SMART Hub Innovation

Anyone who uses a cellular phone relies on the spectrum for communication. Comprised of technologies that can quickly become complicated for almost anyone who isn’t an engineer, the spectrum is most easily envisioned as the “real estate” of wireless transmission, according to Charles Baylis, Ph.D. 

“When I send or receive a phone call, I have to use some type of bandwidth on the spectrum to transmit. It’s the same for anyone,” Baylis, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, said. 

Consumers who have added additional cell phones for family members, purchased a tablet to use the internet or been given new devices for use at work can understand that, multiplied throughout society, these additions are having an impact.

“When you factor in the exponential increase in the number of wireless devices, you can imagine that the spectrum has become crowded to the point that there’s really no spectrum left,” Baylis said.

That overcrowding might be a concern to consumers, but to members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the ability to communicate is far more than a concern — it could be a matter of life and death. To help address these needs, they turned to Baylor.

This spring, Baylor launched the Spectrum Management with Adaptive and Reconfigurable Technology Hub (SMART Hub), a Department of Defense innovation center. In SMART Hub, researchers will work to revolutionize the communication spectrum. Baylis will direct SMART Hub, which further partners with 17 other institutions to develop an entirely new approach to wireless transmission. 

“We will be working on groundbreaking technology that will revolutionize how we use the spectrum,” Baylis said. “Rather than fixed systems that use the same frequency and stay there, we’re designing systems that can adapt to their surroundings and determine how to successfully transmit and receive. It’s a true paradigm shift that requires the type of collaboration we will have in SMART Hub.”

That shift would require an entirely new approach to wireless communication to enable devices to make responsive shifts from one band to another when other bands are in use. 

SMART Hub is made possible through a $5 million congressional appropriation championed by Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-17) and institutional support from Baylor University. Future work emanating from SMART Hub will be bolstered by Baylor’s commercialization efforts through the Innovation & Economic Development team within Baylor’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research.  

“We are grateful for the opportunity to do our part to protect our men and women who are in harm’s way, and we want to do so without any compromise,” Baylis said. “Spectrum dominance is of extreme importance and that’s why these efforts are funded by Congress — it leads directly to success in the field and to the safety of our armed forces.”