Biographical Sketch
Carlos E. Saavedra received the Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and the B.Sc. degree from the University of Virginia*, all in electrical engineering. From 1998 to 2000, he was with the Advanced Technology Group at Millitech Corporation in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, where he designed front-end transceiver modules for 28 GHz and 38 GHz broadband communications systems. Since the year 2000 he has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen's University where he is currently an Associate Professor. He served as the department's Graduate Chair from 2007 to 2010.
His research activities are in the area high-frequency integrated circuits for communications and radar applications. He is a recipient of an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award for the period 2011-2014.
Dr. Saavedra is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and he is a registered professional engineer (P. Eng.) in the province of Ontario, Canada. He is the Chair of the IEEE MTT-22 Technical Coordinating Committee, is a member of the 2012 IEEE International Microwave Symposium Steering Committee and a member of the Technical Program Committee of the IEEE RFIC Symposium. In addition, he is a reviewer for the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, the IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems (Parts I and II), and Electronics Letters.
Professor Saavedra's teaching activities are in the area of microelectronic circuits and systems for communications. He was voted the 3rd-year professor of the year in Electrical Engineering by the Class of 2002.
For a full curriculum vitae, click here. (PDF format)
Research Interests
- Gigahertz-range integrated circuits
- Mixers and frequency multipliers
- Distortion cancellation and linearization techniques
- Microwave operational transconductance amplifiers
- Harmonic oscillators and self-oscillating mixers
- UWB circuits for communications and radar applications
- Microwave digital radio
An important research thrust in my research group is in the area of broadband, low-noise, frequency mixers. These are non-linear circuits that perform the critical role of modulating a carrier frequency with either digital or analog information and furthermore they can be used to move spectral energy content from one frequency band to another to enable very long-distance information transfer between a transmitter and a receiver. Mixers are also found extensively in scientific instrumentation. We also have significant activities in gigahertz-range operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA's). Using OTA's as circuit building blocks we have demonstrated novel phase shifters, active circulators and attenuators that have low dc power consumption and are exceptionally compact in size. For ultra wideband radar systems we are investigating new pulse generation and amplification circuits. More detailed information about our research work can be found in the projects page of my research website:
Gigahertz Integrated Circuits Group
Publications
Teaching: ELEC 353 (Fall 2011), ELEC 457 (Winter 2012) and ELEC 858 (Winter 2012)
Office: Walter Light Hall, Room 416
E-mail: saavedra {at} queensu.ca | Tel: +1 (613) 533-2807 | Cell: +1 (613) 453-8719
* Founded in the year 1819 by President Thomas Jefferson.