Saturday, 6 July 2013
A Paper Authored by Brian Floyd Receives Pat Goldberg Best Paper Award
Dr. Brian Floyd
A paper authored by Dr. Brian Floyd, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been awarded one of the Pat Goldberg Best Paper Awards for 2011 by IBM Research.
The paper, titled "Organic Packages with Embedded Phased-Array Antennas for 60-GHz Wireless Chipsets", was among more than 110 papers in computer science, electrical engineering and mathematical sciences that were published in refereed conference proceedings and journals in 2011 that were submitted by IBM Research authors worldwide
Dr. Floyd says, "The 60-GHz application space is very exciting, where the large amount of available bandwidth enables high-speed wireless communications for applications like uncompressed wireless HD video streaming across your living room and multi-gigabit-per-second short-range file transfer between portable devices. For these markets to flourish, low-cost electronics are required, which includes a low cost integrated circuit and a low-cost antenna and package solution. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time a complete packaged 16-element phased-array chipset solution with embedded antennas, based on low-cost organic packaging technology."
You can read the full article on the IEEE Website.
Abstract
Array in Package
A multilayer organic package with embedded 60-GHz antennas and fully integrated with a 60-GHz phased array transmitter or receiver chip is demonstrated. The package includes sixteen phased-array antennas, an open cavity for housing the ?ip-chip attached RF chip, and interconnects operating at DC-66 GHz. The 28 mm x 28 mm ball grid array package is manufactured using printed circuit board processes and uses a combination of liquid-crystal polymer and glass-reinforced laminates, allowing excellent 60-GHz interconnect and antenna performance. The measured return loss and gain of each antenna from 56 to 66 GHz are -10 dB and -5 dBi, respectively. Finally, the packaged transmitter and receiver chipsets, each working with a heat sink, have demonstrated beam-steered, non-line-of-sight links with data rates up to 5.3 Gb/s using 16-quadrature amplitude modulation single-carrier and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing schemes.
IBM Press Release
Huang Receives Award for Research from Cree, Inc.
Dr. Alex Huang
Dr. Alex Huang has been awarded $636,284 by Cree, Inc. for research on Testing, Characterization and Design Optimization of High Voltage SiC Gate Turn-off (GTO) Thyristors.
The award will run from January 5th, 2013 to September 4th, 2016.
Research Abstract: NCSU's FREEDM Systems Center will assist Cree in the testing, characterization and design optimization of future generation of high voltage gate turn-off (GTO) thyristior.
Friday, 5 July 2013
Michael Steer Receives Award for Research by US Army Research Office
Dr. Michael B. Steer
Dr. Michael B. Steer has been awarded $450,000 by the US Army - Army Research Office for research on Time-Frequency and Non-Laplacian Phenomena at Radio Frequencies.
The award will run from September 30th, 2012 to August 31st, 2016.
Research Abstract
Recent phenomenological investigations of the fundamental limits to the performance of radio, radar and sensor systems have revealed radio-frequency (RF) interference effects that do not have the expected integer calculus descriptions. Some of these effects derive from electro-thermal diffusive interactions and it is believed that many other effects similarly derive from diffusion. Also, time-frequency effects have been discovered in which the temporal response of electronics excited by a pulsed RF signal is significantly longer than linear frequency-domain analysis would imply. It is believed that these derive from diffusion-like effects as well and require fractional calculus. The project's premise is that using integer calculus-based analysis has resulted in sources of interference in RF systems being missed. This project investigates the underlying physics of diffusive RF phenomena. Time-domain fractional calculus-based descriptions transformed into the frequency-domain become non-Laplacian (i.e. non-integer-based). However, conventional analysis of RF structures is based on integer-based Laplacian frequency-domain analysis derived from integer calculus. The project extends the engineer's RF analysis toolkit to include non-Laplacian models and abstractions. The work will lead to new paradigms for understanding interference at RF, for enhancing RF systems, for deriving fundamental limits of performance at RF, for developing signatures, and for manipulating RF electronics.
Chakrabortty Receives NSF Award for Research in Sustainable Power Networks
Dr. Aranya Chakrabortty
Aranya Chakrabortty has been awarded $360,000 by the National Science Foundation for research on SEP Collaborative: Integrating Heterogeneous Energy Resources For Sustainable Power Networks - A Systems Approach.
The award will run from September 15th, 2012 to August 31st, 2016.
Research Abstract
This project will take a unique approach in examining how management and control of large-scale and distributed energy resources can contribute to both stabilization and improving the performance of for power systems with high penetration of renewable energy. The research will involve a system theoretic end-to-end analysis from detailed characterization of the energy sources through propagation of these inputs through the power transmission and distribution network. An important aspect of the proposed research is the ability of this interdisciplinary team to examine not only the technical and physical system challenges but to include the related regulatory, policy and market challenges that must be dealt with in order to implement any proposed power system changes.
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Lobaton Receives Award for Research for Provably Safe Automotive Cyber-Physical Systems
Dr. Edgar Lobaton
Dr. Edgar Lobaton, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State University, has been awarded $206,192 by the University of California - Berkeley for research on Provably Safe Automotive Cyber-Physical Systems with Humans-in-the-Loop.
The award will run from October 1st, 2012 to September 30th, 2015.
Research Abstract: The automotive sector is one of the richest targets for emerging innovations in Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). Increased content electronics, non-contact sensors, controls and communication with the environment and the driver will change the way we drive and interact with our cars in the near future. However, despite the enormous number of fatalities and injuries on US and world roads, there is an enormous gap between research achievements in autonomous drive and the active safety systems currently available in production vehicles. We propose a paradigm shift which looks at whole cyber physical vehicle/environment/driver and thus address all its three main critical components: (A) the vehicle/environment interaction, (B) the driver uncertainty and (C) the provably-safe intervention under the predicted uncertainty of A and B. We will develop a novel science for of Cyber-Physical Systems with the goal of obtaining a provably safe human-centric autonomy where certification is evidence-based and evolves with the system (as new driver behaviors, scenes, slipping dynamics enter in the database of the CPS we construct in real-time). Robustness is measured against bounded state-dependent uncertainty of a driver/vehicle interaction model and of the scene reconstruction.
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Dror Baron Receives Award For Research By the National Science Foundation
Dr. Dror Baron
Dr. Dror Baron has been awarded $422,732 by the National Science Foundation for research on CIF: Small: Universal Signal Estimation from Noisy Measurements.
The award will run from September 1st, 2012 to August 31st, 2015.
Research Abstract
Motivation: A ubiquitous feature in many signal processing systems is to learn the input statistics from historical data. In these systems, Bayesian methods perform statistically optimal signal processing. However, there are applications including file compression, speech recognition, network monitoring, and compressed sensing in which it might be impractical to learn the statistics a priori. In such applications, a statistical approach that adapts to the data at hand must be used.
The information theory community has championed the use of universal algorithms, they achieve the best possible statistical performance asymptotically despite not knowing the input statistics.
These algorithms have had tremendous impact in lossless compression, where the goal is to describe data as succinctly as possible while allowing a decoder to reproduce the input perfectly. In sharp contrast, universal algorithms have had little impact on other areas.
Dr. Eric Rotenberg Receives Award For Research by the National Science Foundation
Dr. Eric Rotenberg
Dr. Eric Rotenberg has been awarded $350,000 by the National Science Foundation for research on SHF: Small: Design for Competitive Automated Layout (DCAL) of Mobile Application Processor.
The award will run from August 1st, 2012 to July 31st, 2015.
Research Abstract
For two decades, personal computers and servers have been powered by increasingly sophisticated superscalar processors. The last few years has even witnessed the introduction of superscalar processors into smart phones and tablet PCs, in order to provide richer user experiences. There are important trends in both domains: server-class processors require unsustainable design effort, as evidenced by a select few, highly trained, large design teams in industry proliferating superscalar processors; mobile devices are evolving at an extraordinary pace. These trends suggest it is time to take a radical departure in the way superscalar processors are designed. In particular, the PI proposes superscalar processor design automation. This project explores challenges and solutions at key levels:
Automatic FPGA-based processor-in-system exploration Efficient and automatic ISA/microarchitecture decoupling Automatic RTL generation via a superscalar design language A low-effort physical design strategy and alternative to custom design.
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Dr. Grif Bilbro Receives Award For Research by Triquent Semiconductor, Inc.
Dr. Griff Bilbro
Dr. Grif Bilbro has been awarded $300,000 by the Triquint Semiconductor, Inc. for research on Modeling TriQuint devices for DARPA MPC.
The award will run from December 21st, 2011 to December 31st, 2012.
Research Abstract
NCSU will model AlGaN/GaN HFETs for TriQuint under the MPC/DARPA effort over the next 2 or 3 years.
Twice a year, NCSU will develop a time domain model of TriQuint's current GaN FETs, validate it against TriQuint characterizations of devices, then simulate the operation. There are three devices in each interation, a depletion mode logic device, an enhancement mode logic device, and a RF switch. Quantities of interest include Ron, Roff, propagation delay and transition energy for the E/D logic, and off-state reactance.
Monday, 1 July 2013
Tiwari Receives Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
Devesh Tiwari
Devesh Tiwari, a teaching assistant and PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State University, has received an Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award.
The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards serves as the primary university-level forum for recognizing exceptional contributions made by Graduate Teaching Assistants to the educational excellence of the University. This annual event is a celebration of excellence in graduate student teaching in the laboratory and classroom. The UGSA Teaching Effectiveness Committee invites the Directors of Graduate Programs (DGPs) to nominate a small number of TAs that exemplify outstanding teaching and mentoring and go beyond what is required of them. All departments are encouraged to participate so that their students receive the recognition they deserve.
Tiwari taught a section of ECE 209 in Fall 2012 and was mentored by Dr. Greg Byrd.
The award ceremony was held on March 18, 2013 at the McKimmon Center.
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Dr. Subhashish Bhattacharya Receives Award For Research from GE Global Research
Dr. Subhashish Bhattacharya
Dr. Subhashish Bhattacharya has been awarded $234,444 by the GE Global Research for research on Resilient Multiterminal HVDC Using High Voltage High Frequency Electronics Capability.
The award will run from April 4th, 2012 to January 22nd, 2015.
Research Abstract
GE Global Research in collaboration with North Carolina State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute proposes a resilient multi-terminal current-link based HVDC transmission technology, to enable dynamic routing of electric power with high efficiency and reliability. The proposed technology is modular which allows system scalability to achieve any voltage and power rating. Each module is based on a high-voltage high-frequency power conversion topology in which the galvanic isolation is achieved by a high-frequency (20-50kHz) step-up transformer. Hence, the low-frequency grid side transformer is eliminated which results significant reduction in the system footprint. Due to current-link based power transmission, the proposed technology is naturally fault tolerant and hence it is suitable for multi-terminal HVDC system.
The nature of the proposed work includes both proof of concept and early stage device prototyping categories.
Following tasks will be executed to satisfy the technical performance targets of the proposed technology:
Circuit level analysis, design and control of the module Steady-state and dynamic analysis of the system Real-time demonstration of the system based on a commercial RTDS platform Experimental prototype and demonstration of a three terminal, 10kV, 100kW each, multi-terminal HVDC network Demonstration of fault modes and fail-safe operation
Saturday, 29 June 2013
SACNAS-NCSU, Lead by Dr. Lobaton, Receives Most Outstanding Recruitment Effort Role Model Award
Dr. Edgar Lobaton
SACNAS-NCSU, a new group being lead by Dr. Edgar Lobaton, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded the SACNAS 2012 Most Outstanding Recruitment Effort Role Model Award. As stated in the award notification letter, "Your efforts for the 2011/2012 academic year are exemplary of the type of accomplishments and activities that are in line with the SACNAS mission, vision, goals and values." The SACNAS-NCSU is in their first year as a chapter at NC State.
SACNAS is the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in the Sciences. The main goal of the chapter at NCSU is to provide mentoring between graduate students and undergraduate students who are underrepresented in the scientific disciplines. They aim to improve the public understanding of and appreciation for Chicanos, Latinos, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other underrepresented minorities in the sciences. This chapter will provide a forum for students from all science-related majors to come together for academic, community service and social activities at North Carolina State University.
As a chapter awardee, the SACNAS-NCSU has been asked to participate in the SACNAS Chapter Recognition Reception that will be held at the 2012 SACNAS National Conference in Seattle, WA.
Friday, 28 June 2013
Chakrabortty Receives Award for Research for Development of a Multi-User Network Testbed
Dr. Aranya Chakrabortty (L) with one of his students
NC State University has received a $200K research grant from the US Department of Energy to advance its ongoing research and education in wide-area monitoring and control of power systems using Synchronized Phasor Measurements (or "Synchrophasors"). Synchrophasors are high-resolution measurements of the currents and voltages of large power systems that capture detailed oscillations of the power flows in different parts of the grid -- particularly useful to analyze critical disturbances such as a blackout. The devices that measure Synchrophasors are called Phasor Measurement Units (PMU). In this project, NC State researchers will use Synchrophasor data -- provided by our local utility company Duke Energy as well as a long-standing collaborator, Southern California Edison -- to create reliable power system models by which critical disturbances such as blackouts can be predicted and controlled.
The two-year project is headed by Dr. Aranya Chakrabortty, Assistant Professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering, together with co-investigators Dr. Mesut Baran, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Pam Carpenter, MS-EPSE Education Program Manager.
Over the past one year, Chakrabortty and his research group have developed a hardware-in-loop laboratory infrastructure using multiple PMUs integrated with a Real-time Digital Simulator (RTDS), housed at the FREEDM Systems Center. The RTDS is a supercomputer that can simulate large and complicated power system models in almost real-time. This facility will now be extended to create a multi-port, multi-user, and multi-vendor network of PMUs spread across the three campuses of NC State, Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill through an existing metro-scale fiber optic communication network called the Breakable Experimental Network (BEN), hosted by the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). This PMU network will allow multiple users at various points of the network to process and communicate PMU data between each other, and collaboratively use them for critical applications such as power oscillation monitoring, distributed state estimation and, most importantly, distributed control. For example, local users in this PMU network may access artificial PMU data generated by RTDS simulations in real-time, run their individual local algorithms using these data, and then communicate the results to neighboring users until the control-loop reaches a global consensus over time. The project will also study the sensitivity of these distributed control algorithms on network latencies, data loss, and malicious attacks by hackers. Chakrabortty and his team will collaborate with local utility company Duke Energy as well as with longstanding collaborator Southern California Edison, ABB, and RENCI to realize this network testbed.
Diagram
The Renaissance Computing Institute at North Carolina State University opened in early 2007 and supports the use of visualization technology and analytical methods to explore engineering, scientific, design and educational challenges. The site focuses primarily on serving the NCSU community, its partners and collaborators.
The Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems Center, headquartered on NC State University's Centennial Campus, is one of the latest Gen-III Engineering Research Center (ERC) established by National Science Foundation in 2008. The FREEDM Systems Center will partner with universities, industry and national laboratories in 28 states and nine countries to develop technology to revolutionize the nation's power grid and speed renewable electric-energy technologies into every home and business.