Invited Talks/Tutorials
Topic: |
Software-Defined Hardware Accelerator: Promise and Progress |
Speaker: |
Prof Tulika Mitra, National University of Singapore, Singapore |
Abstract:
Domain-specific hardware accelerators for graphics, deep learning, image processing, and other tasks have become pervasive to meet the performance and energy-efficiency needs of emerging applications. However, such specializations are inherently at odds with the programmability long enjoyed by software developers from general-purpose processors. In this talk, I will introduce the promise of software-defined hardware (SDH) accelerators that can be morphed and instantiated to specialized accelerators at runtime through software. Then I will present Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Arrays (CGRA) as a concrete progress towards the vision of SDH: high accelerator efficiency while supporting diverse tasks through compile-time configurability.
Biography:
Tulika Mitra is Vice Provost (Academic Affairs) and Provost’s Chair Professor of Computer Science at the National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on the hardware-software co-design of smart, energy efficient, safety critical embedded computing systems. Tulika has received ESWEEK 2022 test-of-time award, several best paper award and nominations in top conferences, IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Contributor Award, and IISc Outstanding Woman Researcher Award. She has served/serving as Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems, Member of the ACM Publications Board, General Chair of Embedded Systems Week, and General/Program Chair of International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD).
Topic: |
Broadband Antenna and Meta-surface Technologies for the ICT Society in Next Generation |
Speaker: |
Prof Takeshi Fukusako, Kumamoto University, Japan |
Abstract:
Wireless technology will contribute greatly to the information and communication technology (ICT) society. For example, satellites are said to play an important role in the 6th generation (6G) cell phones. In addition, wireless technology is also important as a sensor, as in the case of automatic driving. In this presentation, the speaker focuses on antennas and metasurface technology as key technologies for these applications. In particular, we focus on wideband characteristics and circularly polarized (CP) wave technology for antennas, considering their application to high-capacity communication, satellite communication, and precise sensing. In addition, meta-surface technologies that can contribute to broadband characteristics are described. Many papers on the design method of broadband patch antennas using meta-surfaces have been presented. CP antennas, especially patch antennas, are useful but require attention to impedance, gain, and axial ratio (AR) simultaneously. Along with those requirements, extending the effective bandwidth is an interesting topic. The idea of using a meta-surface is known, but, in the applications for CP antennas, its finite size may cause unwanted resonances, making it difficult to obtain broadband characteristics, especially in AR characteristics. Related to this problem, the speaker describes design techniques for meta-surfaces that operate over a wide bandwidth at the same time. Furthermore, based on this analysis, design approaches for broadening to obtain wideband characteristics in impedance, gain, and AR are also presented. It would be great if the audience feel the possibility of such antennas and meta-surface technology.
Biography:
Takeshi Fukusako is currently a Professor at Kumamoto University, Kumamoto Japan since 2016. He received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering from Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto, Japan, in 1992, 1994, and 1997, respectively. In 1997, he joined Kumamoto University as a Research Associate and promoted to Associate Professor. From 2005 to 2006, he was a Visiting Researcher at the University of Manitoba, MN, Canada. He was also a Visiting Associate Professor of the City University of Hong Kong, China, from March to April in 2015. He has engaged in studies on design techniques of broadband antennas, circularly polarized antennas, metasurface techniques, and electrically small antennas, and their applications.
Topic: |
Electrically Small Huygens Dipole Antenna Based Rectenna and Array for Wireless Power Transfer Enabled Internet-of-Things Applications |
Speaker: |
Prof Wei Lin, University of Technology Sydney, Australia |
Abstract:
Far field wireless power transfer (WPT) enabled Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications are the emerging technology and the future trend along with the rapid development of 5G IoT ecosystems. WPT-enabled IoT devices enjoy many advantages as battery-free, environmental-friendly, capable of operating in remote places without manual maintenance. This talk will introduce a series of advanced antenna technologies for far field WPT-enabled battery-free IoT systems. Several metamaterial-inspired electrically small rectennas with exceptional wireless power capture capacities will be introduced. Based on the developed ultra-compact rectennas, two WPT-enabled light and temperature sensor systems have been successfully built and tested. A video demo of the prototyped system will be presented. Moreover, an ultrathin beam-steerable transmitting antenna with long distance and larger area coverage will be discussed.
Biography:
Dr Wei LIN received the Ph.D. degree in Electronic Engineering from the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2016. Dr Lin is currently an Assistant Professor with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. He was a Visiting Lecturer (Assistant Professor) with the University College London, London, the United Kingdom from July to September 2022. He was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate from October 2016 to September 2018, a Chancellor’s Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, from October 2018 to May 2021 and then a Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow from May 2021 to Sep 2022 with the Global Big Data Technologies Centre, the University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia. He worked as a Research Associate with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, from August 2012 to August 2013. His research interests include antennas and circuits, wireless power transfer, millimeter-wave and terahertz devices, and their applications.
Topic: |
Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Filtennas and Their Applications to Wireless Communications |
Speaker: |
Prof Xiuyin Zhang, South China University of Technology, China |
Abstract:
Filtenna is a kind of dual-function antenna which can realize both in-band radiation and out-of-band suppression. It can be used to reduce the interference among multi-band antennas with close spacing. In this talk, the basics of filtennas will be introduced and the design methods for various kinds of filtennas will be introduced. Then, this talk will introduce their applications to aperture-shared Sub-6GHz base-station arrray, multi-band vehicle-borne antenna systems and millimeter AiP array. It has been verified that the isolation between filtennas operating at different frequencies are enhanced. Finally, a conclusion is drawn and future work is discussed.
Biography:
Xiu Yin Zhang is currently a full professor and vice dean with the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology. He received the PhD degree in electronic engineering from City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, in 2009. He joined South China University of Technology in 2010. He serves as the vice chair of IEEE Guangzhou section and the director of the Engineering Research Center of Short-Distance Wireless Communications and Network, Ministry of Education. He has authored or coauthored more than 200 internationally referred journal papers (including more than 120 IEEE Transactions) and 100 conference papers. His research interests include antennas, RFIC, RF components and sub-systems, intelligent wireless communications and sensing.
Dr. Zhang is a Fellow of IEEE, IET and CIC. He has served as General chair/Co-chair, Technical Program Committee (TPC) chair/Co-chair for a number of conferences. He was a recipient of the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China. He won the first prize of 2016 Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Award and 2021 Guangdong Provincial Technological Invention Award. He was the supervisor of several conference best paper award winners. He is an Associate Editor for IEEE TAP, AWPL, APM and OJAP.
Topic: |
Hardware Logic Synthesis, Verification, and Debugging Techniques |
Speaker: |
Prof Masahiro Fujita, Head of AI Chip Design Open Innovation Laboratory (AIDL), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and Retired Professor, The University of Tokyo, Japan |
Abstract:
We first introduce digital circuit design flow, or Electronic System Design Automation (EDA) methodologies, with brief explanations on the key observations that designers should have for the realization of efficient and high-performance logic circuits. There are number of issues to be well understood by designers in order to create highly efficient but reliable and trustable logic circuits. Then we focus on the logic design phase where optimization, verification, and debugging of logic circuits are the main tasks. After reviewing logic synthesis and verification processes, what are easy to automate, what are hard to process, and what are to be guided by human designers are described with examples. By going through the tutorial, one can understand the right ways to use logic synthesis and verification tools in his/her designs in very effective and predictable ways. Finally new research directions for future logic synthesis are briefly discussed.
Biography:
Masahiro Fujita received his Ph.D. in Information Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1985, and joined Fujitsu. Since March 2000, he has been a professor at VLSI Design and Education Center of the University of Tokyo until he retired in March, 2022. He is now working at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan. He has done innovative work in the areas of hardware verification, synthesis, testing, and software verification-mostly targeting embedded software and web-based programs. He has authored and co-authored 12 books, and has more than 300 publications. He has been involved as program and steering committee member in many prestigious conferences on CAD, VLSI designs, software engineering, and more. His current research interests include synthesis and verification in SoC (System on Chip) especially for AI applications, hardware/software co-designs targeting embedded systems, digital/analog co-designs, and formal analysis, verification, and synthesis of web-based programs and embedded programs.
Topic: |
A Water-loaded Frequency-Reconfigurable Antenna |
Speaker: |
Prof Zhe Chen, Shenzhen University, China |
Abstract:
A frequency reconfigurable dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is presented with a water-loading mechanism in this paper. The resonant mode of the DRA is adjusted between the fundamental TEy111 and quasi- TEy113 modes. To demonstrate the proposed method, a solid dielectric material of K9 glass with the permittivity of 6.25 and a layer of water with the permittivity of 77 are selected to construct the DRA. The resonant frequency of the DRA could be switched between the states of 2.4 and 3.45 GHz by altering the flow of water within a container on the top of the DRA. Finally, The DRA is fabricated and measured, which performs with a stable realized gain and a decent total efficiency of the two states.
Biography:
Zhe Chen received the B.E. degree in electronic information engineering and the M.E. degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering from Xidian University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China, in 2012 and 2015, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering at City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2018. He was a Postdoctoral Follow with the State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves, City University of Hong Kong from 2018 to 2019. He was a Research Assistant with the Information and Communication Technology Centre, Shenzhen Research Institute, City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China, in 2015. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the College of Electronics and Information Engineering at Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. He was a TPC Member of the IWEM 2019 and the TPC chair of the Cross Strait Radio Science and Wireless Technology Conference (CSRSWTC) 2021, Shenzhen, PRC.
Topic: |
A Conner-truncated Patch Antenna Array for 77GHz Automotive Radar Application |
Speaker: |
Prof Kaixu Wang, Harbin Institute of Technology, China |
Abstract:
Microstrip antennas with conner-truncated patch can excite two orthogonal modes, which is widely applied for designing circular polarization antenna. In this paper, a conner-truncated patch is designed with linear polarization for 77GHz automotive radar application. The proposed antenna adopts corner-truncated patch to excite dual- modes, which can realize wide impedance bandwidth with a low profile. However, the cross polarization is quite large since currents of the two modes are orthogonal. To suppress the cross polarization of the antenna, four antenna elements are placed symmetrically with differential feeding network. Simulation results show that the proposed antenna achieves a wide impedance bandwidth of 27% ranging from 70 to 91GHz and a low cross-polarization level less than -40 dB. Furthermore, the profile of the antenna is only 0.04 λ0
Biography:
Kai-Xu Wang received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in information engineering from the South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, in 2012 and 2015, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2018. From 2018 to 2019, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, City University of Hong Kong. In 2019, He joined the Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, where he is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Electronics and Information Engineering.
His current research interests include microwave passive circuits, millimeter-wave antennas, polarizer, lens antenna, dielectric resonator antennas, reconfigurable antennas, and low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC).
Topic: |
High Refractive Index Meta-Unit Cells and Their Applications |
Speaker: |
Prof Xue Ren, Shenzhen University, China |
Abstract:
Lenses are one of the good approaches applying to the design of fan-beam antennas due to the ease of producing wide operating bandwidths, directive radiation beam, and high capability in linear and circular polarization to the antennas. Conventional dielectric lens antennas usually suffer from limited range of the effective refraction index and then bulky size. Therefore, meta-unit cell with high refractive index is developed to design the lens with compact size and excellent performance. In this talk, our recently developed wideband meta-unit cell with high refractive index is summarized and presented. Its electrical performances under different excitation cases are analyzed. Different kinds of beamforming antenna base on the presented meta-unit are presented. The compact structure and good performance make the meta-unit cell appropriate for designing lens with wideband and compact size characteristics.
Biography:
Xue Ren (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves, City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong, in 2020. From 2015 to 2016, he was a Research Assistant with the Shenzhen Key Laboratory of MWWC, Shenzhen Research Institute, City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. His current research interests include beamforming antennas, satellite systems, metamaterials, millimeter-wave and array technology, and RF front-end circuits.
Dr. Ren was a receipt of the Outstanding Academic Performance Award from CityU in 2018 and 2019. He was a TPC member of the Cross Strait Radio Science and Wireless Technology Conference 2021, Shenzhen, China, and the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Advanced Materials and Processes for RF and THz Applications (IMWS-AMP 2022). He also serves as Reviewer for several technique journals, including IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION and the IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS etc.
Topic: |
Resonant Cavities Based on Substrateless Dielectric Waveguide Platform for Terahertz Integrated Systems |
Speaker: |
Prof Withawat Withayachumnankul, The University of Adelaide, Australia |
Abstract:
In the past two decades, terahertz technology has been steadily improved with a wide range of scientific studies to develop terahertz applications. Recently, a substrateless dielectric waveguide platform based on effective medium has been proposed. Waveguiding on this silicon-based platform can be realized with low loss and low dispersion. One important series of components for this platform includes resonant cavities of different characteristics that are crucial for terahertz integrated systems. In this article, we present one design of a disk resonator, and one design of a photonic crystal cavity based on this substrateless dielectric waveguide platform. These cavities operate within the frequency range of 220–330 GHz. The simulation and measurement results of these resonant cavities show a strong resonant behavior, with a resonance Q-factor that can be tuned. These cavities can be employed in various terahertz applications including sensing, switching, and modulation.
Biography:
Withawat Withayachumnankul completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electronic engineering from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Thailand, in 2001 and 2003, and a doctorate degree in electrical engineering with a Dean’s Commendation from the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 2010. In 2010, he was awarded a 3-year Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2015, he was a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at Tokyo Institute of Technology. He has been a Visiting Researcher at Osaka University since 2017. Dr. Withayachumnankul is currently an Associate Professor with the University of Adelaide, and the Leader of the Terahertz Engineering Laboratory. Currently, he serves as a Track Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology. Between 2017-2018, he was the Chair of the IEEE South Australia Joint Chapter on Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT) & Antennas and Propagation (AP). He has authored and co-authored more than 100 journal publications. In recent years, he has been the lead investigator for four Australian Research Council (ARC) grants, totalling to over AUD 1.5 million. His research interests include terahertz waveguides, metasurfaces, antennas, radar, communications, metrology, and non-destructive evaluation. He is the recipient for the IRMMW-THz Society Young Scientist Award 2020.
Topic: |
Software-Hardware Co-optimization Tools for Processing-in-Memory Architectures |
Speaker: |
Prof Yu Wang, Tsinghua University |
Abstract:
In the era of artificial intelligence and big data, the von Neumann architecture with separated memory and computing is facing a serious “memory wall” problem. The data movements have become the main bottleneck limiting the performance and energy efficiency of hardware platforms. The emerging Processing-In-Memory (PIM) architectures provide an effective solution to overcome the memory wall problem. PIM architectures perform the in-situ matrix-vector multiplications in memory, eliminating the matrix data movements between memory and computing units. However, existing PIM architectures face three serious challenges: (1) the in-situ analog domain computing is sensitive to noise interference and memory device non-ideal factors, which will cause significant algorithm accuracy loss; (2) The large-scale PIM architectures require unacceptable long time of circuits simulation (e.g., SPICE), making the PIM architecture and chip design inefficient; (3) The co-design space of intelligent algorithms and PIM architectures is large, and the cost of automatic software and hardware co-design is high. In view of the above problems, this talk will introduce the software and hardware co-optimization tools for processing-in-memory architecture from the following three aspects: (1) PIM architecture aware neural network training, quantization, and deployment tools; (2) Open-source behaviour-level simulation and modeling tool for PIM architectures; (3) Efficient co-exploration tool of neural network algorithms and PIM architectures. The entire tool chain composed of the above work substantially improve the computing accuracy and energy efficiency of the PIM architectures. The evaluation and design flow of PIM architectures can also be reduced by 2-3 orders of magnitude, realizing high-reliability and agile design of PIM architectures.
Biography:
Yu Wang, professor, IEEE fellow, chair of the Department of Electronic Engineering of Tsinghua University, dean of Institute for Electronics and Information Technology in Tianjin, and vice dean of School of information science and technology of Tsinghua University. His research interests include the application specific heterogeneous computing, processing-in-memory, intelligent multi-agent system, and power/reliability aware system design methodology. Yu Wang has published more than 80 journals (56 IEEE/ACM journals) and 200 conference papers in the areas of EDA, FPGA, VLSI Design, and Embedded Systems, with the Google citation more than 14,000. He has received four best paper awards and 11 best paper nominations. Yu Wang has been an active volunteer in the design automation, VLSI, and FPGA conferences. He will serve as TPC chair for ASP-DAC 2025. He serves as the editor of important journals in the field such as ACM TODAES and IEEE TCAD and program committee member for leading conferences in the top EDA and FPGA conferences.