Impact Objectives• Develop a high speed, high linearity, low noise CMOS systemthat tackles many of the demands facing new technology• Create ultra-small electrical components as well as small size
antennas that offer faster performance, while using less energy
and generating less noise pollution

The new futureof energy harvesting
Dr Haruichi Kanaya is carrying out investigations focused on developing energy harvesting technology.
He reveals his thoughts on the value of collaboration and working closely with early-stage researchers
Can you talk a little
about the rapidlychanging world ofwireless and mobile
communications
systems? What aresome of the challenges we are currently
facing in this sector?
As you say, wireless and mobile
communications technology is rapidly
evolving and there are particular issues
that are really critical to development inthis arena. Communication speed is key,as demand drives the need for ever-faster
performance in real-time operation.
There is also a very real need to lower
power consumption in all electronics, forenvironmental concerns, as well as tolower running costs and maximise battery
life. Increasing the capacity of batteries
while also reducing both size and weightof the devices is also a strategic target fordevelopers of this type of technology.
Generating energy is a major concern.
While technology is now being designed tobe more power-efficient, the need for moreenergy sources remains and we are finallyrealising that these sources need to be
renewable in order to be sustainable.
How do you hope your research efforts
will help to overcome some of thesechallenges?

Our project seeks to realise renewableenergy sources and I feel that there aremany new possibilities to discover. We
are working on a number of systems anddevices that we hope will address thechallenges. My laboratory is working on
a high speed, high linearity, low noise
CMOS system that tackles many of thedemands facing new technology. Not only
will the system offer faster performance,
but it will do so using less energy while
also generating less noise pollution.
Similarly, our antennae designs offer better
performance across a variety of specifictasks and we have been striving hard toreduce the size of the components we arecreating.
How important is it to support early-stage
researchers in this industry?
I see supporting early-stage researchers
as quite important in terms of ensuring
the future of our specialty. We also wantto generate lots of ideas to spur oninnovation, so we need to provide researchfunding and living expenses for overseas
researchers to come and collaborate withus on various projects. We are keen to
share both knowledge and resources,
such as our experimental equipment, as ameans to collaborate on and drive research
now and in the future.

What is the importance of collaborative
efforts to your research?
Collaboration is critical in modern research
and we work with many partners, including
healthcare and educational institutions,
technology firms and research centres.
Working with these collaborators hashelped us in critical areas such as vitalsensing, implant sensing, infrastructuresensing and wireless communication.
You offer laboratory tours to introduce
people to the work underway at yourlaboratory. Can you talk about the value ofsuch an initiative?
We host open campus lab tours for highschool students every year to foster interestin science amongst youngsters. I thinkthat this is a critical age for young people
to decide on what they want to be when
they grow up and how they’re going to getto that stage. I consider it an importantinvestment in the future of not only thesechildren but also thinking in terms offuture researcher development.
We also hold lab tours for company
engineers working in industry. We areregularly approached by companies
wishing to see what we do. I see this as
an opportunity to discuss options forcollaborative research as well as a means
to share knowledge.
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I want to harvest sustainable electricity from the world
around us and harness this power for us in electricaldevices without any need for power cables
RESOURCING RESEARCH
The work this laboratory undertakes not only
relies on support from the Japan Societyfor the Promotion of Science (JSPS) andthe Japan Science and Technology Agency(JST), but they also have close partnerships
with a number of academic and research
institutions as well as private technology
firms. Some of these collaborations opened
up opportunities for the team to benefit fromthe expertise and resources of other groups.

Sustainable electronics
A team from the Kyushu University in Japan seek to develop ultra-small electrical components that packa punch, with high performance and small sizes fuelled by eco-friendly sustainable energy sourcesAs fossil fuel levels are exhausted, building
a more sustainable world is an issue that iscoming to the fore as a crucial considerationin the development of new technology. Theenergy needs of the planet’s population are
immense, and an environmentally friendly
source of energy is desperately needed.
Energy harvesting from renewable sources
is not a new concept - windmills have beenaround since the first century – but the desire
to harness renewable energy has intensified.
Energy harvesting technology is the term
given to technology used for collecting
unused energy from the surrounding
environment and converting it into electrical
power.
Solar, wind and hydroelectric power
are perhaps the best-known of thesetechnologies. However, there are many otherforms of energy that are under developed
and hold much potential for powering thefuture. These include vibration, pressure,heat and temperature difference. While largescale power generation cannot be realisedusing these sources due to their low levels,
devices with low power demands may be able
to harness such energy sources, potentiallyeliminating the need for an external powersource.
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Dr Haruichi Kanaya, from the RadioFrequency Integrated Circuits (RIFC)& Microwave Communication Device
Laboratory at Kyushu University, leads ateam investigating wireless technology. This
team is particularly focused on ultra-small
antennae and large-scale integrated circuits(LSIs) used in this type of technology.
‘Wireless communication is naturally usedin many electronic devices, so I thoughtthat it would be possible to convert theelectromagnetic wave energy that is taken for
granted to natural power,’ he explains.
The team is also working on othercomponents for use within wirelesscommunications systems. These feature highspeed and high linearity functions and arealso designed to operate at low noise levels.
In addition, the researchers are working on
components suitable for ultra-wideband(UWB) applications. These include Wideband
RF front-end components, as well as
electrically small antennae (also suitable fornarrow band use). ‘Other components we are
creating operate for digital radio functionality,and include examples such as digitallycontrolled oscillators (DCO) and digitallycontrolled power amps that can be used inreconfigurable applications like softwaredefined radio,’ Kanaya outlines.

‘We are seeking to reduce parasitic
components by developing interconnection
and packaging technology of chips onto
antennae.’
Kanaya’s background in applied science
covers work on the phase transition ofmuscle proteins, undertaken during
his MSc and PhD studies. Subsequent
to his doctorate, he entered the field ofelectrical engineering as an AssistantProfessor at Yamaguchi University andengaged in research on planar bandpass
filters for wireless communication using
superconducting thin films based onelectromagnetics theory and electricalcircuits. ‘I achieved this using the planar
circuit designed by the transmission line
theory and for this work I received theYounger Researcher Award in IUMRS-ICA-97,’
he confirms. ‘Using the sol-gel method, wedeveloped a superconducting thin film able
to operate at high temperatures.’ It was thisspringboard that led to Kanaya’s current
work on wireless technologies, as well as therealisation of planar antennae on thin, flator flexible substrates. Kanaya has also won
design awards such as the LSI IP DesignAward and IEEE ARFTG Conference awards.

The team uses a number of tools for theiracademic programme. These include HFSS,from ANSYS Co., ADS and EMpro from
Keysight Technologies, and Virtuoso fromCADENCE Corporation. Some of these aresupported by the VLSI Design and Education
Center (VDEC) as well as The University ofTokyo in collaboration with CADENCE andKeysight. Furthermore, certain technicalequipment was used in Kanaya’s work inorder to analyse and generate signals. Thevector network analysers used were fromKeysight, Hewlett-Packard and Advantest,while the digital oscilloscopes originatedfrom Tektronix, Agilent and Yokogawa. Otherequipment included a signal source analyser(Rohde & Schwarz), a data generator fromTektronix and a noise figure analyser fromAgilent. Cascade provided the probe stations
while Keysight manufactured the Terahertz(THz) extender used by the group. A PCB
prototyping machine by MITS Electronics
was also used.
FACING THE CHALLENGES‘Wireless communication CMOS system
LSIs are indispensable for communicationin the Internet of Things (IoT) era,’ Kanayahighlights. ‘Without this, communication
itself is not possible.’ He believes that thisreliance on LSIs will only increase over time.
Happily, as his team has already proposed adesign formula, an immediate response canbe launched.
One of the key challenges facing Kanaya
in his work lies within his educational role.
The students working in his laboratory arepresent for a period of three years as partof their course. Thus, he experiences achangeover in his student body every threeyears, which poses the problem of teachinga new batch of students the necessary
skills for work in a laboratory. His solution
to this dilemma was to produce a manual,complete with photographs and videos, toguide his students in the techniques requiredin the lab. Furthermore, Kanaya instituted
a mentorship system. ‘We developed a
guidance system in which senior students
provided help and advice to junior students,’
he notes. ‘This helped them all establish
critical skills that will be useful beyond theirstudies as they move into the real world andfind jobs.’
THE NEXT STEP
Kanaya is keen to introduce the outcomesfrom his laboratory’s research into real-world
applications through collaborative researchwith companies, as well as other activities.
He also attends exhibitions at trade fairs
to showcase his developments to potential
industrial partners. Through his training
programme, he helps young researchers
within companies learn and develop essentiallaboratory skills.
Looking forward, Kanaya seeks to leverage
his existing accomplishments to investigate
the possibility of communication on the THzband to deliver much higher communication
frequencies than are currently available.
He believes that this development could
be achievable in the near future. ‘We havealready successfully developed an antenna,’
he says. ‘Development of amplifiers, mixers
and transmitters is also necessary in orderto produce devices that will work on theTHz band, but we hope to do so in the nearfuture.’
Wireless communications are an integral
part of our world now and Kanaya believes
that this technology is here to stay. ‘Wirelesscommunications will continue to evolveand will not disappear,’ he notes. ‘However,ensuring an adequate power supply isessential. I want to harvest sustainable
electricity from the world around us andharness this power for us in electrical devices
without any need for power cables.’Kanaya’s laboratory continues to strive
towards achieving low-power, highperformance electronics components thatlook set to become essential parts of thetechnology we all rely on, and by harnessing
sustainable, environmental sources of energy
the team is also contributing towards abrighter tomorrow. lProject Insights
FUNDING• Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research,
Japan Society for the Promotion ofScience (JSPS)• A-STEP, JSPS
• CREST, Japan Science and Technology
Agency (JST)• Grant-in-Aid for the Collaborative
Research Program Based on Industrial
Demand, Matching planner program, JST• The Telecommunications Advancement
Foundation• The Cabinet Office (CAO), Crossministerial Strategic Innovation
Promotion Program (SIP), ‘An intelligent
knowledge processing infrastructure,
integrating physical and virtual domains’(funding agency: NEDO)COLLABORATORS
Vital sensing project:• ALSENS Inc.
• University Farm, Kyushu University• Livestock Research Division, Oita
Prefectural Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries Research Center
Implant sensing project:• Fukuoka Dental College Medical &Dental Hospital• Kyushu University Hospital• Section of Oral Rehabilitation, KyushuUniversity• LOGICAL PRODUCT Co.
Infrastructure sensing project:• Geodisaster Prevention EngineeringLaboratory, Kyushu University• Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia• Nahda University, Egypt
Wireless communication (in 2019)• KYUSHU TEN LIMITED• SEIKO ELECTRIC CO. LTD.
• Braveridge Co. Ltd.
• Logic Research Co. Ltd.
• Ericsson, France• Pohang University of Science andTechnology, Korea
TEAM MEMBERS• Dr Ryo Takigawa (Assistant Professor)• Dr Mohamed M Mansour (PhD Fellow)• Eiji Yoshioka (Technician)
CONTACTProfessor Haruichi Kanaya
T: +81 92 802 3746
E: kanaya@ed.kyushu-u.ac.jp
W: http://yossvr0.ed.kyushu-u.ac.jp/
BIO
Dr Haruichi Kanaya is a Professor inboth the Department of Electronics
and the System LSI Research Center atKyushu University.

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