Ultrafast Wireless and Chip Design at the DATE Conference in Dresden

• TU Dresden represented with joint booth of 5G Lab Germany, the cfaed Cluster of Excellence and the HAEC Collaborative Research Centre at the important conference on Design, Automation and Test in Europe
• Accompanied by: the first cfaed symposium “Advancing Electronics”

At the centrally located booth, various demonstrators from the interconnected research areas will be presented. The Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems (Prof. Gerhard Fettweis) and the Chair of Radio Frequency and Photonics Engineering (Prof. Dirk Plettemeier) will present their 300 GHz demonstrator that so far, has only been publically shown once, during the IEEE 5G Summit Dresden 2017.

It displays one aspect of the planned HAEC-Box, a solution for highly adaptive energy-efficient server architectures, which in the future could be used in data centers or innovative mobile communication base stations. They will bring computing power closer to the user and thus enable certain applications for 5G on the basis of the “Mobile Edge Cloud”.

In the HAEC-Box, a very large number of processors and memory units will operate in a highly confined space and will be bundled into chip stacks. These chip stacks will communicate within the same circuit boards via optical connections and will be linked to adjacent boards via radio links. The radio links allow for a highly flexible communication network where, depending on the software requirements, links can be turned on or off, or switched between different chip stacks.

The required data rates for the radio transmissions are extremely high and can only be achieved through very high carrier frequencies of 200 to 300 GHz. In order to achieve an energy-efficient analogue to digital conversion at these very high data rates, a concept based on 1-bit A/D converters with oversampling is pursued which is new in the field of wireless communication.

The necessary changes to the modulation scheme is part of the demonstrator which will be explained and demonstrated by the booth team to expert visitors. The 300 GHz demonstrator was developed involving the cfaed research group “Information and System Theory”. The head of the group, Dr. Meik Dörpinghaus is also a Principal Investigator of the ‘HAEC’ Collaborative Research Centre.

The demonstrators at a glance:
• Tomahawk 4: Utilizing the Database Acceleration Features of the Tomahawk 4 MPSoC (Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems, TU Dresden)
• HAEC Playground (Deutsche Telekom Chair of Communication Networks, TU Dresden)
• 300 GHz Demo (Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems, Chair of Radio Frequency and Photonics Engineering, TU Dresden)

Scientists from TU Dresden are also members of the DATE Executive Committee. The cfaed and 5G Lab Germany coordinator, Prof. Gerhard Fettweis, in his role as “ICT Co-Chair”, is responsible for the area of IT and communication technology.

Accompanying the DATE conference: the first cfaed symposium “Advancing Electronics”
After the completion of the first five-year funding period, the cfaed Cluster of Excellence hosts its symposium “Advancing Electronics” for the very first time. The aim is to foster the scientific dialogue on newly gained research results, novel approaches and visionary plans for the coming years in microelectronics research. The symposium comprises multidisciplinary keynote lectures, panel discussions and a poster exhibition. Due to the thematic proximity, the symposium is held at the same time and at the same location as the DATE conference. It will take place on 19 March, 2018 in the International Congress Center Dresden. Attention: There are still some remaining places available for visitors of the DATE conference, who will have the possibility to book a ticket for the cfaed symposium directly on site! Thus, interested DATE participants can spontaneously participate in the cfaed symposium.

• DATE Conference 2018 – Design, Automation and Test in Europe, 19 – 23 March 2018, International Congress Center Dresden
• cfaed Symposium „Advancing Electronics“, 19 March 2018, International Congress Center Dresden

Media inquiries:
Dr. Meik Dörpinghaus
TU Dresden
Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems / CRC HAEC / cfaed
Information and System Theory Group
Tel.: +49 (0) 351 463-41061
E-Mail: meik.doerpinghaus@tu-dresden.de
Information and System Theory Group: https://cfaed.tu-dresden.de/doerpinghaus-home

Jörg Herrmann
K.I.T. Group (DATE Conference)
Tel.: +49 (0) 351 4967540
E-Mail: herrmann@kitdresden.de

Matthias Hahndorf
TU Dresden
Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden – cfaed
Head of Communications
Tel.: +49 (0) 351 463-42847
E-mail: matthias.hahndorf@tu-dresden.de

5G Lab Germany
The 5G Lab Germany at the TU Dresden is an interdisciplinary team with more than 600 scientists from 22 research areas of the TUD. It is jointly led by Prof. Gerhard Fettweis and Prof. Frank Fitzek. The aim is to deliver key technologies for the development of the 5G wireless standard. Research takes place in four different areas: Hardware, Wireless, Network & Mobile Edge Cloud, and Tactile Internet Applications. There are more than 50 associated industry partners, including Vodafone, National Instruments, Nokia, Rohde & Schwarz, Ericsson and Deutsche Telekom. www.5glab.de

Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed)
Around 300 scientists are investigating new technologies for electronic information processing on nine different paths. They use innovative materials such as silicon nanowires, carbon nanotubes or polymers. The goals are energy efficiency, reliability and the smooth interaction of the various components. In addition, biological communication systems are considered in order to derive inspiration from nature for technology. This globally unique approach thus combines the knowledge-driven natural sciences and the innovation-oriented engineering sciences into an interdisciplinary research platform in Saxony. www.cfaed.tu-dresden.de

CRC 912 HAEC (Highly Adaptive Energy-Efficient Computing)
The Collaborative Research Centre HAEC is the first attempt to achieve high adaptability and energy efficiency in computer systems in an integrated approach that runs through all abstraction levels – from hardware components to applications. In the first and current second funding phase, decisive progress has already been made in the development of technologies aimed at achieving this goal. In the field of science, HAEC could thus play a leading role in the development of future computer systems and could also be distinguished as a signpost in industry. www.tu-dresden.de/ing/forschung/sfb912 

About the DATE Conference
The DATE conference (DATE stands for Design, Automation and Test in Europe), brings together more than 1,200 scientists from all over the world each year. It will take place from 19 – 23 March 2018, for the fifth time in Dresden. The decisive factor for choosing Dresden was the high density of interdisciplinary, cutting-edge science available here. The conference and the accompanying exhibition, cover a wide spectrum of topics such as the design process, testing and automation tools for electronics, ranging from integrated circuits to distributed embedded systems, including both hardware and embedded software design problems. The conference will also focus on the development of design requirements and innovative architecture for demanding applications such as telecommunications, wireless communications, multimedia, smart energy and automotive systems. www.date-conference.com

Press photo: Download via https://cfaed.tu-dresden.de/files/Images/people/research-groups+phds/doerpinghau…