Stanford EE Computer Systems Colloquium

Spring Quarter 2022

April 13. 2022 4PM-6PM 160-B40 Wallenburg Stanford

The Future of Wireless Communications (Reprise)

Hint: It’s not a linear amplifier

Doug Kirkpatrick

Eridan Communications

Spectrum and energy are expensive and constrained resources in the era of 5G. Given the exponential increase in the demand for wireless capacity, these constraints have become more apparent and innovation in this space is therefore crucial.

The future generations of wireless communications will demand innovative leaps in spectrum efficiency, bandwidth efficiency, and power efficiency for successful technology deployments. Key applications that will fundamentally change how we interact with wireless systems and the demands we place on wireless technologies include Small Cell deployment, Massive MIMO and Beam Steering, and eventually Dynamic Spectrum Access. While each of these breakthrough "system" capabilities make simultaneous demands of spectrum efficiency, bandwidth efficiency, and power efficiency, the current suite of legacy technologies forces system designers to make undesirable trade-offs because of the limitations of linear amplifier technology.

Eridan's solution is the antithesis of "linear". By combining the favorable properties of Gallium Nitride with direct polar architecture, Eridan's digital sampling radio emphasizes precision and flexibility, and simultaneously delivers spectrum efficiency, bandwidth efficiency, and power efficiency. The resulting capabilities dramatically increase total wireless capacity without expanding operations into extended regions of the wireless spectrum.

This presentation will discuss the driving forces behind wireless system performance, the physics of linear amplifiers and digital sampling radios, measured performance of Eridan's solution, and the implications for wireless system capabilities in the near future.

Dr. Douglas Kirkpatrick is the CEO and Co-founder of Eridan with prior leadership roles as a VC, Chief Scientist at DARPA, VP of R&D for Fusion Lighting, and as a staff scientist and VP at SAIC. Douglas is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has authored more than 30 journal articles and 60 US and international patents.

[Curator comments: Doug Kirkpatrick gave a similarly titled talk in EE380 on May 16, 2018. This reprise of the 2018 talk explores how the ideas evolved and changed over the last four years. The earlier talk is available onine at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa0hIC1HCh4&t=27s ]