The project aims to investigate the potential improvements in the availability of high bit rate wireless services that can be achieved by use of adaptive antennas. It also aims to determine how antenna arrays can be used to provide enhanced location information.
The project is organised into a number of Work Packages (WPs) intended to achieve these aims:
1. Requirements Capture. This is the starting point for much of the project and aims to identify the requirements for the use of antenna arrays for:
· Broadband Outdoor Networks
· Local and Campus Area Wireless Networks
· Location Service Provision
2. Advanced Transmit Diversity Techniques. This work is intended to develop space-time coding and array signal processing techniques for MIMO array scenarios.
3. Outdoor High Bit Rate Wireless Services Availability and Quality Evaluation. This work aims to quantify the capabilities of smart antennas and polarisation diversity techniques to facilitate higher bit rate services based on UMTS TDD.
4. Local and Campus Area Networks. This work aims to evaluate the potential improvements in wireless LANs that can be achieved by means of the use of adaptive antenna arrays.
5. Location Based Service Delivery. This work aims to develop and evaluate Location Services exploiting antenna arrays.
6. Dissemination. The objective of this package is to ensure that the results of the SATURN research are disseminated in the literature and contributed to the relevant standards bodies.
Work is currently (18th February, 2000) under way in the Requirements Capture to investigate how existing standards may or may not be compatible with adaptive antenna arrays.
