FTTR-MmWave Architecture for Next-Generation Indoor High-Speed Communications

doi:10.12142/ZTECOM.202504004

ZTE Communications ›› 2025, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (4): 16-26.DOI: 10.12142/ZTECOM.202504004

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FTTR-MmWave Architecture for Next-Generation Indoor High-Speed Communications

CHEN Zhe¹(), ZHOU Peigen¹, WANG Long², HOU Debin², HU Yun³, CHEN Jixin¹, HONG Wei¹

^1.Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
^2.MiSic Microelectronics Co. , Ltd. , Nanjing 211111, China
^3.Nanjing Ziwei Technology Co. , Ltd. , Nanjing 211111, China

Received:2025-09-15 Online:2025-12-22 Published:2025-12-22
About author:CHEN Zhe (zhechen@seu.edu.cn) received his BS degree in microwave engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2006, and his PhD degree in electronic engineering from Southeast University, China in 2014. From 2016 to 2018, he was with The University of Texas, USA. He is currently an associate professor with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Technology, Southeast University. His research interests include terahertz signal sources and high-speed communications and millimeter wave integrated circuits in nanometer silicon-based technology. He served as the Session Chair for the IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT), the IEEE International Wireless Symposium (IWS), and the IEEE International Conference on Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology (ICMMT).
ZHOU Peigen received his BS degree in radio engineering and PhD degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technique from Southeast University (SEU), China in 2015 and 2020, respectively. From 2019 to 2020, he was a visiting student researcher with Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. Since 2021, he has been with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, SEU, where he is currently an associate professor with the School of Information Science and Engineering. His current research interests include silicon-based millimeter wave/terahertz on chip wireless communication/radar phased-array transceivers.
WANG Long received his BE degree from Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, China in 2015, MS degree from Hangzhou Dianzi University, China in 2018, and PhD degree from Southeast University, China in 2024. From 2018 to 2020, he was with MiSic Microelectronics Technology Company Ltd., Nanjing, as a research engineer. His current research interests include silicon-based millimeter-wave integrated circuits and systems. He was a recipient of the IEEE International Wireless Symposium (IWS) Best Student Paper Award in 2021.
HOU Debin received his BS degree from the School of Physical Electronics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2007, and his PhD degree from the School of Information Science and Technology, Southeast University, China in 2013. He was with the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Sweden in 2009, and the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, as an exchange student, from 2010 to 2012. From 2013 to 2022, he was with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, China. He has authored over 20 technical publications. He is now with the MiSic Microelectronics Co., Ltd., China. His current research interests include silicon based/GaAs millimeter wave/terahertz on-chip components, antennas, and integrated circuits. Dr. HOU received the Jiangsu Excellent 100 Doctoral Dissertation Prize in 2014.
HU Yun received his BE degree in electronics and information engineering and ME degree in circuits and systems from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2008 and 2011, respectively, and his PhD degree in electromagnetic and microwave engineering from Southeast University, China in 2019. From July 2011 to February 2015, he was with the Second Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, as a research engineer. He is now with Nanjing Ziwei Tech. Co., Ltd., China. His current research interests include multibeam antennas, antenna arrays, beamforming networks, and RF front-end design. Dr. HU was a recipient of the Student Paper Award of the 2018 IEEE 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Antennas and Propagation (APCAP 2018).
CHEN Jixin received his BS degree in radio engineering and MS and PhD degrees in electromagnetic field and microwave technique from Southeast University, China in 1998, 2002, and 2006, respectively. Since 1998, he has been with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter-Waves, Southeast University, where he is currently a professor with the School of Information Science and Engineering and the director of the Department of Electromagnetic Field and Microwave Engineering. His current research interests include the integration technology of millimeter-wave circuits and systems. Dr. CHEN was a recipient of the 2016 Keysight Early Career Professor Award and the 2016 National Natural Science Prize Second Prize of China. He served as the TPC Chair for NCMMW2021 and RFIT2019 and the TPC Co-Chair for HSIC2012 and UCMMT2012.
HONG Wei received his BS degree from University of Information Engineering, China in 1982, and MS and PhD degrees from Southeast University, China in 1985 and 1988, respectively, all in radio engineering. Since 1988, he has been with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, has served as the director of the lab since 2003, and is currently a professor at the School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University. In 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998, he was a short-term Visiting Scholar with the University of California at Berkeley and at Santa Cruz, USA. He has been engaged in numerical methods for electromagnetic problems, millimeter-wave theory and technology, antennas, and RF technology for wireless communications. He has authored and co-authored over 400 technical publications and two books. He has received numerous awards, including the National Natural Science Award of China (twice), the first-class Science and Technology Progress Award from the Chinese Ministry of Education and the Jiangsu Provincial Government (four times), the 2023 CIE Science and Technology Innovation Team Award, and the 2021 IEEE MTT-S Microwave Prize. Dr. HONG is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of CIE, the Vice President of both the CIE Microwave Society and the Antenna Society, and the Chair of the IEEE MTT-S/AP-S/EMC-S Joint Nanjing Chapter. He was an elected member of the IEEE MTT-S Administrative Committee (AdCom) from 2014 to 2016. He served as Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques from 2007 to 2010 and as one of the guest editors for the 5G special issue of IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation in 2017.

Abstract

Abstract:

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology has been extensively studied for indoor short-range communications. In such fixed network applications, the emerging FTTR architecture allows mmWave technology to be well cascaded with in-room optical network terminals, supporting high-speed communication at rates over tens of Gbit/s. In this Fiber-to-the-Room (FTTR)-mmWave system, the severe signal attenuation over distance and high penetration loss through room walls are no longer bottlenecks for practical mmWave deployment. Instead, these properties create high spatial isolation, which prevents mutual interference between data streams and ensures information security. This paper surveys the promising integration of FTTR and mmWave access for next-generation indoor high-speed communications, with a particular focus on the Ultra-Converged Access Network (U-CAN) architecture. It is structured in two main parts: it first traces this new FTTR-mmWave architecture from the perspective of Wi-Fi and mmWave communication evolution, and then focuses specifically on the development of key mmWave chipsets for FTTR-mmWave Wi-Fi applications. This work aims to provide a comprehensive reference for researchers working toward immersive, untethered indoor wireless experiences for users.

Key words: Fiber-to-the-Room, millimeter wave, Wi-Fi, cloud virtual reality (cloud VR), beamforming

CHEN Zhe, ZHOU Peigen, WANG Long, HOU Debin, HU Yun, CHEN Jixin, HONG Wei. FTTR-MmWave Architecture for Next-Generation Indoor High-Speed Communications[J]. ZTE Communications, 2025, 23(4): 16-26.

Figures/Tables 10

Figure 1 Schematic diagram of FTTR-mmWave cascading in the U-CAN architecture: (a) overall U-CAN architecture and (b) FTTR-mmWave system

Figure 2 Block diagram of the 24–29.5 GHz chipset: (a) Tx chip and (b) Rx chip

Figure 3 Chip micrograms and measurement results: (a) micrograph of the 24–29.5 GHz Rx chip; (b) micrograph of the 24–29.5 GHz Tx chip; (c) over-the-air (OTA) measurement setup; (d) measured EVM with single carrier modulation signal

Figure 4 Block diagram of the 45-GHz direct-conversion chipset: (a) Tx chip and (b) Rx chip

Figure 5 Chip micrographs and measurement results for the 45 GHz transceiver: (a) Tx chip; (b) Rx chip; (c) OTA measurement setup; (d) measured 64-QAM constellation

Figure 6 Block diagram of the 40 GHz Integer-N PLL

Figure 7 Micrograph of the 40 GHz Integer-N PLL

Figure 8 The 26/28-GHz 8-channel TR and Up/Down-conversion chipsets (Image courtesy of MiSic Microelectronics Co., Ltd.)

Figure 9 45-GHz 2-channel transceiver chip for mmWave Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11aj) applications(Image courtesy of MiSic Microelectronics Co., Ltd.)

Figure 10 MmWave Wi-Fi modules for: (a) access point and (b) user terminal (Image courtesy of MiSic and Ziwei Tech., etc.)

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FTTR-MmWave Architecture for Next-Generation Indoor High-Speed Communications

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