose a “wide area ubiquitous network” as a highly economical and convenient wireless system to provide such services [1]. A wide area ubiquitous network would cover an area with a radius of 3 to 5 km obtained by combining a base station and terminals with a transmission power of 10 mW. The average power consumption would be reduced to about 1 uW, including the power for time management consumed in a real-time clock circuit. These terminals could be attached to practically anything and would have an 100mW/h-capacity coin lithium battery life of 5 to 10 years. The next generation wireless terminal for field intelligence systems is an energy harvesting wireless node. Energy harvesting is the process by which energy is derived from external sources (e.g., solar power, thermal energy, and kinetic energy), captured, and stored for small wireless nodes. We need to design the node in accordance with an event-driven architecture to eliminate the power consumption of the real-time clock. A circuit technology to control nA level leakage current is essential for achieving a maintenance-free field sensor node [2]. B. Near-field coupling link for universal interface We propose a novel technology for human centric wireless communication that is aimed at achieving a “touch and connect” intuitive form of communication based on a near-field coupling mechanism using a carrier frequency of 6.75 MHz [3]. Our proposed system is not only composed of transceivers worn on the body (wearable TRX) but also transceivers embedded in floors, PCs, and equipment (embedded TRX). We fabricated a wearable card-type TRX and an embedded TRX that could be installed into various objects in our surroundings. The prototype uses a 6.75-MHz carrier frequency with binary phase shift keying modulation, and achieves a transmission rate of 420 kbit/s. The wearable TRX can operate for approximately one year on a single CR3032 button lithium-ion battery. C. THz wireless link for ultra- realistic sensation Over 10-Gbit/s wireless links are attracting a great deal of interest as a way of catching up with the expanding broadband society. Developments in sub-THz wave wireless systems using the 120 GHz band have been taking place [4]. Today’s producers of broadcast content now generally use HDTV-quality video for video production and editing. They currently need to be able to manipulate uncompressed data without picture deterioration or transmission delays. Transmission with higher capacities will become mandatory in the future. Uncompressed HD video requires a data rate of 1.5 Gbit/s, whereas 4K video requires four times as much capacity (6 Gbit/s), and 3D video requires twice as much. Moreover, development is now underway on Super Hi-Vision, which is expected to require transmission rates of 24-76 Gbit/s. These high-quality videos combined with ultrahigh speed wireless link technologies are expected to open the way to ultra-realistic ubiquitous communication environments. Other high-volume transmission demand will arise in close-proximity wireless communications, whose propagation distance through space is limited to less than 10 cm. We can assume an allowable transfer time of
several seconds and 10 seconds at most for indoor- and outdoor-application scenarios similar to when ultrahigh definition video content is shared between mobile terminals. That requires ultrahigh speed wireless link with data rate of higher than 20-40 Gbit/s. III.
TYPICAL APPLICATION
Figure 4. Navigation system for agricultural management
The state shall take necessary measures for the promotion of improvement of agricultural production base and enhancement of farm management infrastructure according to the type of management and regional characteristics, in order to develop efficient and stable farm management. Conventional agricultural production depends on the implicit knowledge and skills of individual farmers. The field intelligence system transforms implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge. Fig. 4 shows an example of a field intelligence system for agricultural navigation that supports a farm management and farming program. The field intelligence system consists of field sensors, a sensing network, and a Cyber Framework™ [5]. IV.
CONCLUSION
I discussed the new communication paradigm that can respond to social needs. It is very important to efficiently conduct feasibility studies on advanced wireless technologies by choosing an approach to configuring wireless transceivers according to the R&D phase and application field in question. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Part of this work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) 23246073 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. REFERENCES [1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
H. Saito, O. Kagami, M. Umehira, and Y. Kado “Wide Area Ubiquitous Network: The Network Operator's View of a Sensor Network,” IEEE Communications Magazine 2008, pp. 112-120. T. Shimamura, et. al.,“Nano-watt power management and vibration sensing on a dust-size batteryless sensor node for ambient intelligence applications,” ISSCC2010, Dig. of Tech. Papers, pp. 504-505. Y. Kado, et. al., “Human-Area Networking Technology Based on Near-Field Coupling Transceiver,” Proc. of IEEE Radio & Wireless Symposium (RWS2012), pp. 119-122. A. Hirata, et al., “10-Gbit/s wireless link using InP HEMT MMICs for generating 120-GHz-band millimeter-wave signal,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 57, no. 5, pp.1102-1109, 2009. http://www.cyberlab.co.jp/technologies/index_en.html
