The GLIMMR project
The Gigabit Low-cost Integrated Millimeter-wave Radio (GLIMMR) project, was the brainchild of Neil H. E. Weste and was focused on the research and development of a single-chip 60 GHz transceiver with integral antenna.
Neil's vision for the commercial space, which such a chip can fulfill, was for short high-data rate links, for applications such as transfer of video from a mobile device to a computer or for wireless backup of large amounts of data. Neil envisioned this as an extension of the Bluetooth concept to very high data-rates and dubbed this new paradigm Bluefang.
Other possible application spaces are wireless home video, point-to-point backbone links, low cost radars, and mm-wave imaging.
The original team was Anthony E. Parker, Derek Abbott, William G. Cowley, and Neil H. E. Weste who together successfully applied for an ARC Linkage Grant LP0560715 entitled Millimetre Wave Communication Systems for Consumer Applications. The ARC component of the funding was $450,000 per annum for three years 2005-2007. The total cash funding including contributions from partners and the ARC was $1.6 million.
On award of the grant, the team rapidly expanded and two SiGe test chips were designed, fabricated, and tested. This page is a historical record of the achievements, and also documents further follow-on work in the 60 GHz regime carried out at the University of Adelaide.
Contents
The Glimmr team
The original 'Glimmrites' on the winning ARC prioposal were Anthony E. Parker, Derek Abbott, William G. Cowley, Neil H. E. Weste, and on award of the grant the team rapidily expanded to take on the following structure.
Glimmr leader
- Neil H. E. Weste adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide and adjunct professor Macquarie University, also representing NHEW R&D Pty. Ltd.
Macquarie University
- Anthony E. Parker, Leader of the Macquarie University node of Glimmr
- Michael Boers
- Linda M. Davis
- Jeffrey Harrison
- James A. Howarth
- James Rathmell
University of Adelaide
- Derek Abbott, Leader of the University of Adelaide node of Glimmr
- Said F. Al-Sarawi
- Leonard T. Hall, postdoc
- Yingbo Zhu, postdoc
- Noorfazila Kamal, PhD student
University of South Australia
- William G. Cowley, Leader of the University of Adelaide node of Glimmr
- Ian Holland
- Adnan A. Khan
- Andre Pollok
Partner organisations
Glimmr publications
[1] N. Kamal, Said Al-Sarawi, and D. Abbott, "An accurate analytical spur model for an integer-N phase-locked loop," Proc. IEEE 4th International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems, (ICIAS 2012), Vol. 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 12–14, 2012, pp. 659–664, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICIAS.2012.6306096
[2] N. Kamal, Said Al-Sarawi, and D. Abbott, "Accurate reference spur estimation using behavioural modelling," Proc. IEEE 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Systems, Modelling and Simulation (ISMS), Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, February 8–10, 2012, pp. 705–710, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISMS.2012.105
[3] I. D. Holland and W. G. Cowley, "Physical layer design for mm-wave WPANs using adaptive coded OFDM," Proc. Australian Communications Theory Workshop, (AusCTW 2008), Jan. 30, 2008–Feb. 1, 2008, pp. 107–112.
[4] N. H. E. Weste, J. A. Howarth, M. Boers, W. G. Cowley, C. Burnet, I. Holland, L. T. Hall, Y. Zhu, D. Abbott, L. M. Davis, A. Parker, M. Batty, and J. Harrison, "mm-Wave systems for high data rate wireless consumer applications," Proc. IEEE Second International Conference on Wireless Broadband and Ultra Wideband Communications, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia, August 27–30, 2007, Art. No. 100, 2007.
[5] N. Kamal, Y. Zhu, L. T. Hall, Said Al-Sarawi, C. Burnet, I. Holland, A. Khan, A. Pollok, J. Poyner, M. Boers, J. A. Howarth, A. Lauterbach, J. Harrison, J. Rathmell, M. Batty, A. Parker, L. M. Davis, W. G. Cowley, N. H. E. Weste, and D. Abbott, "A high-frequency divider in 0.18 µm SiGe BiCMOS technology," Proc. SPIE Smart Structures, Devices, and Systems III, (Ed. Said F. Al-Sarawi), Adelaide, Australia, December 10, 2006, art. no. 641408, http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.696294
[6] L. T. Hall, H. J. Hansen, B. R. Davis, and D. Abbott, "Performance analysis of a series transformer for complex impedance matching," Microwave & Optical Technology Lett., Vol. 45, No. 6, pp. 491–494, 2005, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mop.20861
[7] J. A. Howarth, A. P. Lauterbach, M. J. Boers, L. M. Davis, A. Parker, J. Harrison, J. Rathmell, M. Batty, W. Cowley, C. Burnet, L. Hall, D. Abbott and N. Weste, "60 GHz radios: enabling next-generation wireless applications," Ptoc. IEEE TENCON, Melbourne, Australia, November 21–24, 2005, pp.1–6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TENCON.2005.300975
PhD theses resulting from the Glimmr project
[8] Noorfazila Kamal, Reference Spurs in an Integer-N Phase-Locked Loop: Analysis, Modelling and Design, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Adelaide, January 2013
[9] Andre Pollok, Multi-Antenna Techniques for Millimetre-Wave Radios, Doctor of Philosophy, University of South Australia, February 2010
