Holographic Radio: A New Paradigm for Ultra-Massive Mimi

Ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is one of the key enablers in the forthcoming sixth generation (6G) networks to provide revolutionary mobile connectivity and high-speed data services by exploiting spatial diversity. Widely-utilized phased arrays relying on costly components make the implementation of ultra-massive MIMO in practice become prohibitive from both cost and power consumption perspectives. The recent developed reconfigurable holographic surfaces (RHSs) composing of densely packing sub-wavelength metamaterial elements can achieve holographic beamforming without costly hardware components. By leveraging the holographic principle, the RHS serves as an ultra-thin and lightweight surface antenna integrated with the transceiver, thereby providing a promising alternative to phased arrays for realizing ultra-massive MIMO. In this tutorial, we will first provide a basic introduction of RHSs. We then introduce the unique features of RHSs which enables both communication and sensing, in a comprehensive way. Related design, analysis, optimization, and signal processing techniques will be presented. Typical RHS-based applications for the wireless communications and radio-frequency sensing will be explored. The implementation issues along with our developed prototypes and experiments will also be discussed. Several up-to-date challenges and potential research directions will be discussed as well.

Zhu Han

John and Rebecca Moores Professor, University of Houston on April 14, 2023 at 10:15 AM in EB3 2207

Zhu Han received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University, in 1997, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1999 and 2003, respectively. From 2000 to 2002, he was an R&D Engineer of JDSU, Germantown, Maryland. From 2003 to 2006, he was a Research Associate at the University of Maryland. From 2006 to 2008, he was an assistant professor at Boise State University, Idaho. Currently, he is a John and Rebecca Moores Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as well as the Computer Science Department at the University of Houston, Texas. Dr. Han is an NSF CAREER award recipient of 2010, and the winner of the 2021 IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award. He has been an IEEE fellow since 2014, an AAAS fellow since 2020, an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer from 2015 to 2018, and an ACM Distinguished Speaker from 2022-2025. Dr. Han is also a 1% highly cited researcher since 2017.

This lecture series features exciting and dynamic visiting and virtual speakers from across the range of ECE disciplines. Take some time every Friday morning to be inspired by these great scientists and engineers before heading into the weekend!