Ph.D. Project: Ultrasonic Imager

The goal of this project is to build an ultrasonic imager that can measure the depth of the surroundings with mm-accuracy. Using an array of transducers, the system will emit a pulse of ultrasound energy and calculate the three-dimensional range profile to targets in the viewing region by measuring the time-of-flight of the echo that returns to the array.

Masters Project: Ultrasonic Rangefinder

In this project, we built an ultrasonic rangefinder which has a working range of 30mm to 450mm and operates at a 375 Hz maximum sampling rate. The range measurement principle is based on pulse-echo time of flight measurement using a single transducer for transmit and receive consisting of a piezoelectric AlN membrane which was fabricated using a low-temperature process compatible with processed CMOS wafers. The performance of the rangefinder exceeds the performance of other micromechanical rangefinder systems.

Senior Project: Mixed-Signal On-Chip Test Interface

In this project, our team sought to demonstrate a solution to the high-pin count required needed by many research integrated circuits for dc biasing and low-speed analog signals. My team designed and taped-out two CMOS chips which demonstrated an on-chip test interface for coupling low-speed excitation signals into research chips. The test interface consisted of a serial interface and 10-bit current-steering digital-to-analog converters, which allow biasing to be controlled through a digital interface instead of using a separate pin for each bias voltage.