Professor Ahmed El Oualkadi
Microelectronics Laboratory,
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Université Catholique de Louvain,
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium
Telephone: (32)-10-472581
Fax: (32)-10-472598
E-mail: ahmed.eloualkadi@uclouvain.be

 
Abstract: The expansion of wireless services and other telecom applications increases the need for low-cost highly integrated solutions with very demanding performances and specifications. This requires the development of intelligent front-end architectures that circumvent the physical limitations posed by the semiconductor technology. In addition, with the evolution towards nanometer CMOS technologies, the design of complex systems-on-chip (SoC) is emerging in consumermarket applications such as telecom and multimedia. These integrated systems are increasingly mixed-mode signal designs, embedding high-performance analog blocks and possibly sensitive RF front-ends together with complex digital circuitry on the same chip. These complex RF and mixed-signal SOC designs require accurate prediction early in the design schedule, and time-tomarket pressures dictate that design iterations be kept to a minimum. As an example, emerging wireless applications for logistics (e.g., RFID, intelligent home networks, smart dusts, & wireless body area networks) will need integration and fusion of a diverse set of technologies. These technologies include digital CMOS circuits, analog/RF circuits, sensors, MEMS components, embedded software, memories, antennas, displays, polymers, packaging and interconnections, new materials, and new integration process. True system-level integration requires a new multidisciplinary design methodology that defines the optimal miniaturization path of a wireless device when product design begins. It spans the development cycle, from device- to system-level design, through electrical, thermal and mechanical analysis including characterization, and on to component selection, product assembly and test. However, the main challenge remains cost and power consumption. For RF IC design, optimizing the architecture for a given application is a key requirement when considering ultralow- power consumption. The RF-analog-digital mixed signal co-simulation environment is one of the major challenges since many functional blocks depend on both analog and digital designs, to fully exercise and verify the proper functionality of those tunable and programmable loops. To have short and reliable design cycles, efficient verification methods and tools are necessary. Modeling and simulation need to accompany the design steps from the specification to the overall system verification in order to bridge the gaps between system specification, system simulation, and circuit level simulation. Very high carrier frequencies together with long observation periods result in extremely large computation times and requires, therefore, specialized modeling methods and simulation tools on all design levels.

Brief biography of the speaker:
Ahmed El Oualkadi was born in 1976; he received B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics and electronics from Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tetuan, Morocco, in 1998 and 2000, respectively. He received Ph.D. degree in electronics from the University of Poitiers, France, in 2004. From 1998 to 2000, he was a research assistant in the Electronics & Microwaves Laboratory, Tetuan, Morocco. During this period, he worked in numerical modeling methods (TLM & FDTD) in computational electromagnetic and computer-aided design of microwave circuits. From 2000 to 2003, he was a research assistant in the Laboratoire d’Automatique et d’Informatique Industrielle - Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Poitiers, Electronics & Electrostatics Research Unit, University of Poitiers, France. In 2004, he was an assistant professor at University Institute of Technology, Angoulême, France. During this period, he worked, in collaboration with EADS-TELECOM, on various European projects (CORMORAN & MULTIMODULES) which concern the nonlinear analysis & RF circuit design of switched- capacitor filters for radio-communication systems. In 2005, he joined the Université Catholique de Louvain, Microelectronics Laboratory, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, where he worked on the analog and mixed design of low power high temperature circuits and systems, in SOI technology, for wireless communication. During this period, he participates in several European and regional projects (EUREKA, A 109 Witness, MEDEA+, CROTALE...) in the areas of wireless communication and sensor networking. His main research interest is the analog, mixed-signal and RFIC design for wireless c ommunication and embedded system applications. He is author/co-author of more than 30 publications and communications in recognized journals and international conferences. He is an active IEEE volunteer member associated to the Circuits & Systems Society where he is a reviewer of IEEE circuits and systems journals (TCAS I & TCAS II) and many conferences on circuits and systems (ISCAS, ICECS…). He is a member of the program committee of WCECS (IAENG) conferences, and a member of the editorial board of Recent Patents on Electrical Engineering edited by Bentham Science Publishers.