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About Research Areas Building on more than three decades of research successes, a major goal of our research program is to prove, encourage, and support new and far-reaching initiatives that look 10+ years into the future. Driven by a core group of internationally recognized faculty, extensively and uniquely experienced in research and education, our culture fosters close collaboration, which is the major force that maximizes technology impact and direction. Through various funding programs, Rice has been able to demonstrate leadership in focused research initiatives: Computer Engineering, Photonics and Nanoengineering, Systems and Signal Processing, and Wireless Networking. Research Areas Computer Engineering The Computer Engineering group at Rice University collectively has a
long track record of innovative research in physical modeling and
characterization, VLSI signal processing, computer architecture,
computer-aided design, and storage and network systems. In particular,
Joseph Cavallaro's research interests include VLSI Signal Processing,
and algorithms for wireless communication systems and their efficient
mapping to low-power architectures on DSPs, ASICs, and
Application-specific Instruction Processors (ASIPs). Yehia Massoud's
research interests include modeling and design automation of on-chip
interconnects, static and statistical timing and noise analysis,
RF/Mixed Signal circuits, and MEMS devices. Kartik Mohanram's research
interests include computer-aided design and test of integrated
circuits, low power design and synthesis, and defect-tolerant and
fault-tolerant computing. Scott Rixner's research interests include
media, network, and communications processing, the interaction between
operating systems and computer architectures, and memory system
architecture. Peter Varman's research interests include concurrent
computer architectures and software, parallel computing in high-end and
embedded applications, parallel I/O, large-scale storage systems, and
resource scheduling for performance, power and QoS. The focus of this program is the improved understanding of
electronic, photonic, and plasmonic materials, optical physics, the
interaction of light and matter, along with the application of that
knowledge to develop innovative devices and technologies. The specific
areas of interest cover a broad range: Nanophotonics and plasmonics,
optical nanosensor and nano-actuator development, studies of new
materials, in particular nanomaterials and magnetically active
materials; imaging and image processing, including multispectral
imaging and terahertz imaging; ultrafast spectroscopy and dynamics;
laser applications in remote and point sensing, especially for trace
gas detection; nanometer-scale characterization of surfaces, molecules,
and devices; organic semiconductor devices; single-molecule
transistors; techniques for optical communications; and optical
interactions with random, nanoengineered, and periodic media. Signal processing is the analysis and transformation of signals --
measurements taken over time and/or space -- in order to better
understand, simplify, or recast their structure. Rice has a long
history in digital signal processing (DSP) dating back to its inception
in the late 1960s. Current research spans a wide range of areas,
including image and video analysis, representation, and compression;
wavelets and multiscale methods; statistical signal processing, pattern
recognition, and learning theory; distributed signal processing and
sensor networks; communication systems; and computational
neuroscience. Our driving vision is to provide a high-performance, scalable and
widely deployed wireless Internet that facilitates services ranging
from radically new and unforeseen applications to true wireless
"broadband" to residences and public spaces at rates of 10s of Mb/sec.
In this project, we take a new look at the foundations of the wireless
Internet, with a focus on scalability, deployability, and performance.
Towards this end, we will design an architecture that is based on
Transit Access Points (TAPs), devices that form a wireless backbone
mesh via high-performance directional-antenna wireless links. |
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