Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101032
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$345,000.00
Summary
Electronics of the future: self-powering wireless circuit design. The aim of this project is to build a foundation for ultra-low-power wireless circuit design using technologies other than silicon. Scaling of transistors in silicon has been pushed to its limit and is of marginal benefit for low-power wireless circuit design. This project aims to address these limits by developing energy-efficient technology for wireless applications. The intended outcome of this project will be a self-powered, h ....Electronics of the future: self-powering wireless circuit design. The aim of this project is to build a foundation for ultra-low-power wireless circuit design using technologies other than silicon. Scaling of transistors in silicon has been pushed to its limit and is of marginal benefit for low-power wireless circuit design. This project aims to address these limits by developing energy-efficient technology for wireless applications. The intended outcome of this project will be a self-powered, high data rate receiver that will be critical in 5th-generation wireless systems. This could be used for a range of innovative wireless applications, for example in health care and environmental monitoring.Read moreRead less
Sustainability in Computing: A Holistic View. Green computing must provide sustainable processing capabilities with high energy efficiency (lower carbon footprint) and increased product longevity (reducing the need for product replacement). While advances in technology have afforded significant reduction in power requirements, they come with inherent challenges due to uncertainties in micro-scale behaviour, high complexity of quantifying/optimising energy cost or system lifetime in extreme scale ....Sustainability in Computing: A Holistic View. Green computing must provide sustainable processing capabilities with high energy efficiency (lower carbon footprint) and increased product longevity (reducing the need for product replacement). While advances in technology have afforded significant reduction in power requirements, they come with inherent challenges due to uncertainties in micro-scale behaviour, high complexity of quantifying/optimising energy cost or system lifetime in extreme scale computing, and the interaction of non-computing components with individual computing systems. This project addresses these challenges via a holistic, multi-scale paradigm for modelling, analysis, and optimisation of energy cost, carbon footprint, and product lifetime in emerging computing systems.Read moreRead less
Integrated energy conversion and management systems in silicon-on-sapphire. The aim of this research is to develop specialised "power-supply-on-a-chip" integrated circuits (ICs) for efficient conversion and management of electrical energy. The project will utilise and develop the unique local expertise and IC fabrication capability in silicon-on-sapphire technology in partnership with Sapphicon Semiconductor Pty. Ltd. The ICs developed will be used to improve the performance of small-scale elect ....Integrated energy conversion and management systems in silicon-on-sapphire. The aim of this research is to develop specialised "power-supply-on-a-chip" integrated circuits (ICs) for efficient conversion and management of electrical energy. The project will utilise and develop the unique local expertise and IC fabrication capability in silicon-on-sapphire technology in partnership with Sapphicon Semiconductor Pty. Ltd. The ICs developed will be used to improve the performance of small-scale electric power and transport systems based on alternative energy sources, thereby assisting energy self-sufficiency in rural and remote communities and reducing Australia's dependence on fossil and other non-renewable fuels. Sales of the ICs will also generate export income for Australian industry.Read moreRead less
Hardware Acceleration for Neural Systems. To really understand how brains work, we need to simulate neural networks of a size similar to that of the human brain (100 billion neurons, 100 trillion connections). Simulating such a network on standard computers in not possible because of its sheer size. Several groups are currently building very expensive and proprietary hardware to solve this, but the output from these projects will not be accessible to other researchers. In order to make real prog ....Hardware Acceleration for Neural Systems. To really understand how brains work, we need to simulate neural networks of a size similar to that of the human brain (100 billion neurons, 100 trillion connections). Simulating such a network on standard computers in not possible because of its sheer size. Several groups are currently building very expensive and proprietary hardware to solve this, but the output from these projects will not be accessible to other researchers. In order to make real progress in neuroscience, many more researchers need to be enabled to participate. To do this, the project will build a system from commercial hardware (FPGAs) that will cost only a few ten thousand dollars and it will make this design and software available for free. Read moreRead less
Designing Radiation-Tolerant Reconfigurable Systems for Space. The processing speed, cost and flexibility requirements of future satellite-based applications cannot be satisfied with conventional radiation-hardened processors or custom integrated circuits. This project aims to develop key technology to enable off-the-shelf hardware to be customised for this use without compromising reliability. The project aims to develop the design methods needed to implement a given set of satellite applicatio ....Designing Radiation-Tolerant Reconfigurable Systems for Space. The processing speed, cost and flexibility requirements of future satellite-based applications cannot be satisfied with conventional radiation-hardened processors or custom integrated circuits. This project aims to develop key technology to enable off-the-shelf hardware to be customised for this use without compromising reliability. The project aims to develop the design methods needed to implement a given set of satellite applications on a processing platform composed of application-specific soft processors and accelerator circuits hosted on conventional reconfigurable logic devices. Crucially, the solution architecture is expected to be sufficiently hardened against radiation-induced errors while meeting performance and circuit area constraints.Read moreRead less
Low cost, efficient and more reliable power switching network. This project aims to propose new power electronics circuit integration concepts and control techniques to reduce power supply cost by at least 30 per cent while improving efficiency and reliability. Photovoltaic combined battery storage application will be implemented and tested in detail to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concepts. The outcomes of the project will benefit many emerging technologies such as electric vehic ....Low cost, efficient and more reliable power switching network. This project aims to propose new power electronics circuit integration concepts and control techniques to reduce power supply cost by at least 30 per cent while improving efficiency and reliability. Photovoltaic combined battery storage application will be implemented and tested in detail to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concepts. The outcomes of the project will benefit many emerging technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable energy and energy storage systems, wireless communications and portable devices.Read moreRead less
Wideband Silicon-Based Radio-Frequency Front-End Module for 5G New Radio . The project aims to advance knowledge in radio-frequency integrated circuit design in low-cost silicon technologies, particularly power amplifiers design with enhanced energy efficiency at output power back-off levels. The intended outcome of this project will be a wideband RF front-end module with beam steering capability that can cover the 24-50 GHz spectrum band. This will ultimately enable the creation of a low-cost a ....Wideband Silicon-Based Radio-Frequency Front-End Module for 5G New Radio . The project aims to advance knowledge in radio-frequency integrated circuit design in low-cost silicon technologies, particularly power amplifiers design with enhanced energy efficiency at output power back-off levels. The intended outcome of this project will be a wideband RF front-end module with beam steering capability that can cover the 24-50 GHz spectrum band. This will ultimately enable the creation of a low-cost and energy-efficient 5G millimetre-wave network that could potentially trigger the development of ultra-reliable low latency communications, which is critical for emerging intelligent transportation systems and will maintain Australia’s leadership position in the development of break-through wireless technology.Read moreRead less
Low-Cost Wireless Transmitter with Compact Package for Industrial Sensing . This project aims to provide a solid foundation for silicon-based transmitter design with beam-steering capability operating beyond 100 GHz. The project expects to advance knowledge in low-cost radio-frequency integrated circuit design with miniaturised packaging technology for use in industrial sensing. Expected outcomes of this project include a prototype consisting of a miniaturised 140-GHz phased-array transmitter wi ....Low-Cost Wireless Transmitter with Compact Package for Industrial Sensing . This project aims to provide a solid foundation for silicon-based transmitter design with beam-steering capability operating beyond 100 GHz. The project expects to advance knowledge in low-cost radio-frequency integrated circuit design with miniaturised packaging technology for use in industrial sensing. Expected outcomes of this project include a prototype consisting of a miniaturised 140-GHz phased-array transmitter with packaged antenna arrays, along with a developed selection guideline to choose the "best" silicon-based technology node for cost-effective design. This should provide benefits for organisations working on wireless sensing technologies and lead to new ways of using these technologies for a variety of emerging applications.Read moreRead less
Towards a block-cipher circuit resistant to multiple side channel attacks. This project aims to design, implement and verify the first ever fully comprehensive countermeasure against simultaneous attacks on devices performing a cryptographic task, such as a smart card or a mobile phone used for an electronic payment, through a variety of side channels. Side channel attacks aim to obtain unauthorized access to secret cryptographic keys used by such devices, by collecting and statistically process ....Towards a block-cipher circuit resistant to multiple side channel attacks. This project aims to design, implement and verify the first ever fully comprehensive countermeasure against simultaneous attacks on devices performing a cryptographic task, such as a smart card or a mobile phone used for an electronic payment, through a variety of side channels. Side channel attacks aim to obtain unauthorized access to secret cryptographic keys used by such devices, by collecting and statistically processing measurements of by-products of the physical operation of these devices, such as the consumed power or electromagnetic radiation. Rapid proliferation of personal devices used for electronic payments or containing sensitive data makes such a comprehensive countermeasure urgently needed.Read moreRead less
Individually addressable, active, multipoint electrodes for bio-potential recording and electrical impedance imaging. We will develop non-invasive devices based on biosignal and impedance monitoring. They will be highly portable and based on comfortable electrode patches that can be applied quickly in emergencies. The technology may be used to save lives and reduce disabilities by monitoring strokes and heart attacks and stimulate Australia's biomedical industry.