University of Texas at Austin (UT-A) is planning to join the existing multi-university Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) entitled "The Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology" (WICAT) which is currently comprised of four member institutions: the Polytechnic Institute of NYU as the lead institution, Auburn University, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech.
The UT-A WICAT site will focus on massively broadband wireless RF Integrated circuits and signal processing. This includes the theory and practice of on-chip antennas, receiver and transmitter design and scalable signal and system approaches. The UT-A Site will bring capability in new communication circuits, system architectures, and antenna and propagation knowledge for 60 GHz and above needed for emerging generations of wireless systems.
A new site of WICAT at UT-A will enable chip and circuit and signal processing co-design capability in a new frequency range enabling research insights at both the physical and functional network levels. There is good integration of outreach and diversity with site plans drawing on existing university programs and leveraging research of the site.
The WICAT project is a Industry-University Collaborative Research Center focused in the wireless communications and networks domain. This project supported research in millimeter wave communications, antenna optimization in laptop computers, and advanced GPS receivers. More broadly, the center (with both industry and NSF funding) supported research in advanced models, algorithms and architectures for both cellular and ad-hoc wireless networks, and the development of analytical methods for network inference and learning. This center had a diversity of industry affiliates (e.g., device manufacturers, equipment vendors), which enabled a holistic perspective on the entire wireless ecosystem. A large number of faculty members and students (more than 100) benefited from this center. Specific research outcomes from center included, for example, new collaborative GPS algorithms that enabled precise positioning by allowing a group of GPS receivers to communicate/collaborate for precisely determining position. As another example to illustrate industry-university interactions, studies were conducted on the effects of the position of the antenna on a laptop computer on the wireless signal strength. This involved the simulation of the electromagnetic landscape in the context of a commercial laptop (in collaboration with an industry partner) and optimizing the position of the antenna. The broader impacts of this center included students training in the area of wireless communications, and collaboration with industry to enable transfer of technical knowledge between academia and industry.
