FPGA-based architectures for next generation communications networks

This engineering doctorate concerns the application of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology to some of the challenges faced in the design of next generation communications networks. The growth and convergence of such networks has fuelled demand for higher bandwidth systems, and a requirement to support a diverse range of payloads across the network span. The research which follows focuses on the development of FPGA-based architectures for two important paradigms in contemporary networking - Forward Error Correction and Packet Classification. The work seeks to combine analysis of the underlying algorithms and mathematical techniques which drive these applications, with an informed approach to the design of efficient FPGA-based circuits

Contemporary Art and Transitional Justice in Northern Ireland: The Consolation of Form

Abstract Contemporary artworks in Northern Ireland are explored here as critical constellations, in Walter Benjamin’s sense, that engage the cultural processes of transition through their problematisation of it. It is argued that the artworks become sites in which the assumptions of transition are opened up for critical reflection, requesting attention to the foreclosing of the meanings of memory, of past-and-future, of community. A mode of critical questioning of the present renders the present problematic not in terms of exclusions nor with reference to a past that cannot or will not be erased, but in terms of the present’s inability to be conceived through a linear conception of time. That is, the past and its relation to both the present and to the future are set in oscillation as artworks explore the complex temporalities of a present self-consciously attempting to narrate itself away from the past. The artworks, ‘without the bigotry of conviction’ as Seamus Deane put it, suggest that the task of dealing with the past is flawed wherever the past is conceived as a history that can be rendered present to be judged by subjects who are thereby placed beyond it. That is the illusion of a present ‘no-time’ that dovetails with the desires of commercial enterprise and neo-liberal conceptions of freedom. If this suggests an unceasing restlessness, the consolation is that this questioning does take a form, not as judgement or political decision but as artworks which by definition, remain open to reinterpretation and new understandings. These issues are discussed with reference to the work of four artists in Northern Ireland: the paintings of Rita Duffy, the photography and installation work of Anthony Haughey, and the sculptural works of Philip Napier and Mike Hogg

Integrated microinductors on semiconductor substrates for power supply on chip (Invited)

Microinductors were fabricated using electrodeposition for integration on semiconductor substrates. The process was optimised through validated models developed to focus on efficiency and footprint. Lithographic processing was performed to microfabricate Cu coils over a magnetic core. A racetrack design was used to maximise the high frequency response, yielding high inductance density and low DC resistance. The magnetic core was subsequently closed using a magnetic thin film deposition over a dielectric deposited on the Cu coils. Homogeneous ferromagnetic alloy, Ni45Fe55 of uniform thickness over a high aspect-ratio 3D structure has been achieved. Ni45Fe55 was chosen for the fabrication of micromagnetic cores due to its relatively high saturation flux density (1.6 T), resistivity (48 mΩ cm) and anisotropy field (9.5 Oe). The rationale, design, microfabrication process and characterisation results are presented

High frequency DC-DC converter with co-packaged planar inductor and power IC

The paper introduces the trend of integration and miniaturization of power converters with potential for enhanced efficiency, form factor reduction and cost reduction. To demonstrate the concept of highly integrated switched mode power supply with integrated magnetic, a system-in-package DC-DC converter using a stacked co-packaging approach is developed. A system approach was taken to the design, and functional integration, using 3-D packaging for realizing a power supply in package solution (PwrSiP). The target integrated converter is capable of handling an input voltage of 5V and frequencies up to 40MHz. A DC-DC converter IC on a 0.35μm CMOS process was designed to meet this goal. In parallel with the IC design, technology development for on-silicon integrated micro-inductors was completed to achieve small-form factor and extremely low profile. A maximum measured efficiency of 83% and 78% was achieved on the stacked converter operating at 20MHz and 40MHz, respectively. The stacked approach showed a 30% area reduction compared to side-by-side implementation with external discrete inductor

Integrated microinductors on semiconductor substrates for power supply on chip (Invited)

Microinductors were fabricated using electrodeposition for integration on semiconductor substrates. The process was optimised through validated models developed to focus on efficiency and footprint. Lithographic processing was performed to microfabricate Cu coils over a magnetic core. A racetrack design was used to maximise the high frequency response, yielding high inductance density and low DC resistance. The magnetic core was subsequently closed using a magnetic thin film deposition over a dielectric deposited on the Cu coils. Homogeneous ferromagnetic alloy, Ni45Fe55 of uniform thickness over a high aspect-ratio 3D structure has been achieved. Ni45Fe55 was chosen for the fabrication of micromagnetic cores due to its relatively high saturation flux density (1.6 T), resistivity (48 mΩ cm) and anisotropy field (9.5 Oe). The rationale, design, microfabrication process and characterisation results are presented

High frequency DC-DC converter with co-packaged planar inductor and power IC

The paper introduces the trend of integration and miniaturization of power converters with potential for enhanced efficiency, form factor reduction and cost reduction. To demonstrate the concept of highly integrated switched mode power supply with integrated magnetic, a system-in-package DC-DC converter using a stacked co-packaging approach is developed. A system approach was taken to the design, and functional integration, using 3-D packaging for realizing a power supply in package solution (PwrSiP). The target integrated converter is capable of handling an input voltage of 5V and frequencies up to 40MHz. A DC-DC converter IC on a 0.35μm CMOS process was designed to meet this goal. In parallel with the IC design, technology development for on-silicon integrated micro-inductors was completed to achieve small-form factor and extremely low profile. A maximum measured efficiency of 83% and 78% was achieved on the stacked converter operating at 20MHz and 40MHz, respectively. The stacked approach showed a 30% area reduction compared to side-by-side implementation with external discrete inductor