Graduate Handbook - 7. Research Laboratories
The Department has laboratories in the following areas: power systems, digital communications, computer engineering, ultrasonics and nondestructive evaluation and image processing. For general computing requirements the department has many workstations and microcomputers. In addition to these, students may use the Campus Computing Center (CCC). Further information on the CCC facilities is available at the CCC office in Fuller Laboratory and in the Graduate Handbook published by the Graduate Student Organization.
Analog Microelectronics Laboratory
The new Analog Microelectronics Laboratory was opened in 1998 under the direction of Prof. John McNeill (mailto:mcneil@ece.wpi.edu). The National Science Foundation awarded a grant for the purchase of test and measurement equipment which will be dedicated to support work in the areas of high speed data communication, high speed imaging, and mixed signal circuit characterization. In addition to the direct impact on Research, this equipment will also enable the Analog Microelectronics Laboratory to become a valuable resource for educating both undergraduates and graduate students in the complete integrated circuit design process. The lab focuses on three specific areas:
Analog Microelectronics for telecommunication has as a goal to guide IC design by connecting system-level performance to fundamental limits imposed by circuit-level considerations, for example thermal and shot noise. Making this connection becomes more important as IC process improvements allow designers to push performance limits in speed, power, and integration.
High speed imaging Research applies Analog techniques to improve performance in high speed, wide dynamic range electronic imaging systems. Application include machine vision and adaptive optics.
Mixed signal circuit characterization is concerned with developing techniques for measuring and Modeling second order error sources in mixed signal circuits, for example, code-dependent noise in Analog-to-digital converters.
Center for Wireless Information Networking Studies (CWINS).
The center is recognized as a pioneering facility in the important and rapidly growing area of wireless personal and data communications. The lab is supported by a broad range of networking and telecommunications corporations.
The work of CWINS is quite diverse. In recent years, basic Research has been conducted in channel Modeling and simulation, spread-spectrum techniques, adaptive equalization, multiple-access methods, network architectures, wireless optical communications, microstrip antennas, and RF circuit design.
Kaveh Pahlavan (kaveh@wpi.edu), CWINS director, and the center's faculty and students have produced more than 100 Publications in the past five years. The lab has been particularly active in the measurement of indoor RF propagation.
Computational Fields Laboratory
The purpose of this laboratory is to serve as a computational resource to undergraduate and graduate students interested in numerical analysis as applied tot he problems in computation electrodynamics and acoustics. The lab contains a wide variety of platforms, including Pentium-class PCs and several workstations for X-window applications. Software utilities supporting numerical analysis (mesh-making algorithms, matrix solvers, graphics interface drivers) are of particular interest to the lab community, as is the development of integrated packages targeted for Research or educational purposes.
Computer Architecture Laboratory
This laboratory contains facilities for the Research and development of single-processor and multiprocessor systems. A MasPar massively parallel computer system (1,024 processors) is available as are a Transputer Development System, donated by Inmos Corporation, for transputer experiments and a Stratus fault tolerant computer. The laboratory is also equipped with logic analyzers, in-circuit emulators, and other equipment to support computer system projects.
Convergent Technologies Center (CTC)
The laboratories in this center (supervised by David Cyganski (cyganski@ece.wpi.edu) and Richard F. Vaz, (vaz@ece.wpi.edu) combine diverse expertise for the exploration of the emerging and converging technologies of computing, communications and cognition. The Polaroid Machine Vision Laboratory (PMVL) and Network Computing Applications and Multimedia (NETCAM) laboratory focus on the development of new algorithms and moving emergent technologies into commercial, medical and defense related applications for its sponsors.
Research in the CTC's NETCAM lab derives from the technologies generated by the success of the Internet, digital multimedia and distributed objects and middleware. Current projects explore the optimization of network protocols for multimedia, distributed object services (CORBA), and virtual reality based user interfaces.
Research in the CTC's PMVL has resulted in the development of highly efficient algorithms and new theoretical performance bounds for machine vision, automatic target recognition and image fusion for optical, IR, SAR, and SONAR data.
EM CAD Laboratory
The major activities in this laboratory are studies of EM wave propagation in linear and nonlinear media, CAD/CAE systems for high-speed electronic/photonic devices, and RF circuits and antenna design. The lab facilities include several X-window-based workstations with access to many national laboratories and supercomputing centers.
Power Electronics and Power Systems Laboratory
This laboratory has been established for simulation of a large variety of linear, non-linear and time-varying loads, including transistor and thyristor controlled loads. It contains transducers and instrumentation for a wide range of voltages, currents and frequencies. Compatible computer equipment and A/D interfaces are available for real-time data acquisition and processing. The Power Systems Laboratory has the basic facilities for electromechanical energy conversion study, including sets of induction/synchronous/DC machines coupled together.
Satellite Navigation Laboratory
This laboratory provides facilities for work on the civilian uses of satellite systems, especially the Global Positioning System. Receivers, signal processors and computers are provided for work on the utilization of the DOD GPS system for civilian purposes, especially aircraft navigation and landing.
Ultrasonics Laboratory
Facilities in this laboratory are set up for performing basic Ultrasound studies in the areas of basic acoustic Research, transducer development, nondestructive testing, and medical Ultrasound diagnosis. The facilities are distributed over two separate laboratory areas and contain two Testech scanning tanks for Ultrasound measurements, workstations, personal computers, Ultrasound Pulser-receiver equipment, high-speed digitizers, frequency synthesizers, arbitrary function generator, spectrum analyzer, and other modern test equipment.
Cryptography and Information Security Laboratory (CRIS)
The CRIS Laboratory conducts Research and development in Cryptography and its applications. One Research focus is fast implementations of the next generation of public-key algorithms such as elliptic and hyperelliptic curve schemes. We work on fast software algorithms and efficient hardware architectures. The lab is equipped with industry-standard development tools for ASIC and FPGA target hardware. We also apply Xilink FPGA's and Altera EPLD's to a new type of Crypto systems which allow for a fast switch of private-key enCryption algorithms ("algorithm agility").
Another Research focus is the integration of Cryptography and data security into new communication networks. We work on the design and implementation of security protocols for wireless networks, with an emphasis on wireless LANs. Another network type of interest are high-speed Asynchronous Transfer Mode networks. We investigate system design and algorithmic issues.
The CRIS Lab is actively involved in a number of joint projects with industry. The lab has also strong ties to Research groups in the U.S. and Europe with frequent exchange of graduate students. Together with strong graduate course offerings in Cryptography, our Research lab provides excellent Opportunities for cutting-edge Research and graduate education.
Computer Facilities
In addition to the specific computer facilities described above, the department provides a broad range of Unix workstations and Pentium PCs for student and Research use. Also, the facilities of the College Computer Center, which include Unix workstations and PCs are available.
General Laboratory Facilities
The department includes 12,000 square feet of laboratory space. Fully staffed and stocked electronics and computer Maintenance facilities are operated by the department. Full-time staff include two MS-level engineers and two technicians.
The department is well equipped with general laboratory instrumentation and measurement equipment, including signal sources, oscilloscopes, and spectrum and network analyzers covering the frequency range from DC to 20 GHz.
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