Research

Last Updated: 24 August 2006

Undergraduate Projects

Cellular Neural Networks

References

IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine, vol.1, No.4, 2001

Neuromorphic Vision Systems

References

Campbell, S.R., Wang D., and Jayaprakash, C. (2004) "Synchronization rates in classes of relaxation oscillators", IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, 15, 5, 1027-

Cosp, J. and Madrenas,J. (2003) "Scene segmentation using neuromorphic oscillatory networks", IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, 14, 5, 1278-1296

Cosp, J., Madrenas,J., Alarcon, E., Vidal, E., and Villar,G. (2004) "Synchronization of nonlinear electronic oscillators for neural computation", IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, 15, 5, 1315-1327

Eckhorn, R. (1999) "Neural Mechanisms of Scene Segmentation: Recordings from the visual cortex suggest basic circuits for linking field models", IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, 10, 3, 464-479

Liu, S-C., and Douglas, R. (2004) "Temporal coding in a silicon network of integrate-and-fire neurons", IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, 15, 5, 1305-1314

Stewart, R.D., Fermin, I., and Opper, M. (2002) "Region growing with pulse-coupled neural networks: an alternative to seeded region growing", IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, 13, 6, 1557-1562

Phase Noise in Oscillators

All electronic circuits are affected by noise of one sort or another. Noise is a random electrical signal that may be a property of the material, such as thermal noise in resistors, or may come from outside interference. In oscillator circuits, noise can cause changes in the amplitude and phase in the oscillating signal. In general, amplitude changes are not a serious problem because the oscillator circuit can recover its original levels because of some inherent amplitude-limiting mechanism. However phase shifts are not so easily corrected. Phase noise has the effect of smearing the energy of the oscillator over a range of frequencies. This creates problems in communications transceivers because(a) as a transmitter, the oscillator's spectrum could spread into adjacent channels, and (b) as a receiver, the oscillator may mix an unwanted signal with the wanted signal.

This project can be approached in a number of ways, depending on whether the student wants to focus on oscillator circuit design, understanding the effects on noise on electronic circuits, applications of oscillator circuits to wireless communication receivers, and simulation problems with these types of circuits.

References:

Circuit Simulator

A useful Web site for SPICE is the Intusoft site www.intusoft.com, which provides information on ICAP products. It also gives links to sites of component manufacturers who provide SPICE models for their products. Press here to download an evaluation version of ICAP/4Windows.(This is a 25 Meg file.)

ICAP examples are used in the supplementary notes given below.

General introduction to noise in electronic circuits

Gray, Hurst, Lewis and Meyer (2001) Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits, Wiley. Or any previous edition of Gray & Meyer.

Introduction to Noise Models taken from Gray et al.

Lecture Notes on LC Oscillator Circuits

Journal Articles on phase noise (with links to PDF files)

Brambilla, A. (2001) "Method for Simulating Phase Noise in Oscillators", IEEE Trans. Circuits & Systems - I, 48, 11, pp.1318-1325

Darabi,H. and Abidi,A.A, (2000) "Noise in RF-CMOS Mixers: A Simple Physical Model",IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, 35, 1, pp15-25

Hajimiri,A., Limotyrakis,S. and Lee,T.H. (1999) "Jitter and phase noise in ring oscillators", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 34, 6, pp.790-804

Ham,D. and Hajimiri,A. (2001) "Concepts and methods in optimization of integrated LC VCOs", IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, 36, 6, pp.896-909

Herzel,F.,Pierschel,M.,Weger,P. and Tiebout,M. (2000) "Phase Noise in a Differential CMOS Voltage-Controlled Oscilllator for RF Applications", IEEE Trans. Circuits & Systems - II, 47, 1, pp.11-15

Hu,Y. and Mayaram,K. (1999) "Behavioral Models for Noise in Bipolar and MOSFET Mixers", IEEE Trans Circuits & Systems-II, 46, 10, pp.1289-1300

Lee, T.H. and Hajimiri A. (2000) "Oscillator Phase Noise: A Tutorial", IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, 35, 3, pp.226-236

Kouznetsov, K.A. and Meyer, R.G. (2000) "Phase Noise in LC Oscillators", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 35, 8, pp.1244-1248

Kundert,K.S. (1999) "Introduction to RF Simulation and Its Application", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 34, 9, pp.1298-1319

Margarit,M.A., Tham,J.L., Meyer,R.G. and Deen,M.J. (1999) "A low-noise, low-power VCO with automatic amplitude control for wireless applications", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 34, 6, pp.761-771

Mayaram,K.,Lee,D.C.,Moinian,S.,Rich,D.A. and Roychowdhury,J. (2000) "Computer-Aided Circuit Analysis Tools for RFIC Simulation: Algorithms, Features and Limitations", IEEE Trans Circuits & Systems - II, 47, 4, pp.274-286

Razavi, B. (1996) "A Study of Phase Noise in CMOS Oscillators", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 31, 3, pp.331-343

Terrovitis,M.T. and Meyer,R.G. (1999) "Noise in Current-Commutating CMOS Mixers", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 34, 6, pp.772-783

Docking,S. and Sachdev,M. (2004) "An analytic equation for the oscillation frequency of high-frequency ring oscillators", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 39, 3, pp.533-537

Docking,S. and Sachdev,M. (2003) "A method to derive an equation for the oscillation frequency of a ring oscillator", IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems - I, 50, 2, pp.259-264

Rank Order Filters

References

J.Poikonen & A.Paasio, "A ranked order filter implementation for parallel analog processing", IEEE Trans. Circ.& Syst. I, vol.51, pp.974-987, May 2004

A.Diaz-Sanchez, J.Ramirez-Angulo, A.Lopez-Martin, and E.Sanchez-Sinencio, "A fully parallel CMOS analog median filter", IEEE Trans.Circ.& Syst. II, vol.51, pp.116-123, March 2004

J.Ramirez-Angulo, R.Gonzalez-Carvajal, G.O.Ducoudray, A.J.Lopez-Martin and A.Torralba, "New compact CMOS continuous-time low-voltage analog ramk-order filter architecture", IEEE Trans.Circ.& Syst. II, vol.51, pp.257-261, May 2004

I.E.Opris, "Analog rank extractors", IEEE Trans.Circ.& Syst. I, vol.44, pp.1114-1121, Dec.1997

I.E.Opris & G.T.A.Kovacs, "A high-speed median circuit", IEEE J. Solid-State Circ., vol.32, pp.905-908, June 1997