The Barkhausen Institut is committed to making the Internet of Things (IoT) safer and more trustworthy. This involves improving security, integrity, and availability while also developing and researching new IoT technologies. As part of the ACES project (“Accelerating Communications through Environmental Sensing”), BI explores the integration of radar and communication technologies to make cellular networks more efficient.

ACES aims to make cellular base stations smarter: enabling them to independently detect obstacles such as buildings or vegetation. These environmental insights are used to accelerate communication in high-frequency cellular networks.

Base stations form the backbone of wireless communication infrastructure. They enable mobile devices like smartphones and laptops, as well as vehicles, to communicate with each other and access digital services.

For this type of communication, new mobile communication standards are crucial, as they rely on higher frequencies to meet the increasing demands for speed, response time, and reliability. However, in these frequency ranges, radio waves are more easily disrupted by obstacles - a challenge that ACES seeks to address.

For the project, Barkhausen Institut focuses on the development of the following key technologies:

1. Simulation of Wave Propagation
   • Development of an open-source extension for HermesPy, enabling the simulation of electromagnetic wave propagation.
   • Integration of 3D models for various environmental scenarios.
2. Signal Processing for Environmental Mapping
   • Creation of a Python algorithm to help base stations generate environmental maps.
   • These maps accelerate the beam-searching process, where base stations determine the best connection.
3. Measurement Demonstrator
   • Development of a system to collect and process real-world measurement data, enabling practical testing of the developed concepts.

Project duration: 15.06.2024 – 31.12.2025

Contact: Jan Adler