Events

Defence of doctoral thesis in the field of Micro- and Nanoelectronic Circuit Design, M.Sc. Mahwish Zahra

The title of the thesis is Integrated Radio Frequency LO Circuits for Beamforming Receivers

M.Sc. Mahwish Zahra will defend the thesis "Integrated Radio Frequency LO Circuits for Beamforming Receivers" on 4 March 2022 at 12 in Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, in lecture hall AS1, Maarintie 8, Espoo, and online in Zoom.

Opponents:
Prof. Hannu Tenhunen, KTH, Sweden
Prof. Timo Rahkonen, University of Oulu

Custos: Prof. Jussi Ryynänen, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering

The public defence will be organized via remote technology. Follow defence: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/66818030653
Zoom Quick Guide: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/zoom-quick-guide

Thesis available for public display at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/
Doctoral theses in the School of Electrical Engineering: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/53

Press release:

Communication trends have moved from voice calls to multi-media applications including social media and augmented reality. These applications demand higher data transfer, which translates to hardware requirements including improved signal quality while reducing interference and noise. The spectrum up to six gigahertz (GHz) is occupied by different standards including second (2G), third (3G), fourth (4G), part of fifth generation (5G), WiFi and Bluetooth standards. The ever increasing user base and increased communication between devices poses challenges because the unwanted signals interfere with the desired signal reception and distort it.

On the hardware side, integrated circuits (IC) have reduced the cost of operations for transmission/reception and signal processing. Complementary metal-oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology in IC is evolving rapidly to enable smaller form factors for devices, lowering the power consumption and fabrication cost to include more data processing capability. Thanks to the hardware fabrication advancements, we can enjoy high definition video streaming, communicate with family and friends around the globe and stay connected in the global village.

This thesis combines the two topics: communication system design for new standards in the CMOS technology. Beamforming receivers are important for applications including anti-collision control in cars and indoor communications for the pico cells. Here, the reception is focused to a particular direction by the formation of a beam. This reduces the probability of signal distortion introduced by the interference signals. Multiple antennas and associated IC hardware are included in the beamforming architecture. This work mainly examines optimum hardware design of the sub-6 GHz beamforming receivers including discussion about the system-design while focusing on the sub-block circuit design for the local oscillator (LO). The applied circuit techniques, discussed with supporting simulation results and measurement data, are a competitive choice when compared to the state-of-art.

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