UC San Diego

The continuing proliferation of wireless electronic devices, coupled with the promise of fifth generation mobile networks (5G) and Internet-of-Things (IoT) scale connectivity, will demand innovate design techniques and solutions on all network and device layers for both wireless and optical systems. Broadband and software-defined connectivity is at the forefront of research efforts to address these new challenges. The research projects presented in this dissertation explore the limits of current CMOS technology with the goal of achieving true DC-100 GHz software-defined transmitters, and with the maximum achievable instantaneous bandwidth. These transmitters will address new applications, such as short-range device-to-device communications, server-to-server connectivity in data centers, and fifth generation mm-wave software-defined transceivers, while still supporting traditional mobile links and connectivity below 6 GHz.