Researchers from Khalifa University’s Systems-on-Chip Lab have had three papers accepted into the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS). ISCAS is the flagship conference of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society and the world’s premier networking forum for researchers in the fields of theory, design, and implementation of circuits and systems.

The 2020 conference was held as a virtual event, with all papers available in Open Preview and video presentations hosted to inform participants of the papers’ contents. The conference is designed to emphasize the potential of circuits and systems to find multidisciplinary solutions for the societal and engineering challenges of our times.

authored by Dr. Dima Kilani, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Baker Mohammad, and Dr. Mihai Sanduleanu, both Associate Professors of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, described a new design for a low-dropout voltage regulator, which is an important part of power management systems. They developed an ultra-fast and efficient low-dropout regulator that uses a clock-less ratioed logic comparator (RLC) to maintain constant and stable voltage output in a battery-operated power management system.

A linear low-dropout regulator regulates the voltage generated by a DC power supply, so that the same steady voltage output level is continuously controlled, despite any changes in the input voltage. While the RLC compares between the reference and the load voltage and generates a single bit which turns on or off power switches. The clock-less design continuously responds to the voltage difference making it more efficient and faster than a conventional comparator.

authored by Dr. Nourhan Elsayed, Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, Dr. Hani Saleh, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Dr. Baker Mohammad, and Dr. Mihai Sanduleanu, investigates a modified Doherty power amplifier – an amplifier which is used in many areas where high efficiency is needed for high peak to average power ratio uses.

The power amplifier is often the most power-hungry component of a circuit, which is why designing a more efficient version is crucial. To make the amplifier more energy efficient, the KU team’s Doherty power amplifier uses two amplifier circuits within the one overall amplifier to accommodate different signal levels. Their paper focuses on the modified Doherty power amplifier for use in 5G technology.

authored by Huruy Tesfai, PhD student, Dr. Saleh, Dr. Temesghen Tekeste, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Mahmoud Al Qutayri, Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Dr. Mohammad, describes a pre-trained neural network for monitoring the electrocardiogram signal, the electrical activity of the heart. Wearable devices with readout sensors and circuits can be used to record and process weak ECG signals, with the neural network integrated to a device, achieving an accuracy of 96.55%.

Through its pioneering research, Khalifa University is contributing valuable insights into the field of system on chip technologies, which are critically needed to support the development of faster, smaller and more powerful computing devices.

Jade Sterling
Science Writer
26 November 2020

The post System-on-Chip Lab Advancements Shared at IEEE Symposium on Circuits and Systems appeared first on Khalifa University.

A team of researchers from Khalifa University has developed a portable Covid-19 testing kit, no larger than your average smartphone. The new kit is both portable and can deliver the results in 45 minutes only.

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Dr. Anas Alazzam, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and member of the System-on-Chip Lab (SoCL) is the primary investigator for the project with Dr. Habiba AlSafar, Director of the Khalifa University Center for Biotechnology and Associate Professor of Genetics and Molecular Biology, as co-principal investigator. The research team includes the Postdoctoral Researchers Dr. Waqas Waheed, and Dr. Sueda Saylan, along with Research Associate Hussein Kannout.

While PCR testing is always highly accurate, and the gold standard for detecting viruses, it can be complex to use. The researchers at KU used the Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification method (LAMP) to provide a rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of the Covid-19 virus. It is faster than the conventional PCR method and uses primers that target two specific regions of the viral RNA. The majority of PCR methods rely on thermal cycling where the reactants are exposed to repeated cycles of heating and cooling to start the RNA replication process. While laboratory PCR tests require a programmable thermocycler, LAMP can be carried out with a simple heat block, making it much more amenable to portable testing.

As complicated as this sounds, it’s all completed within the device and needs minimal knowledge to operate. For the KU testing kit, there is no need for any sophisticated equipment as the kit performs Covid-19 detection directly from a patient’s swab. A simple color change shows the result: pink for negative, yellow for positive.

Currently in the clinical validation stage, this testing kit can detect active infections in 45 minutes, meaning it can be used in rapid testing while being cost-effective at the same time.

When the coronavirus pandemic is over, the kits remain useful, as they can be used with any virus detecting primer. The LAMP method will still replicate the RNA to make it testable and then the sample can be tested with a reagent looking for the influenza virus, for example.

Primers to detect an infectious agent can be produced quickly once the viral sequence is known, so if a new virus were to emerge, this PCR test from the team at Khalifa University would be able to detect it.

Jade Sterling
Science Writer
2 October 2020

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A team from Khalifa University has developed a new type of flexible memristor device, called ‘NeuroMem’, that will extend the application of memristors to flexible electronic technologies like wearable smart devices.

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Computer scientists have long been inspired by the human brain, aiming to design a computer that is able to store, retrieve and process information just as efficiently as the brain. The memristor, short for memory resistor, could be the key to designing such a computer as it processes information in a way that mimics the brain’s synapses and enables efficient neural network architecture. 

A team from Khalifa University has now developed a new type of flexible memristor device, called ‘NeuroMem’, that will extend the application of memristors to flexible electronic technologies like wearable smart devices. The team, including Dr. Baker Mohammad, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the System on Chip Center (SoCC), Dr. Heba Abunahla, Research Scientist, Dr. Yasmin Halawani, Postdoctoral fellow, and Dr. Anas Alazzam, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, published their findings recently.

A memristor device consists of metal oxide sandwiched between two electrodes. It has the ability to change its resistance state under the application of suitable voltage. As the name implies, the memristor can remember its last written state, even if power is turned off, which provides it great potential to be deployed as a solid-state computer memory device.

Unlike traditional solid-state storage technologies, memristors require less energy to operate, last longer, and store at least twice as much data. They use brain-inspired architectures that allow them to perform in-memory-computing (IMC). This solves a big issue in traditional computer architectures, referred to as the memory wall, by eliminating the need to move data from memory to the processing unit in order to perform computing functions. This unification of memory and computing imitates the way the human brain works.

Computers traditionally have separate processing and memory storage units, while the brain uses neurons to perform both functions. With the unique characteristics of memristors, they also have this ability to process and store data at the same memory element. This is achieved by using a similar mechanism used by synapses in a human brain to transfer information between neurons.

Unlike an electrical resistor with a fixed resistance, a memristor has a voltage-dependent resistance. This means that the resistance increases or decreases depending on the amount of voltage applied. In other words, a memristor integrates the flux applied over time, which is the key element to its function. Thus, the electrical properties of the used material are crucial; the active material must have the ability to switch its resistance state with the applied voltage.

The KU research team developed NeuroMem with graphene – a material known for its advanced electrical properties.

“Many metal oxides are used as the switching medium in memristor devices but few researchers are investigating using graphene or graphene oxide as electrodes or the switching materials,” explained Dr. Mohammad. “Using graphene oxide in memristor can improve the device’s performance and its switching ability. Our device is the first to exhibit a full analog resistance switching value within a given range.”

Graphene is already widely used in a range of applications for its outstanding features: it is flexible, low-cost, adaptable and more environmentally-friendly. By using reduced graphene oxide, the researchers can manufacture NeuroMem with standard microfabrication processes, making it simple, cost-effective and scalable for mass production.

Plus, their new NeuroMem device is flexible, meaning it can be integrated into electronics that involve building circuits on flexible polymer surfaces for applications such as smart wearable devices, where flexible memory and artificial intelligence (AI) elements capabilities are vital.

There is a huge effort underway to use memristor devices in computer chips designed to mimic the human brain. By combining this functionality with the flexibility and scalability of graphene-based materials, it is easy to imagine the development of a new generation of intelligent devices with very low power consumption and ultra-fast performance.

The team has demonstrated the analog memristor behavior in the fully connected layer part of an AI neural network algorithm and has shown the potential of deploying this technology for pre-trained neural networks to perform computing directly on distributed devices as opposed to central servers.

Jade Sterling
Science Writer
1 October 2020

The post NeuroMem: Mimicking the Synapses in the Human Brain appeared first on Khalifa University.

A team of researchers from Khalifa University’s System-on-Chip Lab (SoCL) have contributed to the advancement of energy-efficient wearable electronic devices with extended battery life, and documented their contributions in a new book on power management integrated circuits for wearables.

The co-authors include KU’s Dr. Dima Kilani, Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Baker Mohammad, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and SoCL Director, and Dr. Hani Saleh, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The book, titled “,” is published by Springer, one of the leading international science and technology publishers.

As Khalifa University celebrates the UAE’s Month of Reading, the recent book publication underscores the significant role KU researchers play in expanding scientific literacy and disseminating cutting-edge knowledge to readers in the UAE and around the world.

The book, which is composed of six chapters, presents a comprehensive overview of the research conducted by SoCL researchers in the field of power management integrated circuits (PMICs), which are used to power small, battery-operated electronic devices within a single chip.

Forecasts suggest that by 2030 there will be around offering new ways to improve our productivity, health, and lifestyle. Hence, the book’s publication is very timely as it provides important insights into optimal power management designs for researchers and industry leaders working in the area of connected, low-power wearable devices.

“We are entering an era of IoT and artificial intelligence (AI), which is giving rise to great opportunities for electronic devices with low power consumption and energy efficiency,” Dr. Mohammad shared.

PMICs provide critical power management functions in wearable devices, especially in ultra-thin sensors used in hard-to-reach places, like medical implantable and smart structures. These ultra-thin sensors require a new generation of IPICs that can facilitate charging and keep up with the highest-performing wearable requirements.

The book presents different PMIC design architectures that will reduce power consumption and utilize energy harvesting sources to achieve efficient power management in ultra-thin wearables and near perpetual operation.

“The circuits presented in our book support voltage scaling to reduce the overall average power consumption of a wearable device, resulting in longer device operating time. The discussion includes many designs, control techniques and approaches to distribute efficiently the power among different blocks in the device,” said Dr. Kilani.

The book gathers all the ideas the team has previously published in scientific journals, along with new insights, to be a reference for both academic and industry.

The book’s chapters present the researchers’ experimental results of energy harvesting-based power management units (PMUs) using different combinations of power converters and voltage regulators.

“The results give a good guide for designers to select the appropriate option based on the device requirements,” Dr. Kilani explained.

The designed PMICs underwent verification and silicon validation, which means that the circuits were tested and successfully demonstrated on silicon-based integrated circuit prototypes manufactured at GLOBALFOUNDRIES (owned by Mubadala), proving that the chips work as designed.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
3 March 2020

The post Khalifa University Researchers Publish Book on Next Generation Power Management Integrated Circuits for Energy Efficient Wearable Devices appeared first on Khalifa University.

PhD student Lilas Alrahis won Best Paper Award for her paper titled “ScanSAT: Unlocking Obfuscated Scan Chains,” at the Applied Research Competition – MENA Region, one of nine competitions held in association with the New York University’s Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) 2019, which took place from 6-8 November 2019.

Her winning paper addresses a key security issue arising out of the shifting microelectronics supply chain landscape.

“The dramatic increase in fabrication costs of Integrated Circuits (ICs) has led to the globalization of the IC supply chain, raising concerns regarding IC piracy, reverse engineering, and hardware Trojan insertion. ICs are the heart of electronic systems that are embedded in a wide range of applications. Therefore, ensuring trust in the IC supply chain is vital in order to guarantee a reliable and trustworthy platform to build on,” Alrahis explained.

The IC supply chain is witnessing the outsourcing of key steps, such as testing, to Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) companies, which may damage or compromise on-chip assets. To prevent piracy and inappropriate use of ICs, chip makers are incorporating hardware locking systems as an important aspect of chip design.

One technique, called “obfuscation of scan chains,” hides the functionality of the chip design from the untrusted testers via the insertion of additional logic elements. The method involves inserting a type of logic between the chip elements that shift chip test data in and out of the chip to make every point in the chip controllable and observable. The logic is driven by a secret key to hide the transformation functions between the inputs, outputs and captured test data responses.

Alrahis leverages this technique and proposes the use of ScanSAT, a type of attack that transforms a scan obfuscated circuit to its logic-locked version and applies the Boolean satisfiability (SAT) based attack, which allows the user to extract the secret key.

The research work was carried out under KU’s System-on-Chip Lab (SoCL) with supervisors Dr. Hani Saleh, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Dr. Baker Mohammad, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Dr. Mahmoud Al Qutayri, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, in collaboration with Dr. Ozgur Sinanoglu, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering from NYUAD.

CSAW is the most comprehensive student-run cyber security event in the world, featuring nine competitions across six global regions. In the Applied Research Competition, industry experts served as judges who evaluated the originality, relevance, and accuracy of the research.

The achievement is a testament to the research and development being carried out at KU that aims to address the rapidly emerging changes in the landscape for cybersecurity.

“Participating in CSAW’19 was a great opportunity to present my research work and utilize the skills I have gained during my PhD. The experienced judges gave critical and valuable feedback on my work. Also, winning the competition provides proof of our important research work and distinguishes our publication from the rest,” Alrahis shared.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
18 November 2019

The post Student Wins CSAW Best Paper Award for Hardware Locking System to Protect ICs appeared first on Khalifa University.

Khalifa University’s System on Chip Lab (SoCL) held its first Open House on Wednesday, 20 November at the Main Campus.

The SoCL Open House provided a platform for SoCL faculty, researchers, and students to highlight how they are advancing microsystems research using SoCL’s advanced facilities. The SoCL is the only research lab in UAE with a comprehensive range of expertise in analog, digital, and RF that can deliver integrated system-on-chip and electronics circuits and system solutions for various applications targeting near-market research.

The lab Director Dr. Baker Mohammad, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, opened the event with an overview of lab activities and main projects.  Dr. Onur Mutlu, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at ETH Zurich and Carnegie Mellon University, delivered the keynote address. Dr. Mutlu is a leading expert in computer architecture, computing systems, hardware security, and bioinformatics. Many of the techniques he and his group discovered and invented over the years have influenced industry and have been employed in commercial microprocessors and memory/storage systems, including systems designed by Apple, Intel, IBM, Samsung, and Sun Microsystems.

SoCL faculty presented research in ultra-low power digital design for security, AI application, radio frequency and millimeter-waves activities, photo sensors based on plasmonic nano-structures, and emerging RRAM technology for sensing and computing applications.

The Open House also included poster sessions for SoCL researchers and students to share their various electronics research.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
21 November 2019

The post SoCL Open House Highlights KU’s Pioneering Microsystems Research appeared first on Khalifa University.