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From Cellphone Transceivers to Wireless Brain Implants


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Date:  Tue, March 03, 2020
Time:  10:00am - 11:00am
Location:  Holmes Hall 389
Speaker:  Dr Vincent Leung, UCSD/ Qualcomm Institute

 Abstract
Smartphones are arguably the most beloved gadget of our times. Having designed generations of RF (radio frequency) transceiver ICs used in a vast majority of cellular phones today, I would recount some of the architecture and circuit design advancement that help to fuel the wireless revolution. We would see that over the years, we managed to pack more functionalities into smaller chip area while maintaining superb RF performances, essentially achieving Gb/s wireless communication. More recently, I engaged in the design of wireless brain-implant ICs (“neurograins”) for the DARPA NESD program led by Brown University. While the system presents its unique challenges in energy harvesting, RF telemetry and networking, the push towards more compact, higher bandwidth RF IC is the same. I would describe some of the circuit design and experimental results. These prototypes may usher in a wireless revolution for brain machine interface, perhaps in a similar way wired telephony are replaced by wireless network.


Bio
Dr. Vincent Leung received the B.Eng (Honors) and M.Eng. degrees from McGill University (Canada) and the Ph.D. degree from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), all in Electrical and Computer Engineering, in 1995, 1998, and 2004, respectively. He had 16 years of industrial analog/ RF IC design experience: Analog Devices (1997–2000), IBM T. J. Watson Research (2004), Silicon Laboratories (2005–2008). At Qualcomm (2008-2016), he held key design/ lead positions for 3G/4G RF transceiver chips employed in a majority of smartphones at the time. In 2016, he joined UCSD/ Qualcomm Institute as the Technical Director of Circuits Lab, where he pursues his interest in academic research and teaching. He was an adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University (NY) in 2005–2007. He has over 30 publications and 13 US patents.


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