Prof. em. Dr. Gerhard Tröster

Gerhard Tröster has been Full Professor of Electronics at the Institute of Electronics at ETH Zurich from August 1993 to July 2018, where he headed the Digital Systems & Wearable Computing Lab. He retired at the end of July 2018. As Emeritus, he continued to serve as an ombudsperson at ETH Zurich for four years.

Gerhard Tröster was born in Würzburg (D) in 1953. After studying electrical engineering in Darmstadt and Karlsruhe, he received his doctorate in 1984 from Darmstadt Technical University on the design of integrated circuits. Research during his eight years at Telefunken (atmel) in Heilbronn concentrated on the design methodology of analog/digital systems in CMOS and BiCMOS technology. Several national and international research projects developed key components for digital telecommunication networks (ISDN) and digital mobile radio (GSM).

The research interests of his group at the ETH Wearable Computing Lab included methods, technologies and system platforms for the recognition of the physical, mental and social context, the testing of sensor networks on the body as well as the modelling and design of 'intelligent' textiles. Funded by several EU and SNF projects, the potential of 'wearables' has been explored and expanded. The application spectrum ranged from support in automotive engineering, to the assistance in ski performance sports, to the feedback during playing music, to the evaluation of group behaviour at major events as well as to the health monitoring of disabled children and seriously ill persons.

The development and proving of electronic platforms were further focal points of research. Using the multichip module (MCM) technology, the world's smallest GPS receiver was introduced in 1997, the seed capital for the ETH spin-off u-blox AG. Research on semiconductor materials such as IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide), which can also be deposited on plastic substrates, focused on the integration of flexible and extensible electronic components such as transistors, sensors or light emitting diodes. Woven into textiles, as an electronic tattoo for measuring vital parameters, as an implant or as a flexible display, this integration concept has proven its worth.