A research project led by Associate Professor Aaron Danner and Associate Professor Jerald Yoo from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has received the prestigious Best Design Award at the 2024 IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC) held in Hiroshima, Japan.
The A-SSCC is an internationally renowned forum for showcasing the latest advancements in chip and circuit designs within the solid-state and semiconductor fields. Organized by the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society, the conference brings together researchers from around the globe to share groundbreaking work.
The NUS team presented their cutting-edge research on a CMOS Ising machine, which was invited to the conference’s highly selective Student Design Contest (SDC). The SDC highlights exceptional chip designs from leading academic institutions in Asia and beyond, with participants demonstrating their designs to conference attendees via poster sessions and live demonstrations.
In the SDC, NUS PhD student Ms. Huang Yingna and her co-authors Mr. Tsai Chne-Wuen, Mr. Chen Jiaer, and Mr. Li Zhongqi earned the Best Design Award for their outstanding paper and demonstration titled: “PRIM-CAEFA: A 64K-spin Packet-based Reconfigurable Ising Machine with Cross-problem Adjustment-free Energy Feedback Annealing.” Their research introduces:
- A packet-based spin structure for solving combinatorial optimization problems with random sparse interactions, eliminating the need for additional mapping efforts.
- A cross-problem adjustment-free annealing algorithm that removes the time-consuming parameter tuning typically required in conventional annealing approaches.
This innovative work demonstrates significant progress in efficiently solving complex optimization problems, setting a new benchmark in the field.
In recognition of her achievements, Ms. Huang was also awarded the IEEE SSCS Women in Circuits (WiC) Travel Grant for 2024, valued at USD $500, to support her participation in the A-SSCC conference.
Congratulations to the team for this remarkable accomplishment!
