Abstract

It is well know that the third millenium will go wireless and we are noting a huge explosion of applications dedicated to automotive area (safety control, traffic management), space area (multimedia communications), medical applications (smart RF tag at 24 GHz) and survey environment. All these emerging applications will result to an increase of the frequency spectrum crowding leading to strong interference problem and limiting for instance the bit rate of the RF connections. All these requirements are leading the conventional approach for the high frequency circuits obsolete and there is urgent need to find new concepts in order to fulfill the target of the future telecommunications systems. A new paradigm is emerging for the next generation of electronic modules that will be embedded within the wireless system. Actually, the new circuits might feature novel concepts in order to push the performance in term of loss, noise linearity, compatibility with multi-standards systems, flexibility, power consumption and cost. Furthermore the frequency spectrum overcrowding will result to a dramatic increase in the frequency allocation that will be pushed in the millimeter wave range. One solution deals with the exploitation of the micromachining capabilities of the silicon and other materials (like organic materials for example) and the advanced techniques concerning the microwave modules assembling (3D assembling or flip chip assembling). It turns out to a new concept emergence : The MEMS concept consisting to realize "smart and reconfigurable" microsystem for millimeter wave range.
This concept could be addressed through three different ways. One way will consist to develop advanced passive components like filters, transmission lines, diplexer…. Most of these components will be realized through bulk micromachining techniques in order to get devices featuring quasi free space propagating behavior. During the communication, we will outline different approach existing to improve the electrical performances of the passive elements up to millimeter wave and above.
The second way that will be addressed by the MEMS concept deals with the replacement of some active functionality that was formerly realized through semiconductor based technologies by electromechanical structures actuated by electrostatic, magnetic or thermal actuation. The main advantages featured by MEMS devices are related to insertion loss, linearity, compactness and power consumption. In this context, the actuation method is depending on the application you are targeting specially it will depend on the actuation speed you need for your component. The basic element today is a microswitch that can be used as a single pole double thru device, as a basic cell for phase shifter or reconfigurable circuits (like filter, oscillator or antennas).
We will present the different technologies of switch existing today and will underline the respective advantages and drawbacks.
The third way will consist to a judicious association of active semiconductor based device with MEMS (passive or active) in order to create a very compact smart microsystem in the millimeterwave range. We will present a panel of different microsystems that have been already realized (like MEMS LNA, MEMS Oscillator, MEMS Front end…). The technologies that are compatible with MEMS concepts are both III-V and Silicon Germanium based.
Finally, we will finish by presenting the scientific challenge featured by this new concept. It is easy to state that MEMS technology will have a strong multi disciplinary behavior involving material properties, mechanical and electromagnetic properties and it will be important to regroup knowledge of different laboratories and research institute in order to get a critical mass to be very creative and very powerful in this very promising area.

Robert Plana was born in Toulouse on March 4th 1964. In 1988, he obtained the Masters Degree in Microelectronics from Paul Sabatier University. At the same time, he joined the "Laboratoire d'Analyse et D'Architecture des Systèmes" to work on his Ph.D Degree he got in 1993 on the field of "Noise characterization and Modelling of Microwave Active Devices" including MESFET, HEMT, PHEMT and HBT on GaAs and InP. At the same period, he was involved in the reliability investigation in Microwave active devices through noise investigation and modelling. In 1993, he started to work on the noise behaviour of Si/SiGe HBT through a collaboration with Daimler Chrysler. In 1994, he became Associate Professor at the Paul Sabatier University and he started to develop researches focused on the field of the MEMS Silicon Technologies for RF and Millimeterwave Communications including Si/SiGe technologies, Micromachining, low power and low noise design and reliability. He developed collaboration with ST Microelectronics, IBM and University of Michigan. In 1999, he was with SiGe Microsystems Inc in Ottawa as an invited researcher to work on low noise RF design using SiGe BiCMOS technologies. He received the "bronze medal" of the French national research center in 1999. He has authored or co-authored 40 publications and 100 conferences. In 2001, he became Professor at the Paul Sabatier University Toulouse France and at the "Institut Universitaire de France". In 2002, he became director of the Electromagnetism and Microwave Research Center in Toulouse France.

PT2: Nonlinear Signal Processing for Applications
In Broadband Communications
Monday, 29 December, 15:15 - 15:45
Rui J.P. de Figueiredo
Professor
Laboratory for Intelligent Signal Processing and Communications
University of California, Irvine CA 92697-2625

Phone: (949) 824-7043, Fax: (949) 824-2321
Email : rui@uci.edu

ABSTRACT
A number of challenges and opportunities are arising in nonlinear signal processing in the context of the emerging technologies driving applications in broadband communications. We will begin by briefly discussing some of these applications in telecommunications, information processing systems, and electronic power processing systems. The lecture will then focus on NONLINEAR challenges and opportunities by listing some of the important nonlinear problems; the conceptual issues involved in their rigorous formulation and solution; and illustrating some proposed approaches by means of results obtained for the following specific applications: (i) Nonlinear image contrast sharpening based on Munsell's scale in order to enhance human perception; (ii) Nonlinear adaptive prediction of the speech signal; (iii) AI-based exploitation of diversity in the wireless channel; (iv) Network-problem-alerting for cell-phone network carriers; and (v) Non-Gaussian noise suppression in video and voice communication systems.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Rui J. P. de Figueiredo, B.S. and M.S. (Electrical Engineering), M.I.T., and Ph.D. (Applied Mathematics), Harvard University, is Professor (Above Scale) of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Mathematics, at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). He is also Director of the Laboratory for Intelligent Signal Processing and Communications in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of UCI. Prior to joining UCI in 1990, Dr. de Figueiredo served as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at Rice University, Houston, Texas (1965-90). Professor de Figueiredo has won numerous honors for his fundamental contributions to the theory and applications of signal/image processing and communications, and to nonlinear control; and for his role as an educator and
as a leader in his field and in his profession. These honors include: election to the UN-sponsored International Informatization Academy (2003), the 1999 IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society Golden Jubilee Medal, the 2000 IEEE Tri-Millennium Medal, the 2003 Gh. Asachi Medal from the Technical University of Iasi (TUI), Romania, from which he also received the title of Honorary Professor (2003), the IEEE Fellow Award (1976), the 1994 IEEE CAS Technical Achievement Award, the 2000 IEEE Neural Networks Transactions Best Paper Award, the 2003 IEEE Circuits and Systems Transactions Guillemin- Cauer Best Paper Award, the 2002 IEEE CAS Society M. E. Van Valkenburg Society Award, the 1988 NCR Educator-of-the-Year Award, his election to President of IEEE CAS Society in 1998, and, last bit not least,
his selection by IEEE to be one of its fifty leaders, among its nearly 350,000 members, to present the IEEE vision of the new century in the book ENGINEERING TOMORROW: Today's Technology Experts Envision the Next Century, Janie Fouke, Editor, IEEE Press, 2000.