Dr Can Ding
Can Ding was a fresh-faced PhD student working at CSIRO when he encountered a fascinating industry research problem that got a hold of him and wouldn’t let go.
“A company called Tongyu Communication Australia approached CSIRO in 2015 hoping to fund a project to improve their 3G/4G base station antenna product,” explains Dr Can Ding from the Global Big Data Technologies Centre (GBDTC) at UTS.
"It was specifically designed for Telstra but its performance didn’t meet Telstra’s requirements because of severe electromagnetic interference."
Although a formal project wasn’t initiated immediately, Dr Ding got curious and asked Tongyu if he could look at their simulation model.
“We made such swift progress, the CEO of Tongyu, Mr. Zhonglin (Johnny) Wu, asked to formalise the project. Several months later I had alleviated the problem to such an extent that Tongyu’s product became much more competitive and they became one of Telstra’s largest antenna suppliers,” Dr Ding continues.
“That’s how it all started.”
Building on top of previous generations
By 2017, the rollout of super-fast internet via next generation 5G wireless technologies was poised to be the next big thing. With the promise of internet speeds an average of 10 times faster than 4G - and governments the world over realising that the health of their economies depended on it - a global race was underway.
But while 5G technology was advancing fast, telecommunications companies were experiencing major barriers when it came to deployment.
“To ensure nationwide 5G coverage, thousands of base stations – the towers that house the 5G antenna - must be installed. However, acquiring new sites is very expensive and can be unpopular with surrounding communities,” Dr Ding explains.
To mitigate the issue, the best solution for the mobile communications industry was to co-locate 5G base station antennas onto the existing 3G/4G towers. But this kind of co-location led right back to the issue of severe electromagnetic interference.
“The net result is a complete deterioration of the performance of the overall communication network, including a reduction of the data rate, channel capacity and coverage. Which is obviously unacceptable.”
Into this environment, and with their sights set on driving the 5G revolution, Tongyu decided to invest $270,000 with UTS to create a three-year postdoc position so Dr Ding could continue his research, under the supervision of Prof Jay Guo, Director of GBDTC.
Their aim was to investigate, develop and validate new scientific methods and engineering techniques to empower the co-location of 3G, 4G, and 5G antennas.
“More specifically, our research mission was to facilitate the co-location of different kinds of antennas by making them ‘electromagnetically invisible’ to each other, and I’m happy to say we largely achieved that,” says Dr Ding.
In fact, their research was so successful that between 2020 and 2021, Ding and the GBDTC undertook a further two projects valued at $200,000 with Tongyu and the Department of Industry.
Great reception for antenna solutions
Tongyu antennas
Now, with three patents and Dr Ding’s technology embedded into every antenna product Tongyu sells, the collaboration is not surprisingly hailed by the company as one of their most important research collaborations.
“Dr Can Ding and the team at UTS are enthusiastic, talented researchers who have helped us solve a key problem in antenna design," says Mr Wu, former CEO of Tongyu..
"As a consequence, it both reduced the cost and size of our 3G/4G base station antenna product and enabled the co-location of 5G antennas with the existing 3G/4G antennas.”
“Moreover, we have developed game-changing 5G antenna technology that has helped us capture the market. We are one of only a few companies to resolve this issue and advance the key technology development.”
Since their first research collaboration in 2015, Tongyu has sold 200,000 base station antennas that are now being used to improve wireless connectivity right across Australia and the world.
For his proactive approach to solving industry problems and cutting-edge research Dr Ding has been internationally recognised as an early career leading researcher in electromagnetics and 5G base station antennas.
His efforts have also led to the creation of a new and fast-growing research field called crossband de-scattering in multi-band antennas.
“This technology has attracted a lot of international attention because it can be useful for any small, multi-functional communication platform that includes CubeSats and drones,” says Dr Ding.
“In fact, satellite communication via CubeSats is a hot topic in Australia, as well as an untapped area of research, so I’m thrilled to say that, now my work with 5G is so well advanced, this is the research direction I’ll be focusing on next.”
