Centre for Integrated Circuit Research and Development (CICR&D)
Led by Dr Poh Tze Ven
What is an integrated circuit (IC)?
Integrated circuit (IC) is an assembly of electronics components miniaturised and fabricated onto a thin subtract of semiconductor material (typically silicon). Such miniaturisation permits billions of microscopic circuit components to be packed into a few centimetres squares space, or smaller, allowing the creation of complex systems in a practical and economical way, such as computers or processors. Without processors, we will not have Artificial Intelligence (AI), smart devices, the Internet, and many others. They are the heart and the brains. So smart things start with hardware integrated circuits.
What we do
To explore and research algorithms for solving real-world problems related to IC design and verifications, and to use integrated circuits such as FPGA and microcontrollers to create intelligent solutions.
What we aim for
To explore opportunities and apply our knowledge to solve and provide innovative solutions to problems related to Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, which are used for designing and verifying complex IC. We also aim to support campus initiatives to create innovative smart systems for solving problems faced by TAR UMT.
Projects: Recent work
LED & Driver with IoT Control for Agriculture 4.0
This is horticulture LED lighting systems for ginger farming on TAR UMT campus. It is to provide variable intensity artificial light for growing ginger plants for research purposes. The grow light systems are controlled and monitored using IoT devices developed in-house. This allows quick and easy access to data and remote control through PC or smartphones anywhere in the world as long as there is an Internet connection.
Development of an IoT network for Plant Soil Moisture and Temperature Monitoring with Irrigation Control.
This work is an IoT Project for a plant monitoring system in conjunction with Agriculture 4.0. Soil Moisture sensors and temperature sensors were attached to the plant. These sensors are connected to low power microcontrollers to form sensor nodes, possibly powered by solar panels and buffered by super-capacitors/ rechargeable batteries. The sensor nodes will communicate via wifi/ LoRA to the gateway or other central MCU nodes to communicate sensor readings to any device with internet/ network access. Irrigation control platform has been physically modelled using MCU, relays and moisture sensor readings to remotely/ automatically control whether or not to turn on the water pump. In future, the farmers may monitor and control their crops from anywhere.
Past achievements
May 2018: Static Code Analysis of Python Code funded by Synopsys, Inc. through Malaysian registered company, Ascend Microsystems Sdn (RM 24,804 industrial grant).
May 2017: Project related to tiling in the Synopsys’ EDA funded by Synopsys, Inc. through Malaysian registered company, Ascend Microsystems Sdn (RM 313,200 industrial grant).
Selected Past Projects
2019: Development of an IoT network for Plant Soil Moisture and Temperature Monitoring with Irrigation Control.
2018: Development of an FPGA based Object Tracking Robot: Tracking Algorithm for Object Tracking Robot.
2016: Image capture and processing of an FPGA real-time driver drowsiness detection system
2016: Image Acquisition and Iris Segmentation of an FPGA based Iris Recognition System for Security Augmentation.
2015: Flash programmer and Debug probe for ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers.
2015: ARM Cortex-M simulator with Floating Point instructions.
2015: GDB debugging server (backend) for debug probe and ARM simulator.
2012: FPGA-based Music Score Generator.