Adnan Harb

Neural Network architecture for breast cancer detection and classification

Early detection of cancer or any disease is among the main keys to its cure. One of the state of the art methods in cancer detection is machine learning, namely ANNs (Artificial Neural Networks). ANNs have proved to be efficient due to their ability to learn and generalize from data. This paper proposes a low-complexity architecture of an ANN that classifies breast cancer as either Benign or Malignant through pattern recognition. It focuses on finding the optimal activation function that minimizes the classification error with less number of blocks. This results in reduction of the complexity of the implementation with CMOS technology.

Illuminance Degradation of LED Streetlighting Luminaires in a Hot Environment

Abstract Two LED streetlighting luminaires were installed in the city of Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, one of the hottest regions in the world. The street was closed to traffic and illuminance measurements were taken daily every 10 minutes for 300 days including the summer of 2010. Temperature and relative humidity values were acquired inside the driver compartment of the luminaires and outside of the luminaires. This paper reports the illuminance levels, temperature, and relative humidity data. Illuminance did not change by more than 12 percent throughout the test period. The drop in illuminance was 4.5 percent per 10 degree C for the ambient temperature range of 20–40 degrees C.

A compact analytic expression of the oscillation amplitude in MOS LC-oscillators

This paper presents a compact analytic expression for the oscillation amplitude in source-tailed MOS LC-VCOs versus the oscillator bias current and LC-tank resistive losses. The developed equation is based on the use of analog saturation functions to provide a continuous analysis among the oscillators current-limited and voltage-limited regimes, which takes also into account the oscillation start-up condition. The predictions are in good agreement with Spectre simulation results from a 0.25-μm technology LC-VCO circuit. The derived equation aims to simplify feed-forward phase noise optimization techniques by providing a simple expression relating the oscillation amplitude to the other oscillator parameters.

Specialization-Specific Course Assessments Integrated for Program Assessment

The program assessment process combines assessments from individual courses to generate final program assessment to match accreditation benchmarks. In developing countries, industrial environment is not diversified to allow graduating engineers to seek jobs in all disciplines or specializations of an engineering program. Hence, it seems necessary to seek evolution of an engineering program assessment for specialized requirements of the industry. This paper describes how specialization-specific courses’ assessments are grouped per requirements and then integrated towards overall program assessment. A software program application is developed to automate this development to reduce assessment work and show equivalently as integration of specialization-specific assessments per outcome per term. The implementation also shows how outcomes are integrated per specialization-specific courses in order to judge the implementation of the program assessment. This effort is expected to help stake holders of the program to judge evolution and quality of specialization tracks vis-a-vis expectations of the local industry.

A dual-Gm start-up boost technique for wide-band BiCMOS LC-VCOs

This paper presents a start-up boost technique dedicated to BiCMOS LC-oscillators. The proposed technique is applied to wide-band LC-VCOs which generally suffer from increased tank losses and require high bias current to ensure start-up and sustainable oscillation. To overcome these limitations, we propose to connect a bipolar transconductance to intermediate levels of the oscillators tank in order to enhance the global transconductance and boost the start-up while relaxing the total power consumption. The constraints of the auxiliary transconductance use as well as the achieved improvements relative to power saving are discussed in this paper. In addition, an LC-VCO design using the proposed technique in 0.25-μm BiCMOS technology is described. The oscillator covers the frequency range from 4.82 GHz to 9.86 GHz with 68.7% tuningrange. The achieved phase noise at 1-MHz offset varies from -121 dBc/Hz to -116 dBc/Hz, at 5.24 GHz and 8.8 GHz, respectively, with a maximum power consumption of 18.6 mW from 1.2-V DC supply voltage.

Frequency response improvement of the two-stage opamp with indirect compensation and large load

This paper presents a further development of an improved frequency compensation method for a two-stage operational amplifier with indirect feedback current, which is beneficial for large capacitive load applications. It describes the case when a nulling resistor is added at the output in such a way that it is residing outside the outer feedback loop of the amplifier. Compared to the case when the nulling resistor is placed outside inner frequency compensation loop but it is inside of the outer feedback loop of the amplifier, the driving capability can be substantially improved or for the same capacitive load it can improve the stability by gaining up to 45 degree of extra phase margin. A prototype has been implemented with the STMicroelectronics 28 nm CMOS technology and simulated with Cadence Virtuoso. Simulations at room temperature show an improvement of the unity gain frequency from 741.57 MHz to 1.047 GHz and an extra phase margin gain of 38 degree. The simulation of the temperature effect showed that the phase margin gain remains for temperature range [-20, 150] °C.

Equation-based phase-noise optimization technique for MOS LC-VCOs

This paper presents an equation-based phase noise optimization technique for MOS LC-VCOs in contrast with feedback-based optimization architectures. The proposed technique relies on a simplified equation relating the bias current to the oscillation amplitude and the equivalent tank losses. The applied technique takes also into account the tank losses dependency on frequency setting in wideband LC-VCOs. The control algorithm aims to predict by feed-forward action the optimal bias current giving the optimum phase noise performance. Performed simulations are based on a 0.13 μm CMOS implementation for the oscillator part while the control algorithm is implemented using behavioral blocks. Simulation results show equivalent phase noise control accuracy to automatic amplitude control (AAC) architectures, while achieving superior performance in terms of control speed, parasitic load and extra noise-sources elimination.

On MOS LC-VCO's oscillation condition using the short-channel MOS model equations

This paper presents new considerations on the oscillation start-up condition for LC-oscillators implemented in sub-micron MOS technologies. Short-channel MOS model equations are employed to derive an accurate expression of the oscillation condition. The obtained start-up condition predicts new current boundaries and a minimum losses level (Rpmin) preventing any oscillation whatever is the oscillator bias current. Theoretical results are confronted to simulations in different MOS technologies (0.25-μm, 0.13-μm and 90-nm) in order to confirm the resulting predictions. Simulation results are shown to fit more accurately with the short-channel based condition than with the traditional long-channel based oscillation condition.

A compact and power efficient UV dosimeter design

This paper presents a compact and power efficient ultra-violet (UV) dosimeter design. The compact design is achieved by incorporating the principal dosimeter functions onto a CMOS integrated chip. Besides, the external components are arranged in order to minimize the global board BoM (Bill of Materials). On the power consumption side, the CMOS integration aims to reduce the maximum power consumption levels. In addition, a regular sleep/wake-up technique is employed to further decrease the global average power consumption. The high-power blocks are driven by a variable duty-cycle integrated oscillator and turned ON only during short time slots. The device is powered by a primary solar rechargeable battery and a secondary standard emergency battery. The emergency battery is only used when the rechargeable battery gets unable to supply the circuit. The proposed solution aims to prevent any battery replacement during the life-time of the product. An external tri-color LED indicates the skin exposure risk level to UV rays.

Bacterial immobilization and detection using porous silicon platform and CMOS sensory circuit

The paper presents the design of MEMS-based sensory system for real-time bacteria detection. The principle of functioning is based on monitoring the variation in capacitance signals owing to the adherence of target bacteria to the sensing interface. The system is designed using custom-based technology and it consists of comb finger capacitor structures made out of doped polysilicon. Aiming at improving the detection efficiency, the space between the comb fingers, forming the two electrodes of the capacitive sensor, will be made porous through a post-processing with Xenon Difluoride (XeF2) dry etching technique. This allows entrapping bacteria in between the electrodes thus increasing the variation of capacitance. This latter, is acquired using a Charge Based Capacitance Measurement (CBCM) sensory circuit built with to the 0.13 μm CMOS technology. The circuit is able to detect a difference in capacitance as low as 0.75 fF.