FWO: GLIMWASP

Full Name: General-purpose LIght and MicroWave Analog Signal Processor (G0ACJ25N)

Duration: 1/1/2025-31/12/2028

Partners:

• Photonics Resarch Group
• IDlab

Objective:

• The GLIMWASP project paves the way for future generations of 5G and 6G wireless networks. These will provide higher capacity and consume lower power, while also being more granularly distributed. New technologies are needed to support the higher frequencies (beyond 100 GHz) and the increasing number of connected devices. The solution can be found in the combination of photonics and electronics: by integrating optical fiber links, photonic chips and high-speed electronics into a single technology called microwave photonics, enormous amounts of information can be distributed to larger numbers of antennas with much-reduced power consumption and cost. In GLIMWASP, the Photonics Research Group and IDLab at Ghent University are developing a new type programmable silicon photonic chips with custom-designed electronics to make tightly integrated microwave photonic processors that are both powerful and flexible, being able to convert wireless signals to optical signals and back, perform on-the-fly filtering operations, amplify signals, convert them between different frequency bands, or steer the direction of the antennas based on the user demand. The unique combination of chip technologies makes it possible to redefine the functionality of the microwave processor in software, so they can be reprogrammed to scale with the changing networks of the future.

People involved

• Wim Bogaerts

Research topics involved

• Reconfigurable Photonic Circuits