Alain FABRE
Professor, École Nationale Supérieure d'Electronique, Informatique, Télécommunications, Mathématiques et Mécanique de Bordeaux, FRANCE
Research interests:
BiCMOS RF analogue circuits, frequency-agile analogue RF filters, Low Noise Amplifiers with adjustable gain, RF active baluns, circuits for Ultra Wide Band (UWB), current mode circuits as well as the theoretical issues of translinear circuits.
Keynote address:
Multistandard Transceivers, State of the Art and a New Versatile Implementation for Fully Active Frequency Agile Filters
Abstract:
The various architectures of transceivers for current standards are firstly compared. Different possibilities to achieve multi-standard transceivers are also recalled and compared. We demonstrate that ease of realization and flexibility evolve in opposite directions. The advantages and drawbacks of reconfigurable active filters are indicated. We demonstrate that the second generation current controlled conveyor operating in current mode is perfectly suitable for the realization of frequency-agile filters. After a brief recall of the essential points of agile filters, a second order frequency agile bandpass filter operating in current mode is implemented with CCCII+. It has four central frequencies whose values could be selected digitally. The validation results show that its tuning ratio n = f0max/f0min is equal to 5.1 with f0max = 1.22GHz.
Alain FABRE (M. 1994, SM. 1995) obtained the M. S. degree in electronics in 1972 and the Ph.D. (These de 3eme cycle) in physics in 1974, both from the Universite of Bordeaux, France. His Ph.D. research concerned the development of a tunable spectrometer for the 12-18 GHz range. From 1974 to 1987, he was employed as assistant professor in electronics in a cooperation program between France and the University of Oran, Algeria. At this university, in 1983, he established the theory of the mixed translinear cells comprising NPN and PNP transistors and started their use in the design of analogue circuits working in current mode. For this work he received the Post Doctoral Thesis (These d'etat) in Physics from the University of Perpignan, France in 1987. In September 1987, he joined the Ecole Centrale Paris, France, as an assistant professor in electronics, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses. From 1988 to 1995, he was the head of the analogue IC design group (COCAR) at the laboratoire d'Electronique et de Physique Appliquée at the Ecole Centrale Paris, France. He introduced the Current Controlled Conveyor (CCCII) that are today used for numerous applications in controlled electronics. In 1991 he was a visiting researcher at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada. Since September 1995, he is a full professor of electronics at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Electronique, d’Informatique et de Radiocommunications de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB-IPB), France. He heads the High Speed Analogue IC Design team, a part of the Telecommunications Circuits and Systems (TCS) group at the Laboratoire IMS, CNRS, UMR 5218, Université Bordeaux I, France.
In 1983 and 1984 in Algeria, Alain published (O.P.U., Algiers) 2 volumes of a book devoted to the practical aspects of electrical and electronic measures. He is the author or coauthor of more than 130 research papers (many of which 18 are invited papers) published in scientific reviews or conference proceedings. He is also the co-author of an article in the Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronic Engineering published by Wiley (USA) in 1999. In 1995, he was a Guest Editor of the Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing (AICSP) Journal for 2 issues (March and May), devoted to current mode circuits. He is a member of the steering comittees of many international electronics conferences. His current field of research principally concerns the various areas of design of BiCMOS RF analogue circuits, frequency-agile analogue RF filters, Low Noise Amplifiers with adjustable gain, RF active baluns, circuits for Ultra Wide Band (UWB), current mode circuits as well as the theoretical issues of translinear circuits. He also holds 1 international patent in this domain. Alain is a Senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA.
