Latest News

Prof. Yu-Hsiang Cheng (National Taiwan University) visited our lab!

Prof. Mark Rodwell (UCSB) visited our university at July 15th, 2025! Welcome!!!

Lecturer: Prof. Mark Rodwell（University of California, Santa Barbara）

Title: 100-300 GHz Wireless: transistors, ICs, systems

Date & Time: Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 15:45 – 17:30

Abstract: We describe the opportunities, and the research challenges, presented in the development of 100-300GHz wireless communications and imaging systems. In such links, short wavelengths permit massive spatial multiplexing both for network nodes and point-point links, permitting aggregate transmission capacities approaching 1Tb/s. 100-300GHz radar imaging systems can provide thousands of image pixels and sub-degree angular resolution from small apertures, supporting foul-weather driving and aviation. Challenges include the mm-wave IC designs, the physical design of the front-end modules, the complexity of the back-end digital beamformer required for spatial multiplexing, and, for imaging, the development of system architectures requiring far fewer RF channels than the number of image pixels. We will describe transistor development, IC design, and system design, and describe our efforts to develop 140GHz massive MIMO wireless hubs, and 210GHz and 280GHz MIMO backhaul links.

Mr. Yudai Yamazaki received the highest honor in the student category: the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award.

We will hold an OB/OG gathering on Saturday, August 23, 2025! We have sent out the information via the mailing list, but if you haven’t received it, please contact us!

VLSI Symposium demonstration

Congratulations! Dr. Chun Wang won Seiichi Tejima Research Award.

Eveninig Panel: “Future of Analog Design: Still Magical or Mostly Digital?”

Forum: Wireless Communication Technology for Space Applications: From Satellite to Dish and Smartphones

Kenichi Okada, Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
“Foldable Phased-Array Transceivers for Satellite Communications”

Congratulations! Dr. Xu Dingxin won IEEE SSCS Predoctoral Achievement Award

Three innovative design techniques substantially enhance wireless transmitter performance and can boost power efficiency and elevate data rates concurrently, as reported by the researchers from Science Tokyo, Japan. This effectively aligns with the growing demand for speed and efficiency, accelerating the widespread deployment of wireless devices. This enables synergistic operation of wireless electronic devices and better quality of modern life.

Presentations in ISSCC 2025

Forum Presentation

• Kenichi Okada, “Foldable Phased-Array Transceivers for Satellite Communications”

Regular Session

• Yuncheng Zhang, et al.,“A Power-Efficient CORDIC-less Digital Polar Transmitter Using 1b DSM-Based PA Supporting 256-QAM”
• Sena Kato, et al.,“A 256-Element Ka-Band CMOS Phased-Array Receiver Using Switch-Type Quadrature-Hybrid-First Architecture for Small Satellite Constellations” (Shirane Lab)

Yudai Yamazaki, Minzhe Tang, Daxu Zhang will present their work in Student Research Preview.

Prof. Hua Wang (ETH) visited our lab at Nov. 22th, 2024! Welcome!!!

Speaker: Prof. Hua Wang (ETH, Zurich, Swiss)

Title: “Fundamentals of RF and mm-Wave Power Amplifier Designs”

Abstract: This talk presents a focused overview of mm-wave power-amplifier (PA) designs in silicon, including design fundamentals, advanced PA architectures, and state-of-the-art design examples. As phased arrays and MIMO systems have become ubiquitous in various wireless communication and sensing applications, they pose a completely new level of system complexity and different and often tighter requirements on the wireless frontend electronics, in particular the PAs. The talk will start with an introduction of PA performance metrics and their impacts on wireless systems. Next, it presents the design fundamentals of PA active devices and passive networks as well as power combining strategies. The tutorial discusses advanced PA architectures, including Doherty, Outphasing, LMBA, and Coupler-Balun Doherty PAs, for high efficiency, linearity, and bandwidth. Further, advance and challenges of high mm-Wave PAs in large-scaled arrays will be covered to address various emerging wireless applications. Finally, the talk will conclude with several state-of-the-art mm-wave PA design examples.

Prof. Matsuzawa and Prof. Okada are selected as top contributors of A-SSCC 2005-2023.

Demonstration of D-band Transceiver at EuMW!!

A great OB, working in NVIDIA, USA, visited our lab!!

Alumni Party!

If you do not receive OB/OG ML, please contact secretaryssc.pe.titech.ac.jp !

On July 25, 2024, Okada Lab welcomed Professor Patrick Mercier from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He visited the lab and delivered a comprehensive academic presentation to our team.

Speaker: Prof. Patrick P. Mercier, University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

Title: “Low-Power Standards-Compatible Wireless Communications Circuits for Next-Generation IoT and Wearable Applications”

Abstract:

Emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices for use in smart homes, wearable systems, industrial monitoring, smart cities, and beyond all require robust yet low-power wireless communications. Unfortunately, most current wireless standards do not intrinsically support low-power operation due to strict requirements on modulation formats, data rates, linearity, packet overheads, and so on. These restrictions impose minimum power consumption requirements for cellular standards (e.g., GSM, LTE, and 5G) and WiFi, but also surprisingly limit the ability of supposedly low-power standards (e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy and Narrowband-IoT) from reaching new application-enabling power levels.

This presentation will outline the major challenges facing power reduction in modern wireless systems, and will describe several possible solutions to these challenges. Specifically, we will explore the use of wake-up receivers as a means to reduce the power overhead of between-node synchronization. Then, we will discuss an alternative communication scheme that can help to reduce the power of communication in WiFi, BLE, and body-area-network systems by >1,000x through use of standards-compatible backscatter communication systems, including the latest developments incorporating retroreflection and beam steering. We will also discuss related sensing circuit opportunities to round out the application space.

Hans HERDIAN’s thesis presentation!