News & Events (2014)

MICS held a holiday season dinner party with their families. (December 2014)

The MICS group had a dinner party with their families at Holiday Inn on December 19, 2014, which has become a MICS annual event. MICS people enjoyed an informal gathering with colleagues, friends and families. Prof. Dong Ha (MICS Director) talked about the achievements of MICS in 2014 and major goals for the new year. Then, each MICS person shared a couple of pictures of his/her memorable travels. Prof. Luke Lester played cello to entertain the people. We wish a Happy New Year to the MICS people and their families. More pictures on the MICS Dinner party.

Raman gives invited talks at IISc and IMARC 2014 in Bangalore, India (December 2014)

Prof. Raman visited the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, India and presented an invited talk to the local IEEE EDS/SSCS chapter entitled “RFIC Design and Integration for Multifunctional RF Applications”. He also co-chaired a Special Session at the 2014 IEEE International Microwave and RF Conference (IMARC), also held in Bangalore, December 2014, and presented an invited talk entitled “Advancing Silicon mm-wave Transmitter ICs for Satellite Communications.”

Yeago defended an MS thesis and joins industry (December 2014)

Taylor Yeago (advisor: Ha & Li) successfully defended his MS thesis entitled “A Two-Phase Buck Converter with Optimum Phase Selection for Low Power Applications.” His research investigates low power design of a power management circuit for smart cameras by adopting a two-phase converter, which was supported by the smart sensor research project. Taylor joined the MICS group in August 2013 after a BS degree from Virginia Tech, and will work for Northrop Grumman starting February 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. We wish Taylor good luck in his industry career!

Raman elected to leadership role for the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (November 2014)

Prof. Raman has been elected to the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. The society, with 11,000 members in 150 chapters around the world, promotes the advancement of microwave theory and its applications. Prof. Raman will serve a three-year term on the Administrative Committee, or AdCom, the governing body of the society, beginning in January 2015. The AdCom meets three times a year, with various committee activities on-going throughout the year.

President of KETI and his delegates visited MICS (October 2014)

The President of Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI), Korea, and his delegates, hosted by Prof. Koh, visited Virginia Tech on October 30. The visitors had a series of meetings with the President of Virginia Tech, the Dean of The College of Engineering, and The ECE Department Head. All four MICS faculty members (Profs. Ha, Koh, Lester, and Raman) attended the meetings, which promoted the MICS group to high level administrators. The visitors toured the MICS lab with poster displays and learned about MICS research activities. The primary purpose of KETI’s visit was to establish long term relationships with selected US universities. Currently, KETI sponsors one of Prof. Koh’s research projects in RF ICs.

Powerland joins the MICS IAP (October 2014)

FSP-Powerland Technology has joined the Industry Affiliates Program (IAP) of the Multifunctional Integrated Circuits and Systems (MICS) group of Virginia Tech. Dr. Ming Xu, President of Powerland, and Prof. Dong Ha of the MICS group, spearheaded the engagement. The primary purpose of the MICS IAP is to establish close collaboration, technology transfer, and student interactions between MICS and the Industry Affiliate partners.

Powerland focuses on green power products, including LED lighting power, solar power, mid/large-scale battery power, and other high-efficiency power supplies. Under the IAP program, Powerland and MICS will pursue long term collaboration in power management integrated circuits (PMICs), a core interest for Powerland, while advancing MICS research and student development in the area. Powerland’s IAP funding will support one MICS graduate student, who will develop a PMIC for small scale vibration energy harvesting. Powerland will also help guide the overall research direction of the MICS group through their participation on the MICS Advisory Board.

MICS hiked on the Appalachian Trail and enjoyed dinner with their families and friends (October 2014)

Over 30 MICS people, their families and friends, enjoyed beautiful fall foliage along the Appalachian Trail and dinner in the evening. They hiked McAfee’s Knob on October 25, which has become an annual MICS event. McAfee’s Knob is one of the most famous knobs along the entire Appalachian Trail, which spans over 3,000 miles. The overlook has a 270 degree panoramic view of the Catawba Valley, and is affectionately known as "the most photographed spot on the Appalachian Trail.” MICS people had dinner at The Homeplace restaurant after the hiking excursion. The Homeplace is the most famous restaurant in the region and serves southern cooking, family style. Prof. Ha concluded the event noting the MICS philosophy of “Work hard, but remember there is life outside of work.”

MICS faculty and students participated in the annual Microelectronics Day Event (September 2014)

Professors Ha, Koh, Lester, and their students participated in the poster presentation at the third annual Microelectronics Day, which was held at Virginia Tech Inn on September 18. The event was organized by a group of ECE faculty members in the area of microelectronics and the MICS group was invited to display posters. Eleven companies including BAE Systems, Four Wave, Intel, Micron, Nuvotronics, Phononic, Raith-Vistec, RFMD, TriQuint, Virginia Diodes, and Virginia Semiconductor attended the event. MICS students presented ten posters in the area of RF ICs, energy harvesting, and photoelectronics, and the companies showed strong interest in MICS research.

MICS faculty presented at Lockheed Martin Fellow Conference (September 2014)

Professors Ha and Koh were invited to the 2014 Lockheed Martin Fellow Conference held in Orlando, Florida, and presented MICS research works during the poster session on September 10. Prof. Ha presented his team’s research activities on energy harvesting (EH) including EH from freight railcars, EH with a wearable jacket, vibration EH with a microcontroller unit, and two IC designs for vibration EH. Prof. Ha also led a breakout session on energy harvesting, where attendants discussed possible applications of small scale EH for Lockheed Martin and their technical challenges. Prof. Koh presented research activities on tunable bandpass filters, capable of both frequency band tuning and bandwidth control, for mitigating in-band and out-of-band interference effectively. The system is based on a notch feedback, where interference will be filtered in by a notch filter and fed back in a negative feedback loop to cancel the interference at the early stage of the RF signal processing chain. The feedback system can achieve over 100 quality factor at 8-16 GHz in a CAD simulation based on IBM 8HP SiGe BiCMOS technology. This is a collaborative effort with Lockheed Martin, and recently Dr. Koh’s team has taped out the system in a Lockheed Martin’s silicon estate. Overall, it was a good opportunity to introduce MICS research activities to Lockheed Martin Fellows.

Amcom joins the MICS IAP (September 2014)

Amcom Communications, Gaithersburg, MD, has joined the Industry Affiliates Program (IAP) of the VT Multifunctional Integrated Circuits and Systems (MICS) group. The primary purpose of the MICS IAP is to establish close collaboration, technology transfer, and student interactions between MICS and the Industry Affiliate partners. Amcom is a leading edge microwave design organization that provides power FETs, MMIC power amplifiers, as well as high-power amplifier modules.

Under the IAP program, Amcom and MICS will pursue a long term collaboration in microwave/mm-wave power amplifier circuit design, characterization and linearization, core areas of interest for Amcom, while advancing MICS research and student development. Amcom’s IAP funding will help support a Ph.D. student whose dissertation work is synergistic with the company’s technology roadmap. The engagement will be led on the Amcom side by Dr. Ho Huang, President, and Dr. Amin Ezzedine, Executive Vice President. “Amcom is focused on the development of high-power and wideband RF/microwave/mm-wave amplifiers for both commercial and defense applications, and we look forward to working with Virginia Tech to develop innovative circuit design techniques that will enhance performance and power efficiency, as well as to help develop the future microwave engineering workforce,” said Huang.

Amcom will also help guide the overall research direction of the MICS group through their participation on the MICS Advisory Board.

Ha served as General Chair of EEC Symposium (August 2014)

Prof. Dong Ha served as General Chair for Electrical, Electronics, and Communications (EEC) Symposium, held during August 7 – 9, 2014 in San Francisco, CA. EEC Symposium is one of twelve symposiums at the annual US-Korea Conference (UKC) of scientists and engineers. UKC is the largest conference of its kind with a typical number of attendants exceeding 1,000 from US and Korea.

The EEC symposium had seven oral sessions and one poster session, which covered a wide range of topics such as Communication Systems and Signal Processing, Smart Sensors and Sensor Systems, Emerging Wireless Networks, and Smart Grid Systems. Prof. Ha was also a keynote speaker of the symposium. Notable invited speakers include Prof. Kang Shin from University of Michigan and Prof. Mani Srivastave from UCLA.

Ross defended an MS thesis and joins industry (July 2014)

Ross Kerley (advisor: Ha) successfully defended his MS thesis entitled “Automotive Lead-acid Battery State-of-Health Monitoring System.” His research investigates estimation of the health of car batteries by monitoring the terminal voltage during cranking, which was supported by the smart sensor research project. Ross joined the MICS group in August 2012 after a BS degree from University of Central Florida, and will work for Linear Technology starting September in Tempe, Arizona. We wish Ross good luck in his industry career!

Raman serves as Technical Program Chair of the 2014 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (June 2014)

Prof. Sanjay Raman recently completed his service as Technical Program Chair for the 2014 IEEE International Microwave Symposium, held 1-6 June 2014 in Tampa, FL, USA. His Co-Chair was Prof. Scott Barker of the University of Virginia.

The IEEE MTT International Microwave Symposium (IMS) is the premier annual international meeting for technologists involved in all aspects of microwave theory and practice. It consists of a full week of events, including technical paper presentations, workshops and tutorials, as well as social and networking events. The symposium also hosts a large commercial exhibition featuring over 550 companies. The IEEE MTT-S Microwave Week also incorporates the IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium and Automatic RF Techniques Group (ARFTG) Microwave Measurement Conference.

Ha delivered a tutorial on energy harvesting at ISCAS (June 2014)

Prof. Dong Ha delivered a half-day tutorial on energy harvesting at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) held in Melbourne, Australia, in June, 2014. ISCAS is the flagship conference of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, and attended by over 1,000 people annually from mostly North America, Europe, and Asia.

Prof. Ha’s tutorial entitled “Small Scale Energy Harvesting (EH) – Principles, Practices, and Future Trends” reviewed principles and practices for small scale energy harvesting. Industry trends and possible research issues were also covered to provide a technical insight into energy harvesting techniques and their applications. The tutorial was given at ISCAS in three consecutive years owing to its popularity, which is a very rare case for ISCAS.

MTT-S Ph.D. Student Initiative (June 2014)

Two MICS Ph.D. Students Awarded Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Ph.D. Student Sponsorships to Attend the 2014 IEEE International Microwave Symposium in Tampa

MICS Ph.D. students Farooq Amin and Kanika Saini were awarded 2014 IEEE MTT-S Ph.D. Student Sponsorships to attend the 2014 IEEE International Microwave Symposium in Tampa, FL, 1-6 June. The MTT-S Ph.D. Student Sponsorship Initiative was established by the IEEE MTT-S Administrative Committee to enable 1^st and 2^nd year Ph.D. students, and Masters students on Ph.D. track, to attend IMS2014/RFIC2014 in Tampa. See this link for more information on this sponsorship program.

Koh named Outstanding New Assistant Professor (May 2014)

Prof. Kwang-Jin Koh received the Outstanding New Assistant Professor Award from the College of Engineering. Prof. Koh has been contributing significantly to the advance of the field of electronics through cutting-edge research innovations; establishing a strong academic reputation through top quality research publications together with close industry collaborations; and providing an exemplary academic advising model through a distinctive achievement by his students in an IEEE research contest under his leadership. Currently, he is working on DARPA-funded projects to develop a radar component that is adaptive to multi-band and multi-standard defense systems. Congratulations on the prestigious award! Prof. Koh.

Five MICS Graduate Students take summer internship (May 2014)

Internship provides a great opportunity to gain real world experiences and to develop industry contacts. It is also helpful for students looking for permanent jobs in industry. The following MICS graduate students are working as summer interns in this summer.

Joseph Chong (Advisor: Ha), Freescale in Tempe, Arizona, “RF IC Design”
Kanika Saini (Advisors: Koh and Raman), Amcom Communications in Gaithersburg, Maryland, “Power Amplifier Device Characterization and Non-linear Modeling”
Michael Cunningham (Advisor: Ha), Lockheed Martin in MoorestownTown, New Jersey, “RF IC Design”
Quinn Brogan (Advisor: Ha), Lutron Electronics in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, “DC-DC Power Supply”
Stephen Hiemstra (Advisor: Ha), Lockheed Martin in Moorestown Town, New Jersey, “RF IC Design”

Lester joins MICS (March 2014)

ECE Department Head, Prof. Luke Lester, and his team have joined the MICS group. Prof. Lester’s research interest is optoelectronics, and he is an IEEE Fellow and a SPIE Fellow. He has published about 130 journal articles and over 240 conference papers. Prof. Lester’s team plans to collaborate with existing MICS faculty and students in optoelectronics over 100 GHz. In fact, Prof. Lester and the MICS faculty have already collaborated on an equipment proposal.

The addition of Prof. Lester and his group into MICS will benefit the MICS group immensely through the expansion of the scope of MICS research and synergy in research activities. It is a major milestone for the MICS group to advance to the next level. Welcome on board, Prof. Lester and your team.

Ha’s paper is one of the top five most cited articles (March 2014)

A paper “Resistive Impedance Matching Circuit for Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting,” coauthored by Dr. Na Kong (Prof. Ha’s former Ph.D. student) and other colleagues, was published in the Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures in 2010. The paper is one of the top five most cited articles in the last five years of the journal. The paper proposes a two-stage power conditioning circuit for a vibration-based energy harvesting system, which adopts the resistive matching to maximize the power transfer. The work published in the paper is part of Dr. Kong’s Ph.D. dissertation. Dr. Kong has been working for Texas Instruments since her graduation in May 2011.

Lockheed Martin engineer meets MICS students (February 2014)

Ken Schulz, a long time friend and supporter of the MICS group, visited MICS Group on February 19. Ken graduated from Virginia Tech in 1984 with Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and is responsible for Strategy and Research at the RFIC Design Center of Lockheed Martin.

Ken had an informal meeting with MICS students and shared his experiences of building a career in industry. He also talked about career opportunities with Lockheed Martin, and encouraged MICS students to study analog and RF ICs. Thanks Ken. MICS always welcomes your visit.

MICS student presents a paper at ISSCC (February 2014)

A MICS graduate student, Seyed Yahya Mortazavi (advisor: KJ Koh), presented a paper entitled “A Class F^-1/F 24-31 GHz power amplifier with 40.7% peak PAE, 15 dBm OP-1dB, and 50 mW Psat in 0.13mm SiGe BiCMOS,” at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) held in San Francisco in February, 2014. ISSCC is the flagship international conference of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS), and attended by over 3,000 people from academy and industry. Mortazavi’s paper demonstrates the first successful silicon power amplifier in Class-F^-1/F at mm-wave with a record high ~40% peak power added efficiency (PAE) at 25-30 GHz with 50 mW output power. Congratulations Yahya!