An Engineering Research Center In Wireless Integrated Microsystems

无线集成微系统工程研究中心(ERC)专注于微型低成本集成微系统，能够测量或控制各种物理参数，解释数据，并通过双向无线链路与主机系统通信。ERC的目标是微功率电子、无线通信和微电子机械系统(MEMS)的交叉点。预计在未来20年内，由此产生的设备将在社会上普及，应用范围从环境监测(天气、全球变暖、空气和水质量)到改善医疗保健(可穿戴和植入式生物医学系统)。ERC汇集了来自密歇根大学、密歇根州立大学、密歇根科技大学的教师，他们拥有VLSI设计和计算机架构、无线通信、包装、医学和MEMS方面的专业知识。该中心得到了密歇根州和20多家对这些领域有重大兴趣的公司的支持。ERC的四项研究重点是微功率电路、无线接口、传感器和微型仪器以及微封装。这项工作将扩展现有的微功率电路技术和传感器驱动的控制器架构，开发基于微机械结构和MEMS微谐振器的单芯片通信收发器，探索各种自测试微仪器(包括化学、机械和热设备)，并开发使用沉积薄膜和融合真空腔的密封晶片级封装。目标是开发可快速配置、可重新配置和自我测试的系统。这四个推进领域的工作将通过专注于两个应用试验台系统来协调：射频供电的植入式微系统(最初是为重度聋人设计的人工耳蜗，随后扩展到治疗癫痫和帕金森病的设备)，以及电池供电的环境监测系统，该系统能够进行气体分析以及测量气压、温度、湿度和其他变量。这些试验台旨在强调微系统面临的总体挑战。工业项目，包括技术转让和创造就业机会，是ERC的重要组成部分，将通过共同努力、人员交流和原型制造来解决。微系统的多学科性质使其成为探索工程教育创新方法的理想工具，包括跨越传统学科界限的选修课。在面向团队的研究中，将不同背景的学生混合在一起的能力在培养未来工程师方面至关重要。ERC的教育内容从高中一直延伸到研究生阶段。在高中，与科学协调员和教师合作，MEMS将被用来说明重要的原则，并鼓励学生在工程领域追求令人兴奋的职业。这将包括对代表不足的少数族裔学生进行特别努力。在本科和研究生课程中，将利用多所大学的多学科远程学习和虚拟实验室经验来开发MEMS和微系统的新课程序列。最后，ERC将探索这些微系统及其相关技术的更广泛的社会影响。该奖项通过一项为期一年的合作协议向ERC提供NSF支持的第一年250万美元，该协议在第三年和第六年可续签。

The Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Wireless Integrated Microsystems is focused on miniature low-cost integrated microsystems capable of measuring or controlling a variety of physical parameters, interpreting the data, and communicating with a host system over a bi-directional wireless link. The ERC is targeted at the intersection of micropower electronics, wireless communications, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The resulting devices are expected to become pervasive in society during the next two decades, with applications ranging from environmental monitoring (weather, global warming, air and water quality) to improved health care (wearable and implantable biomedical systems). The ERC brings together faculty from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Michigan Technology University, with expertise in VLSI design and computer architecture, wireless communications, packaging, medicine, and MEMS. The Center is supported by the State of Michigan and over twenty companies having vital interest in these areas.The four research thrusts of the ERC focus on micropower circuits, wireless interfaces, sensors and microinstruments, and micropackaging. The work will extend existing micropower circuit techniques and sensor-driven controller architectures, develop single-chip communication transceivers based on micromechanical structures and MEMS microesonators, explore a variety of self-testing microinstruments (including chemical, mechanical, and thermal devices), and develop hermetic wafer-level packaging using deposited thin films and fused vacuum cavities. The goal is to develop systems that are rapidly configurable, reconfigurable, and self-testing. Work in these four thrust areas will be coordinated by focusing on two application testbed systems: an rf-powered implantable microsystem (initially a cochlear prosthesis for the profoundly deaf, with subsequent extension to devices for treating epilepsy and Parkinson's disease), and a battery-powered environmental monitoring system capable of gas analysis as well as the measurement of barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, and other variables. These testbeds are intended to emphasize the challenges that will be found in microsystems generally.Industrial programs, including technology transfer and jobs creation, are important components of the ERC and will be addressed through joint efforts, personnel exchanges, and prototype fabrication. The multidisciplinary nature of microsystems makes them ideal tools for exploring innovative approaches to engineering education, including electives that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries. The ability to mix students with different backgrounds in team-oriented research is critical in the training of future engineers. The educational thrusts in this ERC extend from high school through the graduate level. In high school, working with science coordinators and teachers, MEMS will be used to illustrate important principles and encourage students to pursue exciting careers in engineering. This will include special efforts with underrepresented minority students. In the undergraduate and graduate programs, multi-university multidisciplinary distance learning and virtual-laboratory experiences will be employed in the development of new course sequences in MEMS and microsystems. Finally, the ERC will explore the broader societal implications of these microsystems and their associated technology.This award provides $2.5 million for the first year of NSF support to the ERC through a fice-year cooperative agreement, which is renewable in year three and six.