HomeNewsChip architect Bram Nauta named Simon Stevin Master

Chip architect Bram Nauta named Simon Stevin Master Highest reward for technical research in The Netherlands

The STW Technology Foundation has awarded Bram Nauta, Professor of Integrated Circuit Design at the University of Twente (UT), the title of Simon Stevin Master 2014. The award carries with it a cash prize of €500,000, to be spent on research. The Simon Stevin Master Prize is the largest prize given for engineering research in the Netherlands, and it is intended for researchers who link excellent scientific work to socially relevant issues. The prize will be presented on 2 October at the STW Annual Congress.

The STW board commended Bram Nauta for his pioneering integrated circuit (chip) designs. As a result of his designs, mobile telephones use less energy, have a better signal and can transport more data. The Nauta circuit, a fast electronic circuit that he envisaged while swimming and which was named after him, found its way into mobile phones, televisions and other electronic equipment in the early 2000s. Recently he has conducted trail-blazing work in noise suppression in mobile phone antennas, the results of which will be applied in the next generation of mobile phones (5G).

WiFi, bluetooth, 4G

Nauta’s group is part of the CTIT research institute (Centre for Telematics and Information Technology) at the UT. Its particular strength is the design of chips for the transmitting and receiving components in mobile devices. The growing number of mobile standards (including GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, 4G) and busy frequencies are making this increasingly complex. Nauta has specialized in combining smart filters with circuits that eliminate undesirable noise. Almost all of the information inside a chip is digital (ones and zeroes) but Nauta circuits are located in the analogue domain of electronics because they have to be able to communicate with the (analogue) outside world.

 

World tour

Bram Nauta is a leading researcher in his field. No fewer than 15 of his STW research projects were awarded funding in the last seven years. He is a fellow and distinguished lecturer of the IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology. His group was the only one in the Netherlands to receive the maximum score at the last review of research in electrical engineering. Nauta has 33 patents to his name. He advises chip manufacturers in Europe, the USA and Asia and is, in fact, continually touring the world, visiting companies and scientific congresses and promoting his research. Sometimes he acts as a technical expert in legal proceedings, for example on issues relating to patents.

 

‘Goose pimples’

STW notified Bram Nauta of the prize when he was in Hawaii. He was delighted: “I got goose pimples when I heard the news, despite the heat there. Most scientific awards go to fundamental research. Because I do application-oriented research exclusively, I had already dismissed the idea of winning any scientific awards. The fact that I have received this prestigious prize is significant recognition.” For Prof. Ed Brinksma, Rector Magnificus of the University of Twente, too, the award of the Simon Stevin Master Prize 2014 is proof that top-level scientific research can be very closely related to practical application: “To conduct research for a highly competitive market, as Bram Nauta does, you have to be continually in the lead. It is science ‘on the razor’s edge’. Engineering science is always closely related to practical application and yet fundamental boundaries are pushed every day. Bram Nauta’s group is extremely good at this combination, which is why the prize is such wonderful recognition, not only for him and his group, but also for the University of Twente as a whole.”

Nauta will use the funds to conduct research with his group on some ‘less conventional’ ideas, the ultimate objective being to greatly improve wireless communication. His intention is to produce miniature transmitters and receivers which consume little energy, are highly resistant to interference and can also transmit data very rapidly.

ir. W.R. van der Veen (Wiebe)
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