Multi-gigabit microwave and millimeter-wave communications research at CSIRO

High speed and long range wireless backhauls are cost-effective alternatives to fibre networks and becoming more and more attractive as the demand for broadband wireless services grows rapidly in recent years. However, current commercially available wireless backhaul systems neither provide sufficiently high speed nor meet the requirements to achieve both high speed and long range at the same time with sufficiently low latency for targeted applications. Traditional microwave systems can achieve long transmission range, but the data rates are limited to a few hundred Mega bits per second only. Multi-Gigabit wireless communications can be achieved using millimetre-wave (mm-wave) frequency bands, especially the E-bands, but the practical transmission range is still a major weakness. In this paper, the state-of-the-art microwave and mm-wave technologies developed at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) are introduced to demonstrate CSIRO's technology leadership in multi-Gigabit wireless communications research and development. The technology trends in multi-Gigabit wireless communications are also discussed and various recently developed microwave and mm-wave systems are compared. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate further research interest and industry development.