Tutorials

Tutorial 1 (half day)

Title Fully-Integrated Power Management Circuits for Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting: Fundamentals and Challenges

Instructor Prof. Toru Tanzawa, Shizuoka University

Date 03 December 2023

Time 10:00

Abstract In this tutorial, fully-integrated power management circuits for thermoelectric energy harvesting are presented. Attendees will learn about the applications, system design fundamentals, designs of building blocks, maximum power point tracking techniques, and design challenges associated with these circuits. The tutorial will cover the following key topics: 1) minimizing the cost of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) by considering the maximum open circuit voltage of TEG and the dependence of the power conversion efficiency of the converter on the input voltage, 2) controlling the input voltage of the converter system to ensure it remains higher than the minimum operating voltage, 3) designing a charge pump operating in the sub-threshold region, considering factors such as clock frequency, stage capacitor size, rectifying device size, and the number of stages. 4) implementing maximum power point tracking techniques with a small circuit area, and 5) considering design aspects for a hybrid TEG and battery power source. Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of these concepts and their practical applications.

Tutorial 2 (full day)

Title Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis of Modular Multilevel Converters

Presenters Davide del Giudice and Federico Bizzarri, Politecnico di Milano, Department of Electronics, Information Technology and Bioengineering.

Date 03 December 2023

Time 10:00

Abstract Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) have become the technology of choice for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and Multi Terminal Direct Current (MTDC) systems. These systems allow connecting asynchronous grids and efficiently transmitting power over large distances, thus favoring the integration of remote production sites fueled by renewables.

The simplest structure of an MMC includes a cascading stack of up to several hundreds of identical submodules. The structure and content of the submodules vary upon technology but, in any case, each of them contains semiconductor devices (for example, IGBTs and diodes). The MMC modular structure is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, modularity grants MMCs low switching losses, minimum filter requirements, and easy scalability to high voltage and power ratings. On the other hand, it implies dealing with a multitude of SMs and semiconductor devices, requiring more complex control schemes than other voltage source converters and thus introducing a high computational burden when simulating their models. These features ultimately pose significant challenges to the efficient execution of conventional power-system simulator tasks, such as initialization, transient simulation, and small-signal analysis.

The above-mentioned challenges constitute the cornerstone of the proposed tutorial. After describing the main features of an MMC, the main approaches available in the literature for its modeling, simulation, and analysis are reviewed, by also adding the latest presented by the authors of this proposal. These approaches are compared in terms of operating principles, simplifying assumptions, fields of applicability, and simulation efficiency. Simulation results of an HVDC benchmark system are included to support the discussion.

Tutorial 3 (half day)

Title Joint Communication and Radio Sensing: RF Hardware opportunities and challenges – A circuit and system level perspective

Presenter Padmanava Sen and Armen Harutyunyan, Barkhausen Institut, Dresden, Germany

Date 03 December 2023

Time 13:30

Abstract This tutorial focuses on the topic of joint communication and radio sensing (JC&S), its applications in the scope of upcoming 6G technology. The niche of JC&S technology in the future 6G ecosystem, as well as several potential applications will be discussed. The topic of mm-Wave frequency spectrum allocation in the context of JC&S system implementation will be elaborated. After presenting the state-of-art for the common communication and sensing frontend architectures, potential candidates for the JC&S scenarios will be discussed.

Different full-duplex applications in terms of complexity and implementation will be presented. Self-interferencecancellation topic will be elaborated in detail. Different approaches of transmitter and receiver path isolation in antenna, RF/analog frontend and digital baseband domain will be presented. System budget of a practical 5G transceiver will be highlighted, followed by the discussion on the system level simulations of communication and sensing scenarios of the JC&S frontend.

Insights on system level and measurement validation using specific testbeds will be given. Future perspectives and the next steps on the path of enabling joint communication and sensing technology will be given at the end of this tutorial.

Tutorial 4 (half day)

Title Integrated Millimeter-Wave Radar Sensors: from Operating Principles to Applications

Presenter Vladimir Milovanovic

Date 03 December 2023

Time 13:30

Abstract Integrated millimeter-wave radar sensors which can detect object’s distance, relative velocity and angle with respect to the sensor itself are an emerging technology trend. Contrary to many other kinds of sensors which usually produce electrical value proportional to the measured quantity, information on range, speed and position are deeply masked inside radars’ output signal and require relatively high degree of processing intelligence to be extracted. Full stack radar development incorporates almost all electrical and electronics engineering disciplines from antenna design, over analog and digital circuits, up to algorithms and signal processing. Even though using electromagnetic waves for ranging is almost a century old concept, only recently with the appearance of first single-chip radars on the market radars are pretending to become dominant across many application areas. Radars have some of the unique advantages over the competing technologies that include being inherently robust to harsh environmental conditions like fog, glare, rain and snow. Besides low price, this fact plays the key role in today’s safety systems in automotive industry. This tutorial gives an overview of integrated radar sensor operating principles as well as main circuit and system design concepts and paradigms.