Webinar on “R&D Opportunities in Analog and Mixed Signal VLSI Design”

The department of E&C Engineering, SMVITM Bantakal, organized its second webinar on the series “Advances in Electronics” on Saturday, 19 September 2020. Dr. T. Laxminidhi, Professor and Head of the department of E&C Engineering at NITK Surathkal was the resource person. The topic was “R&D opportunities in analog and mixed-signal VLSI design.” A total of 33 faculty members and researchers from various engineering colleges participated in the webinar and enhanced their knowledge.

Dr. Laxminidhi, possessing a vast research experience, said that the era of analog circuit design will never end. No matter how advanced the digital electronic devices become, they will always require interfaces that translate signals from the physical world to the digital world and vice-versa. He took the example of a smartphone, showed the analog blocks in it, and explained the role of each analog block. In particular, he took the example of power management block, and explained the importance of power efficiency and power delivery. He also took the example of 5G mobile architecture and explained the opportunities and challenges involved in low-power analog system design at giga hertz frequencies. Finally, he motivated the faculty to take up research in analog design by saying that today’s electronic gadgets are not only the products of advances in digital design, but also the revolutions in analog design.

Earlier Dr. Balachandra Achar, HOD of E&C Department, SMVITM Bantakal, introduced Dr. Laxminidhi to the audience and welcomed him. Towards the end of the webinar, the participants asked questions to the resource person and cleared their doubts. Assistant Professors Mr. Arun Upadhyaya and Mr. Krishna Kumar helped with feedback and certificate generation.