The project SERENA (gan-on-Silicon Efficient mm-wave euRopean system iNtegration plAtform) aims to extend the limits of mainstream semiconductor technologies by developing a low-cost and high-performance (high-power and high-efficiency) hybrid integration platform for mm-wave systems. It intends to develop a GaN-on-Silicon cost- and power efficient mm-wave 5G beam-steering system as a proof-of-concept for future key markets (mm-wave 5G wireless communication systems and radars for autonomous vehicle). The SERENA consortium accepts the challenge to bring into production high performance mm-wave active antenna systems, at a commercially viable price-point and low energy consumption. It will do so by developing a system architecture and technology platform using an integrated approach.

Further, SERENA will combine advancements in hybrid analogue/digital mm-wave beam-steering system architectures with a completely European based semiconductor supply chain. Finally, the project team will foster an inter-disciplinary design approach with a strong emphasis on multi-physics simulations and predictive co-design to show the unique capabilities of the SERENA technology.

The SERENA project aims to reach the following objectives:

• Objective 1: Development of a hybrid analogue/digital beam forming architecture and integration platform for high-performance and low-cost mm-wave systems.
• Objective 2: Visualization of the SERENA architecture and integration platform performance in a proof-of-concept mm-wave electronic beamforming system for 5G mm-wave radio access operating in the 37 GHz to 41 GHz band.
• Objective 3: Development of a hybrid analogue/digital processing architecture for beamforming systems with the simultaneous benefit energy efficiency maximization and cost minimization.
•  Objective 4: Study performances, including applications such as E-band point-to-point high-speed radio links and W-band short-range radar sensors for autonomous vehicles to ensure that the SERENA platform is scalable up to 100 GHz.
• Objective 5: Development of a predictive design of tightly integrated mm-wave and digital processing systems.

The SERENA consortium holds all ingredients for a successful project. Nine partners from five different countries will provide their extensive know-how and long-lasting experience for the development of the targeted design framework. The consortium is a well balanced mix of three SMEs, two research organizations, two industrial partners and two universities. This constellation enables the project to tackle the problem with an exhaustive approach, including researchers, developers and users.

The CommIT chair will contribute to the system aspects and the signal processing of the proof-of-concept platform. We will specify the hybrid architecture and other hardware aspects from a communication system perspective. CommIT is the mayor contributor to the signal processing investigation (WP1) and implementation (WP5 and WP6).

For this task we will use our extensive knowledge in signal processing and algorithms for communication systems in general and specifically our insights into hybrid massive MIMO architectures. The research in our other projects like CoSIP, on for example compressed sensing, will help us reaching the goals of the SERENA project. Furthermore we will provide our massive MIMO software defined radio platform as processing unit for the baseband signal processing.