Undergraduate Project Ideas

The research I'm interested in can benefit from a wide array of skills from analog integrated circuit design, to creating new digital systems on FPGAs, to writing C code to run on microcontrollers. As an example, below are active projects I'm recruiting for via URMP and my RLC statement for BUILD EXITO. If you're interested in working on one of these projects or something like it, send me an email (ude.xdp ta ttenrubd) or drop by my office hours!

Analog frontend (AFE)

Title: On-chip AFE for three-terminal electrochemical sensor chronoamperometry

Description: We have demonstrated our single-ended analog frontend (AFE) to be useful for two-terminal potentiometric sensors (e.g., to sense ion species like sodium) but it lacks the ability to interface with the working, reference, and counter electrode in three-terminal electrochemical sensors (e.g., to perform chronoamperometry on enzymes like lactate). We need a student to design a three-terminal integrated circuit AFE capable of applying potential to an electrochemical sensor and measuring resultant current. Measurement will likely consist of converting to voltage and passing output to existing on-chip sensor ADC. This AFE is intended to be integrated alongside, and controlled by firmware running on, our fully-integrated wireless sensor mote platform.

Useful skills: Analog circuit design, mixed-signal integrated circuit design, interest in electrochemical sensing techniques. It may be that this design will take place at the schematic level only for now, but experience with IC layout would help propel the project even further.

Bluetooth tools

Title: Bluetooth Low Energy PHY/MAC Emulator

Description:Breaking the boundaries of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) power consumption requires development of a custom silicon BLE RF controller. We need a prototyping tool to allow bit-by-bit construction and deconstruction of BLE packets to enable flexible development of in-silicon logic before committing to chip fabrication. We have successfully demonstrated construction and transmission of raw RF packets but existing equipment is too slow for more advanced communication requiring timed responses to received packets. The proposed tool must be able to respond to real BLE devices in real time to establish standards-compatible connections, so such a system will likely be comprised of an FPGA and RF frontend.

Useful skills: Verilog, hardware prototyping, electronics test equipment, FPGA and microcontroller programming would all be great. Verilog and FPGA experience are particularly key for the student to make meaningful progress.

Digital sensor interface

Title: Particle sensor interface to wireless sensor mote

Description: Our millimeter-scale wireless system needs sensors to do useful tasks and recent wildfires have underscored the utility of particle sensors to quantitatively monitor air pollution. We're seeking a student to write embedded code on our chip-scale platform to operate a commercial particle sensor with the end goal of transmitting sensor data wirelessly through an established mesh network.

Useful skills: Embedded systems and C programming are key skills on this project. It would be great if the student is also already familiar with the ARM Cortex M0, and UART/RS-232/serial communication and handling of its interrupts.

Electrically Small Antennas

(Done!)

Description: A millimeter-scale RF device is often best leveraged with a millimeter-scale antenna, but typical antennas for the popular 2.4 GHz spectrum are on the order of 10 cm. This project will investigate electrically small antennas, or antennas that are smaller than the typical but still function well by leveraging interaction with their immediate environment. Such antennas will likely be fabricated with the ECE wirebond machine and others.

Useful skills: The ability to work independently and a good grasp of Maxwell's equations and experience, or interest in gaining experience, with EM finite element solver packages such as HFSS is expected. PCB design skills and test equipment skills (e.g., VNA, spectrum analyzer, RF signal generator) are also useful.

Verilog ADC controller

(Done!)

Title: Verilog ADC controller state machine

Description: Our on-chip analog to digital converter (ADC) has been successfully demonstrated using a single-shot ADC controller that is triggered by setting a flag from software and throws an interrupt after the ADC conversion is complete. We need a student to expand the capabilities of this single-shot controller to sample continuously at a fixed rate, clock jitter notwithstanding, and store each ADC result in memory for later processing.

Useful skills: Verilog experience, microcontroller architecture familiarity, and maybe even a little mixed-signal circuit design (or just interest in it).

BUILD EXITO RLC lab description

David began pursing millimeter-scale sensor systems as part of his PhD at UC Berkeley. Prior to his PhD, David focused predominantly on PCB-scale sensor systems for oceanographic applications during his Masters and while a member of technical staff at Sandia National Labs. This work gave him the opportunity to do science on research vessels, run long-duration coastal experiments, and travel to Antarctica to pilot underwater robots. These experiences supported his affinity for engineering in pursuit of scientific objectives. Now an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at PSU, his research goals include pushing the boundaries of tiny wireless devices capable of communicating using, e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and suitable for small-scale applications such as implantation in the human body. The skills relevant to his work run the gamut from hardware to software and can benefit from a wide array of skills including analog integrated circuit design, to creating new digital systems on FPGAs, to writing C code to run on microcontrollers. Students interested in a variety of flavors of electrical engineering, or adjacent fields, can be successful contributors.