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GEDC Researchers Make Record Number of Presentations At International Solid-State Circuits Gathering

Former GEDC researcher Bhaskar Banerjee, left, now at University of Texas at Dallas, and Georgia Tech alumnus Mark Hooper enjoy the GEDC social at the ISSCC.

            SAN FRANCISCO -- Researchers from the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) made a strong showing at the recent International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) here, presenting six papers in several technology areas -- the largest number ever presented by the Georgia Institute of Technology at this event.
            The ISSCC conference is a leading forum for presentation of advances in solid-state circuits and systems-on-a-chip. It enables engineers working at the cutting-edge of IC design to remain current technically and to network with leading experts.
            “GEDC research was very much in evidence at ISSCC,” said Joy Laskar, director of the mixed-signal design center, which is based at Georgia Tech. “Our presentations were certainly on the leading edge, and of course we also were gratified to be able to exchange ideas with other engineers and scientists from around the world.”
            Among other things, GEDC presented the world’s first paper on a 60-gigahertz (GHz), single-chip, 90-nanometer CMOS radio integrated with a signal processor, said GEDC researcher Stephane Pinel.
            This chip contains the highest level of integration reported to date for 60GHz CMOS radio.  It combines for the first time 60GHz analog designs with multi-gigabit digital designs supporting short-distance data rates up to 15 gigabits per second (Gbps), achieving a total power budget below 200 milliwatts (mW).
            This work has established worldwide 60GHz radio benchmarks for the development of two emerging 60GHz standards -- ECMA/ISO and IEEE 802.15.3c.
            In other activity at ISSCC, GEDC presented the first paper to report on a fully integrated circuit for cognitive radio applications, said Kyutae Lim, GEDC associate director for technology.
            Jongmin Park, a GEDC graduate student researcher, presented a paper titled "A Fully Integrated UHF Receiver with Multi-Resolution Spectrum Sensing (MRSS) Functionality for IEEE 802.22 Cognitive Radio Applications."
            The paper addresses ongoing development of a spectrum-sensing function in a CMOS chip, which is one of most critical technical challenges for enabling cognitive radio communication via low-cost, low-power, high-speed technology, Lim said.
            The IEEE 802.22 standard aims to establish the first wireless application capable of using the Digital TV spectrum -- expected to be available in January 2009 -- as a secondary carrier. The original idea of this work already has been accepted as part of the IEEE 802.22 draft developed at a special IEEE meeting in July 2007.
            During the ISSCC conference, GEDC conducted a social event that attracted more than 100 attendees.  The event offered three presentations, along with a variety of food, drink and door prizes that included an iPod Touch.