Invited: On-Chip Antennas for Multi-Chip RF Data Transmission
Kathleen L. Melde
University of Arizona, USA
Abstract
Multicore computer architectures with upwards of 100 processor cores in a small form factor promise unprecedented enhancement of computational performance. There are many key performance issues in computing on multicore systems and high performance computing (HPC) that do not exist in single core computers or even computers with a few cores. Maximum computational performance, such as ideal load balancing and low latency, can only be achieved with efficient data transfers between cores. The full promise of multicore systems cannot be achieved unless efficient (both in energy and time) communications between cores is realized. In a multicore computer architecture with hundreds cores, physical connections will severely restrict system performance due to slowed data transfer, excessive power consumption and required redundancy for broken data links.
This talk will present some of the recent developments to overcome package design challenges – providing a hybrid computing architecture with implemented 60 GHz antennas as the high efficient wireless interconnect which could generate over 10 Gbps bandwidth on the data transmissions. The short links between the router and the adjacent cores use physical transmission lines, while longer link communications between routers are done wirelessly. The work compares the design and performance of using a single antenna or a small reconfigurable antenna array. The antennas utilize a periodically-patched AMC structure associated with the ground-shielded conductor in order to enhance the antenna’s impedance matching bandwidth. The validation presents that over 10 GHz -10 dB S11 bandwidth and the horizontal transmission capability. This work leverages from smart antenna methods that have demonstrated capacity improvements in wireless communications, yet the router locations in the multi core computer are in a fixed location.
CV
Kathleen L. Melde is a Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA and a Fellow of the IEEE. Her current projects include tunable RF front ends for cognitive radio, high-speed electronics packaging, on chip antennas, and computational photovoltaics. She has published over 90 publications and has co-authored five U.S. patents. Her current research interests include applied electromagnetics, antenna theory and design, and microwave circuit design. She received the B.S. degree from California State University, Long Beach, CA, the M.S. degree from California State University, Northridge, CA, and the Ph.D. degree from University of California, Los Angeles, CA, all in electrical engineering. She was with the Radar Systems Group, Hughes Electronics, El Segundo, CA, from 1985 to 1996. Her work experience includes diverse projects in the Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory and Solid State Microwave Laboratories of the Radar and Communications Sector. She has made contributions to the design and development of antennas and transmit/receive modules for airborne phased and active arrays. She has extensive experience in modeling, fabrication and measurement of the performance of antennas, antenna arrays, high-density microwave circuits, and high-speed packaging interconnects.
Dr. Melde is a member of the Antennas and Propagation (AP-S) and the Microwave Theory and Techniques Societies. She is a member of the International Radio Science Union, Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi. She was a recipient of the University Of Arizona College Of Teaching Fellow in 2012. In 2010, she received the Excellence at the Student Interface Award from the University of Arizona, College of Engineering. She was a recipient of the 2008 IBM Faculty Award. She has been an invited keynote speaker on several occasions, such as the California State University Northridge, School of Engineering Commencement and the Conference on the Electrical Performance of Electronic Packages and Systems (EPEPS). From 1999 to 2001, she has served on the Administrative Committee for the IEEE AP-S Society. She was an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION and the IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS. She was the Co-Chair for the 2012 and Chair of the 2103 Conferences on the EPEPS. She is on the Organizing Committees for the 2014 AMTA (Antenna Measurements Techniques Association) conference and for the 2016 Antennas and Propagation Symposium.
