{"id":10747,"date":"2012-08-08T17:54:18","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T21:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=10747"},"modified":"2012-08-08T17:54:18","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T21:54:18","slug":"nsf-grant-to-fund-rd-on-wireless-network-chip-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=10747","title":{"rendered":"NSF Grant to Fund R&D on Wireless Network Chip Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Baris<\/a>
Baris Taskin (Drexel University)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Engineers at Drexel University<\/a> in Philadelphia are developing semiconductors using wireless connections in a network to exchange data among the chip’s components. The project is funded by a three-year $400,000 grant<\/a> from National Science Foundation’s Electrical, Communications, and Cyber Systems division.<\/p>\n

The research is led by electrical engineering professor Baris Taskin<\/a> (pictured left), who directs Drexel’s VLSI lab<\/a>. Taskin’s research interests include integrated circuit physical design and wireless integrated circuit interconnects. An associate on the project, engineering professor Kapil Dandekar<\/a>, is providing reconfigurable antenna technology developed at Drexel.<\/p>\n

Driving the development of wireless data transfers among components in a single microchip is the need to pack more functions at higher speeds on a single device. Taskin notes that “wired interconnections can be very long despite their ability to be condensed into a small space,” adding, “the sheer volume of the connections necessary to make a functional chip still takes up a great deal of area.”<\/p>\n

The Drexel team is expected to design a hybrid network-on-chip that uses both antennas and wired interconnects to optimize communication speed and allow the chip to be applied to more sophisticated platforms. The use of radio frequencies as a data transport medium has an advantage over other wireless methods used in next-generation microchips because radio waves can travel through solids.<\/p>\n

The research team is also investigating optical data transmission, which uses light waves, as an alternative to wired interconnections. Optical data transports require a clear line of sight between transmitters and receivers, however, which can limit design options and negate its viability in three-dimensional chips.<\/p>\n

The project aims to develop a functioning proof-of-concept hybrid — wired and wireless — device within five years. “A hybrid chip that utilizes both wired and wireless connections provides a more robust platform,” says Taskin. “Wired interconnections can be used as dedicated communications lines between areas that are constantly transmitting data. Antennas can eliminate a number of wired interconnections between the less-traveled paths of communication on the chip.”<\/p>\n

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