Planning IUCRC at University of Tennessee: Center for High-Frequency Electronics and Circuits for Communication Systems (CHECCS)

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

The Center for High-Frequency Electronics and Circuits for Communication Systems (CHECCS) team plans to establish a multidisciplinary IUCRC center in high-frequency communication systems. Such systems have penetrated almost all aspects of our daily life, with applications ranging from autonomous cars, personalized medicine, and monitored healthcare to agricultural sensing and merchandise inventory systems, for example. The scope of CHECCS broadly includes materials, electronics, devices, circuits, radiation, and their applications. A team with broad and complementary sets of expertise will collaborate with industrial partners to initiate integrated research projects. Such projects will serve as the foundation for the center, which will not only support research projects but also coordinate educational activities in both high-frequency electronics and communications to offer certificates and training as needed by industry partners. The center?s objectives include solving multidisciplinary problems of interest to industry in this technically-challenging and economically-vital critical area, tackling industry strategic needs, and training future engineers; thus, addressing a national need for qualified engineers and scientists with deep expertise in the various technically-challenging areas supporting high-frequency communications. The intellectual merits of CHECCS are the development of the research and educational components of this initiative into a highly visible integrated program in the US. At the University of Tennessee, CHECCS will assist industry in addressing challenging multidisciplinary research problems in the high-frequency bands including 5G and UWB technology, healthcare and elderly care, digital RF frontend, and radars with super high-resolution imaging. By combining knowledge from participating research groups and creating a culture that links engineering research to technological innovation through partnerships with organizations and to stimulate technology transfer into commercial products or start-up companies, thus producing highly qualified and trained engineers capable of leading advanced research and exploratory activities. Broader impacts include accelerating technology transfer research into viable products, stimulating spin-offs and start-up businesses, and forming long-term partnerships various with organizations while leveraging industry and NSF/DOD/DOE support. CHECCS will combine knowledge from research groups, train future engineers, and equip them with base knowledge through working on increasingly complex projects in high-frequency communications. CHECCS will have graduate students involved in high-quality pre-competitive research projects, thus developing students who are knowledgeable in industrially-relevant research and attracting more domestic students to strengthen ties to recruiters and alumni. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.