Topics for Scholarly Paper

Professor Jeremy Allnutt (updated 9/20/2007)

  1. Directed Energy Weapons. Background: the use of HPM (high power microwaves) in military, and now civil (see http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/24/ray.gun.ap/index.html ) situations is under intense R&D in most advanced countries. HPM have been used in a number of cases to destroy electronic equipment. Advances in laser directed energy weapons have also recently been made, with a view to installing laser directed energy weapons on the F-22 and F-35. Active research is also underway to develop conformal arrays on the skins of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles so that the radars have a dual mode operation:

(a) detection and tracking of targets, and
(b) destruction of targets.

Suggested paper approach: the scholarly paper will survey the currently known status of directed energy weapons, both microwave and optical, and indicate the potential advantages and disadvantages of these devices for future conflicts.

  1. System considerations for aerospace network operations
  2. Aspects of Free-Space Optical Communications Links: Optical communications (typically at frequencies around 200 THz) is fast becoming an acceptable way to link terrestrial sites, an earth-based terminal with an unmanned aerial vehicle or satellite, or between two satellites - either in orbit around the Earth or orbiting different planets (e.g. Earth and Mars). A student selecting this topic may choose to investigate any aspect of free-space optical communications that interests them most, including terminal design, PAT (pointing, acquisition, and tracking), modulation, adaptive optics, propagation effects, etc.
  3. Commercial UAV services

 

Professor Shih-Chun Chang (updated 9/14/2006)

1.      Low-Density Parity Check Codes for Wireless Communications.

Professor Gerald Cook (updated 2/16/2007)

 

  1. Use of interpolation methods for correcting distortion in imagery when there are surveyed landmarks within the scene.
  2. A survey of methods for performing the prediction phase of Discrete-Time Nonlinear Kalman Filtering when the nonlinear system is described in continuous time.

 

Professor Yariv Ephraim (updated 9/20/2007)

  1. Multistage Wiener filtering
  2. Echo cancellation.
  3. Active noise cancellation
  4. Relations between MMSE estimation and Information theory, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, April 2005
  5. Topics in Signal processing and communications of interest to (and proposed by)  the student.

 

Professor Kris Gaj (updated 9/14/2006)

  1. Analysis of existing hardware implementations of True Random Number Generators
  2. Cache attacks against secret key cryptosystems
  3. Survey and analysis of countermeasures against side-channel attacks based on power analysis
  4. Certification of cryptographic modules according to FIPS 140-2 and/or Common Criteria – case study of FPGA-based products and/or smart cards

 

Professor Janos Gertler (updated 2/16/2007)

  1. Modeling the effect of outsourcing on the US economy.
  2. Fault detection and diagnosis in communication networks
  3. Emergency rerouting strategies in communication networks

 

Professor David D. Hwang (updated 9/20/2007)

 

  1. Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) and their use in intellectual property protection.
  2. FPGA bitstream protection and encryption mechanisms.
  3. Recent trends in dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) for low-power systems.
  4. Other topics in embedded system security (proposed by the student).

 

Professor Ken Hintz (updated 9/20/2007)

 

  1. Ground penetrating radar signal processing for landmine detection, clutter & mine discrimination.
  2. Technical means for in situ electronic measurements of coral reef ecological parameters.
  3. Sensor management and scheduling systems.
  4. Automated seawater alkalinity measurement device

 

Professor Dimitris E. Ioannou (updated 9/20/2007)

 

  1. Electrostatic Discharge Protection Circuits for CMOS Technologies
  2. Electrostatic Discharge Protection Circuits for SOI CMOS Technologies
  3. Multi-gate SOI nanodevices
  4. SRAM cell design and performance
  5. ESD protection of IC chips

 

Professor Bijan Jabbari (updated 9/20/2007)

 

  1. Wireless Communications and Networks
  2. Routing and Forwarding in Internet
  3. Optical Networks
  4. Peer-to-Peer Network Architecture

 

Professor Jens-Peter Kaps (updated 2/20/2007)

  1. Analysis of security requirements for wireless sensor networks depending on the application, mobility and technology.
  2. Key management protocols for wireless sensor networks.
  3. Comparison of networking protocols for wireless sensor networks.
  4. Present and future applications of ad-hoc networks and their security implications.
  5. RFID security and key management protocols.
  6. Low-power digital circuit design.

 

Professor Alex Levis (updated 9/14/2006)

 

  1. Dynamics of Discrete Event Systems: There are two sets of methods for the analysis of discrete event systems - structural methods and state space methods. In analyzing systems, one or both types of methods may be used with each one providing different insights into the dynamics of the system. Aseess and compare the two sets of methods and identify the types of insights and answers each set produces.
  2. Evaluation of System Architectures: Discrete event dynamical models, referred to as executable models, have been proposed as a basis for the evaluation of system architectures. Review existing approaches and identify solved problems and unsolved problems that constitute research challenges.

 

Professor Brian Mark (updated 9/20/2007)

 

1.      Dynamic spectrum management

2.      Ultra-wideband communication

3.      Networking coding and applications.

 

Professor Rao Mulpuri (updated 9/20/2007)

 

  1. Cadmium mercury telluride infra-red sensor array on silicon substrate
  2. Microwave heating of semiconductors and micro/nano scale fluids

 

Professor Jill Nelson (updated 9/20/2007)

 

  1. Channel estimation in multiple access communication over wireless channels
  2. Opportunistic spectrum sensing and sharing in cognitive radio
  3. Data mining in signal processing
  4. Signal processing for optical communications
  5. Multiple antenna (MIMO) techniques for improved communication over wireless channels
  6. Theory and applications of ultra-wideband communication

 

Professor Piotr Pachowicz (updated 9/20/2007)

 

  1. Provide comparative analysis of memory systems for Pentium based computers along with the future trends and new concepts.
  2. Analyze RaSer technology by Rambus and its potential use in a variety of computer-based systems.

 

Professor Peter Paris (updated 2/16/2007)

 

  1. Recent advances in programmable platforms for implementing signal processing systems (or "What comes after the TMS 320?")
  2. MIMO space-time coded wireless systems

 

Professor Nathalia Peixoto (updated 9/20/2007)
 
  1. State of the art in brain-machine interfaces.
  2. Models for migraine auras (computer simulations)
  3. Prosthetics for spinal cord injury patients.

 

Professor Kathleen Wage (updated 9/20/2007)

 

1.      Seismic signal processing.
2.      Multitaper spectral estimation.
3.      Genomic signal processing (see article in IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, July 2001).


Last Update: September 20, 2007