Research Labs

Radio Frequency Systems and Devices Laboratory

570 Benedum Hall

Contact: Marlin Mickle

This laboratory is the home of the PENI Tag. The PENI Tag technology is an enabling technology that makes possible operational devices that are currently as small as three cubic millimeters in size with no batteries or connecting wires. The design of the small Systems on a Chip (SOC) requires the most modern computer workstations and software.

Chips are designed and simulated in this laboratory by a team of researchers. They are then submitted for fabrication over the internet to a remote foundry. The completed chips are then tested here.

The PENI Tag technology makes it possible to remotely provide power to operate a wide range of devices and systems that are used for product identification such as bar codes in the supermarket as well as sensing things such as temperature and humidity, and, in addition, providing security functions.

In addition to computers (workstations) and software, the laboratory is equipped with a wide array of radio frequency test equipment.

Devices designed by the team using this laboratory have been the subject of extensive media coverage and have acquired the interest of technology and management persons of numerous major U.S. corporations.

Computer Engineering Labs

• Electronic Design Automation Laboratory
• John A. Swanson Embedded Systems
• Optical Computing Systems
• Pittsburgh Integrated Circuits Analysis
• Radio-Frequency Prototyping and Measurements
• Radio-Frequency Shielded Facility
• Radio-Frequency Systems and Devices

Devices Labs

• Laser
• Opto-Electronics
• Planar Lightwave Circuits

Signals and Systems Labs

• Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
• Applied Signal and System Analysis

Other Labs

• John A. Jurenko Computer Architecture
• John A. Swanson Computer Interfacing
• Fiber Grating and Sensor