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This is the 28th volume of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and international members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and international members, the Academy...
This is the 28th volume of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and international members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and international members, the Academy carries out the responsibilities for which it was established in 1964.
Under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering was formed as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. Members are elected on the basis of significant contributions to engineering theory and practice and to the literature of engineering or on the basis of demonstrated unusual accomplishments in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology. The National Academies share a responsibility to advise the federal government on matters of science and technology. The expertise and credibility that the National Academy of Engineering brings to that task stem directly from the abilities, interests, and achievements of our members and international members, our colleagues and friends, whose special gifts we remember in this book.
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BY ANANTHA CHANDRAKASAN, DAVID J. ALLSTOT, AND RAJEEV JAIN
ROBERT WILLIAM BRODERSEN, a pioneer in integrated circuits, innovator in wireless communication systems, and inspirational teacher, mentor, and advisor to thousands of students and colleagues worldwide, passed away Feb. 1, 2024, at his home in Berkeley, California, from leukemia. He was 78.
Bob was born Nov. 1, 1945, in Brush, Colorado. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, in 1966 with B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968 and 1972, advised by Mildred Dresselhaus (NAE 1974, NAS). He began his professional career at Texas Instruments in Dallas, where he researched signal processing techniques using charge-coupled devices to implement transversal analog filters.
When Bob joined the University of California, Berkeley, in 1976, fellow faculty members Dave Hodges (NAE 1983) and Paul Gray (NAE 1990) were exploring the use of emerging metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit technologies to implement analog and analog-digital interface functions – functions that had previously relied on older, less dense bipolar technology. Bob brought deep experience in signal processing concepts and analysis, helping to develop monolithic analog filtering technology known as switched-capacitor filters. These filters met important commercial needs, particularly in central office channel filters for telephone systems. His unique ability to pair intuitive insight with complex analysis was instrumental in this advancement, which found broad applications in the industry.
Bob’s independence of mind was his greatest strength. He solved big problems and then moved on to new challenges, pursuing bold ideas with fearlessness and relentlessness. His forward-looking vision and charismatic leadership quickly caught the attention of sponsors such as semiconductor companies and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), who supported his work over many decades in signal processing, communications, and wireless technology.
One notable example was the visionary InfoPad project in the 1990s, developed in collaboration with University of California, Berkeley faculty members Jan Rabaey, Randy Katz (NAE 2000), Eric Brewer (NAE 2007), and others. The team developed and demonstrated a wireless terminal that closely resembled modern tablet computers, years ahead of widespread internet access.
Bob envisioned a future of portable, network-connected terminals wirelessly streaming content to cloud servers. At the time, skeptics doubted that such a device could support wireless video and audio streaming, with low enough power consumption to run on a battery. Bob and his graduate students met the challenge by inventing low-power design techniques in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology that made this concept viable. Their groundbreaking design became a foundational, highly cited paper.
Like his earlier work on switched-capacitor filters, the InfoPad project was ambitious for a university team but had a visible and lasting influence on subsequent technology directions. Bob subsequently explored various initiatives in integrated wireless systems, collaborating with numerous other faculty members. When space grew tight at Berkeley’s Cory Hall, he founded the Berkeley Wireless Research Center (BWRC) in downtown Berkeley. BWRC’s centralized location enabled multidisciplinary collaborative programs that propelled wireless innovation. The BWRC recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and has contributed to many key research initiatives that have significantly influenced the development of wireless technologies worldwide, including millimeter-wave integrated circuits used in 5G and beyond.
Bob believed that BWRC could support industry collaborators with innovative ideas who faced barriers to development, including the need for long-term investment and sustained focus. Recognizing that the Bell Labs model had once enabled such breakthroughs – but was fading in industry – he positioned BWRC to fill that gap by partnering with industrial sponsors working on-site.
His achievements were recognized with numerous honors, some of which were shared with collaborators. These include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) W.R.G. Baker Prize Paper Award in 1980, the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award in 1983 for “pioneering contributions and leadership in research on switched-capacitor circuits for analog-digital conversion and filtering,” the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Award in 1997 for “contributions to the design of integrated circuits for signal processing systems,” the Association for Computing Machinery SIGMOBILE Computing Award in 1998 for InfoPad, and the IEEE Edison Medal in 2016 for “contributions to integrated systems for wired and wireless communications, including wireless connectivity of personal devices.” He also received an honorary doctorate from Lund University in Sweden in 1999 and was inducted into Cal Poly’s Engineering Hall of Fame in 2015. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988.
Bob was a brilliant colleague who combined an open, selfless spirit of collaboration and a truth-seeking mindset with fierce independence and gritty determination in pursuing ideas. He was a joy to work with, always seeking the humorous and positive side of whatever problem was at hand.
He will be most remembered for the time and care he devoted to mentoring and inspiring generations of young engineers and students. His commitment to education has left a lasting impact on the fields of electrical engineering and computer science. Perhaps his greatest legacy is the large number of former graduate students in industry and academia, many of whom hold leadership roles, who continue to pass along the lessons they learned from Bob. Their success and collective impact were his proudest contribution.
Bob was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Shelagh; his sister and brother-in-law, Kay and Brian Pitts; his sister-in-law, Adrienne Malley; numerous nieces and nephews; and their beloved dogs, Mia and Torres.