Structure

Work plan — Work packages

The work plan of the project, as shown in Figure 3.1, has in total eight WPs: two non-technical WPs for management, dissemination, exploitation and standardization activities and six WPs for technical tasks.
Special attention is paid to the definition of the interfaces between the work packages that are identified in this figure and the text below. The work is efficiently split in order to have interfaces lean enough to allow for a high degree of independence, but sufficiently rich to exploit the synergies between the WPs and to ensure proper synchronization.

WP1 (Applications, System Specifications and Architectures)
will provide the Applications, Specifications and Architectures for the backhauling solution based on a transceiver operating in D-Band. First, the requirements from the network point of view (uses cases) will be analyzed and defined. The performances for a radio solution, such as the capacity, the hop length vs. availability, the node feasibility and others potential constraints will be identified and defined. The necessary radio solution arrangement and the transceiver architecture and specifications will be defined. Afterwards, taking these requirements as inputs, the block architecture of the transceiver will be defined together with the specifications of each block of the transceiver including the baseband part. The output of the WP1 will be a basis for work in WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6.
WP1 leader is NOKIA.

WP2 (Radio analog front end)
will cover the development of all the D-band analog front-end transceiver functional blocks required to provide cost-efficient, high data rate wireless back- and front haul radio links for the project, using the advanced 55-nm BiCMOS technology of ST to cope with the integration of the complete D-band front-end on a single chip set. Radio analog front end functional blocks such as IQ-mixers, low-noise amplifiers, frequency multipliers, frequency synthesizer, phase shifters and power amplifiers will be designed and implemented in SiGe technology. Design will be done based on specifications from WP1. Bi-directional collaboration with all other WPs is also expected, in particular with WP4 for defining the interfaces and methodology to perform the phased array control, with WP3 for defining the interfaces with the antennas and with WP5 for defining the cooling system requirements.
WP2 leader is ST.

WP3 (Antenna Technology)
will develop antenna elements and arrays for the integrated large antenna arrays.
Antenna array with beam steering and beam forming to compensate for small pointing variations and initial antenna set-up will be studied and implemented. The selection of the integration platform including substrate materials will be done together with WP5. The isolation between TX and RX antenna arrays and among the full antennas system arrangement will be analyzed by means of both simulations and measurements. Cosimulation of antenna elements with RFICs will be performed. Radome materials and shapes, including the mutual positions with antennas will be developed for D-band antenna arrays and for the final solution system.
Design will be done based on specifications from WP1 in close cooperation with WP2 in RF, LO and IF impedance level and WP4. Designed antennas will be delivered to WP5 for integration.
WP3 leader is VTT.

WP4 (Baseband, Modem core and Phase Array management)
will design and manufacture a modem unit for dual carrier high-capacity signal processing up to 1024QAM, with optimized ACM algorithm and up to 2GHz channel bandwidth. A full duplexing self-canceller and 2×2/4×4 Line-of-Sight MIMO operations will
be evaluated. A digital control platform will be designed and manufactured in order to control the phased antenna array and to provide the capability of beam alignment at setup and fine beam steering during operation. This control platform will be denoted as the Phased Array Management (PAM). Optimized network traffic signal processing including the carrier aggregation tool necessary for multicarrier approach will be designed. All designs will be done based on specifications from WP1 in close cooperation with WP2 and WP3. Designed blocks will be delivered to WP5 for integration.
WP4 leader is HCL.

WP5 (Subsystem Validation and Integration platform)
will design the demonstrator platform and integrate deliverables from WP2, WP3 and WP4. The work includes the design of the mechanical assembly, integration of a RF module, a control module and BB-Modem subsystems. Following tasks are also part of WP5: mechanical design and manufacturing of an enclosure, assembly of internal submodules, integration and validation testing. D-band RF integration platform technology will be high frequency PCB platform developed in DREAM. The platform will be enhanced with thermal management options. The demonstrator platform will be used in WP6 in a field demonstrator.
WP5 leader is GreenWaves.

WP6 (Field Demonstrator)
will design the testbed architecture; the test planning and the infield test. It will build the testbed suited for final test and validation using the prototypes from WP5. The measurements will follow the testing plan defined at the beginning of this work package and a comparison with anticipated performances from the system specification (WP1) will be carried out. The work package will validate that the demonstrator fulfils project objectives and, in particular, the transceiver capability to implement the link in accordance with the system requirements. Finally, a field trial will be implemented connecting the system to a 5G network traffic. Results of the WP6 will be used for future standardization activities in D-Band also.
WP5 leader is TCELL.

WP7 (Dissemination, standardization, exploitation)
receives inputs from all the work packages of the project to disseminate the developed technology. Participation in D band standardization processes will be carried out by industrial partners, particularly Nokia and ST for broadcasting the results of DRAGON. Exploitation plans of the project results will be developed.
WP7 leader is UniPV.

WP8 (Project management)
is the work package that deals with the coordination and management issues. Financial issues, IPR issues and risk issues will be managed within this work package.
WP7 leader is VTT.