Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Self-learning, stepped sensor interface" "Marian Verhelst" "ESAT - MICAS, Microelectronics and Sensors, Informatics Section" "With the miniaturization of electronic hardware, it becomes feasible to take portable devices equipped with sensors with us every time of the day. Many applications build on this to provide us more direct feedback on our well-being and our environment, or to provide context-aware services. However, the energy consumption of the required always-on sensors impedes its practical realization as it is currently infeasible to keep a collection of sensors continuously activated on our mobile devices. A good example is a microphone with advanced sound/speech processing to e.g. detect certain keywords being spoken, or certain persons being present.This project will design a stepped-sensing interface for such always-on sound/speech sensor. The flexible interface is capable of operating in several modes and to selectively disable and reconfigure several sub-blocks (analog, digital as well as processor subsystems). This allows to at any time provide the minimal performance required under current circumstances, so consuming no more energy than necessary. Through deeply embedded machine learning at the hardware level, the smart interface autonomously determines when it should switch from one mode to another, depending on current operating conditions and on experience built up over time. All of this finally has to happen with minimal hardware footprint, in order to not penalize the total system’s energy consumption." "A statistical atlas of the cerebral perfusion areas." "Paul Suetens" "ESAT - PSI, Processing Speech and Images" "The cerebral vasculature supplies blood to the brain and plays a crucial role in the function and survival of the brain tissue. Unfortunately, there are several diseases that affect the cerebral vasculature and hence the brain. The diagnosis of these diseases and the study of their underlying mechanisms is greatly benefited by the ability to image in vivo the anatomy and function of the vasculature. However, the objective and quantitative analysis of these images is challenging. In this thesis we present two novel methods to analyze images of the cerebral vasculature. In particular, we are interested in the connectivity of the vasculature, both on a macro- and microscopic level. The goal is to provide the medical community with tools that allow to increase their pace of research and to ultimately improve patient wellbeing.The first method segments and anatomically labels the large cerebral arteries. It performs these tasks simultaneously, which results in improved segmentations compared to earlier methods, as we demonstrate on a dataset of magnetic resonance angiography images. In clinical practice, it can be used to detect abnormalities such as stenoses and aneurysms by comparing the actual morphology of a named segment with its expected morphology. In research, it can be used to analyze large quantities of scans enabling research on the relation between vascular morphology and the prevalence of certain diseases or the underlying genetics.The second method infers from computed tomography perfusion images the connectivity of the cerebral arteries, even if the individual arteries are too small to be distinguished. Hereto, the method tracks the contrast agent bolus when it flows through the brain. This information was previously not measurable in vivo and provides researchers with a tool to investigate the role of collateral flow in stroke. We demonstrate the feasibility of the method on both healthy and diseased subjects and begin to validate the method clinically." "High efficiency digital RF power amplifiers for telecom infrastructure." "Patrick Reynaert" "ESAT - MICAS, Microelectronics and Sensors" "In this project, novel transmit architectures are developed for future wireless infrastructure networks. The goal is to drastically increase the power efficiency leading to a reduced energy consumption." "Biodegradable fluidics microsystems for cell cultures and tissue engineering." "Catherine Verfaillie" "Stem Cell and Developmental Biology" "Fundamental exploration of time encoding for analog to digital conversion." "Georges Gielen" "ESAT - MICAS, Microelectronics and Sensors" "A new generation of flexible high resolution neural electronic interfaces." "Bob Puers" "ESAT - MICAS, Microelectronics and Sensors, Research Group Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy" "One of the more exciting topics scientists are working on is on how to connect brain and nerve cells directly to electronics. This is interesting for many reasons, such as helping us to learn how the brain works, or allowing very advanced prosthetic devices such as artificial eyes and fully functional artificial limbs. To achieve a connection to nerve cells, it is necessary to bring special electrodes close to these cells. Preferably, a large array of such electrodes. These neural electrodes are the essential part needed for neural interfacing and are the subject of this research project. Over time, neural electrodes evolved from simple fine wires to advanced silicon needle arrays looking like tiny nail beds, fabricated using micromachining technology and containing over 100 electrical contacts. However, long term high resolution neural recording and stimulation, the final goal of neuroelectronic research, is far from reached especially because of rejection of the implant by the body over time. Therefore, we have come up with alternative concepts to the current state-of-the art that we would like to investigate. These enable unique applications and should also improve long term biocompatibility. The research involves investigating new electrode concepts, new micromachining technology and fabricating and testing of electrode prototypes." "Functional oxides with tailored properties for nanoelectronics." "Guido Groeseneken" "ESAT - MICAS, Microelectronics and Sensors, Semiconductor Physics" "The most important component for increasing performance of micro-electronics, the MOSFET, will probably not be suitable for scaling below 5 to 10 nm. This proposal aims to study devices based on functional oxides for memories and transistors. The use of functional oxides will allow new device concepts which will make a further increase in performance possible. De main topic will be the electronic Metal-Insulator-Transition (MIT), a correlated electron phenomenon that occurs in transition-metal oxides. The project will focus on the use of functional oxides applied in field-effect devices for transistors and MIM-capacitors for memories. The intention is to: identify processes and materials for transistors/memories with functional oxides: The influence of the material properties on the field-effect and the memory properties will be investigated. build devices and develop adequate characterization methods: Characterization techniques will be selected or developed to judge the presence of an MIT or other mechanism. Physics-based modeling will be developed to explain and improve the properties of the fabricated devices. show the attainability and the possible barriers for devices with functional oxides. The final goal of this project is to demonstrate a unique pioneering device with a functional oxide." "Ultra low power subthreshold digital logic." "Wim Dehaene" "ESAT - MICAS, Microelectronics and Sensors" "Near-Field Imaging Luminance Goniometer." "Peter Hanselaer" "Electrical Engineering Technology (ESAT), Ghent and Aalst Technology Campuses, ESAT - ELECTA, Electrical Energy and Computer Architectures" "A near-field imaging luminance goniometer enables full-characterization of light sources through detailed goniometric camera shots. These data enable accurate simulations of optical systems through ray tracing."