Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief Review
This article reviews the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) key enabling technologies that pave the way for the advancement of scalable 6G antenna array systems for future communications. The focus is on the development of transmitter building blocks, considering the implementation of size, weight, are...
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2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10891540/ |
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| author | Shah Zaib Aslam Alexander Wilcher Baibhab Chatterjee Yong Kyu Yoon David P. Arnold Siddhartha Sinha |
| author_facet | Shah Zaib Aslam Alexander Wilcher Baibhab Chatterjee Yong Kyu Yoon David P. Arnold Siddhartha Sinha |
| author_sort | Shah Zaib Aslam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article reviews the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) key enabling technologies that pave the way for the advancement of scalable 6G antenna array systems for future communications. The focus is on the development of transmitter building blocks, considering the implementation of size, weight, area, and power (SWaP) constrained nodes. First, an overview of communication technologies from 1G to 6G is presented, followed by a discussion of key performance indicators and link budget analysis. To provide further insights into D-band (110-170 GHz) system design challenges, this review highlights the significance of 1) high-gain and high-linearity power amplifiers, 2) spectrally pure local oscillator (LO) signal sources, 3) high data rate modulator architectures, 4) scalable antenna array development, and 5) heterogeneous integration approaches. Furthermore, this article presents ongoing research and development on transmitter building blocks across various device fabrication technologies such as CMOS, BiCMOS, and III-V semiconductors. Special attention is given to the high data rate modulator architectures, which comprise 1) heterodyne, 2) homodyne, and 3) direct-digital modulators, followed by addressing the implementation challenges and opportunities in coherent and noncoherent modulation schemes within the context of SWaP-constrained scalable arrays for D-band. Additionally, this article reviews heterogeneous integration (HI) while focusing on chiplet designs for multifunctionality, low-loss packaging trends with thermal management solutions, chip-antenna interconnects featuring novel antenna technologies, and bottlenecks in mmWave/sub-THz measurements. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-242c705becdb4f71acbdce8f3e2443ee |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj-art-242c705becdb4f71acbdce8f3e2443ee2025-08-20T02:09:55ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-0113338493387310.1109/ACCESS.2025.354277110891540Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief ReviewShah Zaib Aslam0https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5714-6265Alexander Wilcher1https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3368-7492Baibhab Chatterjee2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2688-281XYong Kyu Yoon3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7775-683XDavid P. Arnold4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2515-7218Siddhartha Sinha5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4025-2854Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USAIMEC, Leuven, BelgiumThis article reviews the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) key enabling technologies that pave the way for the advancement of scalable 6G antenna array systems for future communications. The focus is on the development of transmitter building blocks, considering the implementation of size, weight, area, and power (SWaP) constrained nodes. First, an overview of communication technologies from 1G to 6G is presented, followed by a discussion of key performance indicators and link budget analysis. To provide further insights into D-band (110-170 GHz) system design challenges, this review highlights the significance of 1) high-gain and high-linearity power amplifiers, 2) spectrally pure local oscillator (LO) signal sources, 3) high data rate modulator architectures, 4) scalable antenna array development, and 5) heterogeneous integration approaches. Furthermore, this article presents ongoing research and development on transmitter building blocks across various device fabrication technologies such as CMOS, BiCMOS, and III-V semiconductors. Special attention is given to the high data rate modulator architectures, which comprise 1) heterodyne, 2) homodyne, and 3) direct-digital modulators, followed by addressing the implementation challenges and opportunities in coherent and noncoherent modulation schemes within the context of SWaP-constrained scalable arrays for D-band. Additionally, this article reviews heterogeneous integration (HI) while focusing on chiplet designs for multifunctionality, low-loss packaging trends with thermal management solutions, chip-antenna interconnects featuring novel antenna technologies, and bottlenecks in mmWave/sub-THz measurements.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10891540/Power amplifierfrequency multiplierdirect-digital modulatorsscalable antenna arraysheterogeneous integrationsSWaP |
| spellingShingle | Shah Zaib Aslam Alexander Wilcher Baibhab Chatterjee Yong Kyu Yoon David P. Arnold Siddhartha Sinha Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief Review IEEE Access Power amplifier frequency multiplier direct-digital modulators scalable antenna arrays heterogeneous integrations SWaP |
| title | Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief Review |
| title_full | Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief Review |
| title_fullStr | Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief Review |
| title_short | Challenges and Opportunities in D-Band Transmitter Architectures and Antenna Design, Integration, and Scalability for 6G Communications: A Brief Review |
| title_sort | challenges and opportunities in d band transmitter architectures and antenna design integration and scalability for 6g communications a brief review |
| topic | Power amplifier frequency multiplier direct-digital modulators scalable antenna arrays heterogeneous integrations SWaP |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10891540/ |
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