MS Electrical Engineering – Microelectronics student Rovil Berido with adviser Prof. Allenn Lowaton won the Best Academe Paper at the 13th Analog Devices Technical Symposium held at Analog Devices Headquarters in General Trias, Cavite on May 17, 2018.
The top 7 papers from Microelectronics and related fields were selected out of the numerous papers submitted. MSU-IIT’s entry was the only one from outside Manila and Luzon.
The paper entitled “13.56MHz High PCE Power Conditioning Unit for Implantable Medical Devices” was awarded the best paper in the symposium. Each of the finalists received 5,000 pesos cash and the best paper received a 30,000 pesos cash prize.
This was the second time MSUIIT clinched this award. The last time was during the 10th ADTS held on May 2015 which was won by Darryl Dave Ditucalan and Prof. Allenn Lowaton for their work on “Overstress Free Charge Pump White LED Driver”.
Analog Devices Technical Symposium (ADTS) is a yearly event organized by the Analog Devices Philippines where local and foreign engineers from the different groups of the company come together to celebrate the company’s achievements for the year.
Analog Devices (ADGT), a world leader in analog, mixed signal and digital signal processing (DSP) integrated circuits solution provider is located at General Trias, Cavite.
Prof. Allenn C. Lowaton, an Electronics Engineering faculty member of the Electrical/Electronics/Computer Engineering (EECE) Dept, COET gave a talk during the 2017 Taiwan-Philippines Joint Workshop last November 6-7, 2017 held at the International Building, National Sun-Yat Sen University in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan Republic of China (ROC).
Lowaton highlighted the recent integrated circuit design researches being done at the MSU-IIT Microelectronics Lab (MicroLab). Among these are the following: (1) USAID-STRIDE’s Inlight-Optimized Chip Implementation of Indoor Light Energy Harvesting for Sensor Network and Battery Recharging; (2) USAID-STRIDE’s Inlight-Chip Fabrication and Testing of Indoor Light Energy Harvesting for Sensor Network and Battery Recharging; (3) DOST-PCIEERD’s uC-IC: Design of Microcontroller Integrated with Energy Harvesting and Power Management; (4) CHED’s Dare To’s WSN: IC Design Customize Wireless Sensor Node Integrated with Hybrid Indoor Light and Thermal Energy Harvesting Circuit for Disaster Risk Reduction. All these projects are spearheaded by Professor Jefferson A. Hora who is also the current EECE Department Chairman.
The said joint workshop was organized in response to the New South Bound Policy announced by the Taiwan ROC government. The aim of the workshop was to promote research collaborations in all fields and foster good relationships between Taiwan and Philippine universities. Philippine delegation comprised of faculty researchers from the universities across the country namely: UP Diliman, UP Manila, University of Santo Tomas, Batangas State University, Technological University of the Philippines, University of Southern Mindanao and MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology.
Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) – Taipei Chairman Angelito Banayo graced the event. To quote him “After all these ventures and cooperation in researches, economic and others, at the end of the day, what is the most important thing is the everlasting friendship that Taiwan and Philippines can be formed and treasured in the years to come”.
National Sun Yat Sen University thru the VLSI Lab headed by Dr. C.C. Wang hosted the event and in partnership with four of Taiwan’s prestigious universities: National Tsing Hua University; National Chung Cheng University; National Chung Hsing University; and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
In line with the thrust of MSU-IIT to be a research university, the Electronics Engineering (ECE) program has accepted the challenge. IIT’s ECE is the only ECE program throughout the Visayas and Mindanao region being recognized by CHED as Center of Excellence.
DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) granted 25.5 million pesos to the program “µC-IC: Design of Microcontroller Integrated with Energy Harvesting and Power Management. The program will run for three (3) years from March 2017 to March 2020.
The program headed by Prof. Jefferson Hora (also the project 1 leader) has three (3) projects – microcontroller unit (project 1); power management unit (project 2); and energy harvesting unit (project 3). Prof. Allenn Lowaton and Prof. Chinet Mocorro – Overstreet are the project 2 and project 3 leaders, respectively.
The team is comprised of at least ten (10) research assistants; research staff; program and project leaders. The program will design (and have it fabricated in Taiwan) a single integrated circuit (IC) chip that can harvest energy from the ambient sources and perform vital functions for smart buildings, smart farming, risk reduction control and industrial applications, to name a few.
Moreover, CHED earlier this year granted the MicroLab an 8.5 million pesos research grant.
The Microelectronics faculty members, the MS Electrical Engineering students – Microelectronics track and all BSECE senior students are taking part in the 41 million-peso worth of research activities funded by the DOST-PCIEERD, CHED and USAID-STRIDE.
Currently, among HEIs in the entire country, it is only UP-Diliman and MSU-IIT that has a complete set of digital, analog and mixed signal integrated circuits design tools.
Philippine microelectronics competition champion and fifth year MSU-IIT electronics engineering student Robert Tac-an Nericua flies to the First Republic of Armenia on Saturday to compete in tomorrow’s 11th International Microelectronics Olympiad of Armenia.
Nericua will take on at the October 18 Olympiad the world’s best engineering students who come from around 29 other countries.
“I am excited to meet all the other participants,” he said.
Nericua promises to do his best at the competition, but takes care to note the he “will probably have fun there, too!”
The annual microelectronics olympiad of Armenia is a global contest that highlights the world’s brightest engineering students under the age of 30 who are active in the field of microelectronics.
The Armenian Olympiad will be the Aloran, Misamis Occidental native’s first trip abroad.
Thus, Nericua also looks forward to seeing the Olympiad’s host country, as plenty of side activities are being prepared for the participants like sightseeing tours, city tours, and tree plantings.
The First Republic of Armenia is a former Soviet republic located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia.
Nericua qualifies to compete in Armenia after he beat 95 other contestants from top schools in the country like UP Diliman at the Philippine-wide competition administered by the Philippine Institute for Integrated Circuits (PIIC) held in August.
Some of the competitors he defeated in that competition were Master’s and PhD students.
Among the goals of the Olympiad are to increase interest in microelectronics, inspire and recognize young and talented engineers, and create a community of young specialists involved in microelectronics.
The general organizer of the Olympiad is Synopsys, a world leader in the electronic design automation industry.
Robert Tac-an Nericua, a 5th year Electronics Engineering student bested 95 participants from all over the country in the Philippine Microelectronics Olympiad on August 26, 2016.
The competition which was done through an online exam was held simultaneously at the different microelectronics laboratories of the participating schools and universities all over the country including UP-Dilliman. Participants of the competition were students from Electronics Engineering; Electrical Engineering; Computer Engineering; and even graduate students taking Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) – Microelectronics track. MSU-IIT participants took the exam at the Microelectronics Lab (MicroLab) at the College of Engineering.
The participants were required to solve problems related to Microelectronics: Digital Integrated Circuits Design and Test; Analog and Mixed Signal Integrated Signal Integrated Circuits Design and Test; Semiconductor Devices and Technology; and Mathematical and Algorithmic Issues of Electronic Design Automation (EDA). The said exam was given and facilitated by the Philippine Institute for Integrated Circuits (PIIC).
Nericua will represent Philippines and join with the other participants from at least 29 countries and territories including Argentina, Armenia, Artsakh, Belarus, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Switzerland, UAE, UK, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, and Vietnam for this year’s final leg in Armenia in Europe.
The International Microelectronics Olympiad of Armenia is a global contest that highlights the world’s brightest engineering students under the age of 30 and who are active in the field of microelectronics. This competition is sponsored by Synopsys, a world leader in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry.
This is the second time that an MSU-IIT student will represent the country in the said international competition. Prof. Mycel Capilayan, an MSEE-Microelectronics student then, now a faculty member of Electronics Engineering, represented the country in 2013.
