In the News
Samsung Expands Wireless Research Facility at Georgia Tech
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. has significantly increased its research
presence here, opening a new wireless-technology laboratory and
expanding its working relationship with Georgia Tech.
Located in the Centergy One Building, the Samsung Design Center is the company's North American design center, which focuses on research and development of mixed-signal integrated circuits, primarily for use in wireless applications. (July 29, 2008)
Tongue-Controlled System Assists Individuals with
Disabilities
A new assistive technology developed by engineers at Georgia Tech could
help individuals with severe disabilities lead more independent lives.
Developed by ECE Assistant Professor Maysam Ghovanloo, this novel system allows individuals with disabilities to operate a computer, control a powered wheelchair, and interact with their environments simply by moving their tongues. The tongue-operated assistive technology, called the Tongue Drive system, was described on June 29 at the 2008 Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
Watch a video of Xueliang Huo operating a powered wheelchair with the Tongue Drive system. (runtime: 0:40 minutes; mov file) (June 30, 2008)
Avalanche
Photodiodes Target Bioterrorism Agents
Georgia Tech researchers led by ECE Professor Russell D. Dupuis have shown
that a new class of ultraviolet photodiode could help meet the U.S. military’s
pressing requirement for compact, reliable and cost-effective sensors to
detect anthrax and other bioterrorism agents in the air.
New research shows that ultraviolet avalanche photodiodes offer the high gain, reliability, and robustness needed to detect these agents and help authorities rapidly contain an incident like the 2001 anthrax attacks. The team chose to develop avalanche photodiodes for this bioterrorism application because the devices can detect the signature fluorescence of biological molecules in a sample of air. (June 26, 2008)
Grant Supports "Intelligent Binoculars" that Mimic the Human
Brain
Led by ECE Associate Professor Paul Hasler, Georgia Tech researchers are
helping to develop “intelligent binoculars” that mimic the low-level
image processing done by the human brain. Called the Cognitive Technology
Threat Warning System (CT2WS), the device is expected to be far more capable
than portable visual threat-warning equipment currently used by the U.S.
military.
Dr. Hasler's team will investigate the use of neuromorphic engineering to enable a CT2WS device. Neuromorphic techniques use innovative hardware and software approaches to emulate human intelligence. The Georgia Tech team will be working with Hughes Research Laboratory and Northrop Grumman Corp., which have won CT2WS contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). (June 20, 2008)
Georgia
Tech, ECE Provide Key Support as Atlanta Hosts Top Wireless Show
One of the world’s largest wireless-technology conferences
is poised to
open in Atlanta, thanks in part to collaboration between three academic
and research groups at Georgia Tech.
The International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2008), which takes over the Georgia World Congress Center from June 15-20, is expected to attract some 10,000 attendees and hundreds of industry vendors from around the world. IMS 2008 is being supported by ECE, the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC), and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in a variety of ways.
The conference and show will offer myriad presentations, panels and displays focusing on the cutting edge of wireless technology. Wireless, and the microwave technology that enables it, is the force behind cell phones, advanced sensors, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and the fast-developing mobile Internet. (June 6, 2008)
SnoMote
Robots to Explore World’s Iciest Environments
Data about volatile ice sheets--the huge masses of glacier ice in Antarctica
and Greenland--has until now been drawn largely from satellites and ground-based
weather stations. Now researchers at ECE, working with Pennsylvania State
University, have created SnoMotes, autonomous robots that work as a team,
to collect detailed data in the icy environments without risking scientists’ safety.
This data could give scientists a better understanding of the dynamics
that affect the stability of ice sheets.
ECE Associate Professor Ayanna Howard is the lead on the SnoMotes project. She is working with ECE Associate Professor Magnus Egerstedt and Derrick Lampkin, assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Penn State. Dr. Howard unveiled the SnoMotes at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Pasadena on May 23. (May 29, 2008)
Mark Clements Appointed Jospeh M. Pettit Professor in DSP
ECE Professor Mark Clements has been appointed the Joseph M. Pettit Professor
in Digital Signal Processing, effective July 1, 2008. Russell Mersereau,
who retired on May 1, had held this professorship since 2004.
Dr. Clements has been a member of the ECE faculty since 1982 and director of the Interactive Media Technology Center since 1999. He works in the areas of speech recognition, analysis and compensation of speech, sensory aids for the hearing impaired, pattern recognition, and information retrieval. A founder and director of Nexidia, an Atlanta-based company devoted to technologies for voice analytics and audio/video search, and an IEEE Fellow since 2005, Dr. Clements is also an active member in the international signal processing community. (May 27, 2008)
ECE Researchers Develop RFID Testbed to Rapidly Assess Multiple Tags
An ECE researcher team led by Assistant
Professor Gregory Durgin has developed a testbed to rapidly test new radio
frequency identification (RFID) tag prototypes. The system is capable of
simultaneously measuring hundreds of RFID tags and rapidly testing new
RFID tag prototypes. RFID tags are used for many applications, including
inventory management, package tracking, toll collection, passport identification,
and airport luggage security. Dr. Durgin’s research team included
former graduate student Anil Rohatgi and current graduate student Joshua
Griffin. Their research was presented in April at the IEEE International
Conference on RFID. (May 8, 2008)
Ian Ferguson Named Faculty Fellow in Sam Nunn Security Program
ECE Professor Ian Ferguson has been named a 2008-09 Faculty Fellow in the Sam
Nunn Security Program, which is based in the Center for International Strategy,
Technology, and Policy at Georgia Tech. The Sam Nunn Security Program seeks
to advance the role of scientific and technical advice on issues of international
security through education, research, outreach activities, and participation
in the policy advisement process.
Dr. Ferguson was named as a Faculty Fellow because of his work in the Georgia Tech Focused Research Program in Pioneer Research in Nuclear Detection (PRIND). In this multidisciplinary program, Dr. Ferguson and his Tech colleagues perform cutting-edge research, development, and prototyping of technologies and systems used for detecting radiation. Dr. Ferguson’s area of expertise involves developing new optical and electrical scintillator materials and system miniaturization through robust semiconductor-based detection systems. (May 6, 2008)
Tech
Launches Dual Master’s Program with Top
Italian Universities
Georgia Tech is partnering with two leading Italian universities to offer dual
master’s degrees in electrical and computer engineering and computer
science. The new degrees, which will begin in fall 2008, are the first dual
graduate programs in these disciplines between American and Italian universities.
Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is partnering with
the School of Information Technologies at the Politecnico di Torino in Torino,
Italy, and Tech’s School of Computer Science is partnering with the School
of Informatics at the University of Trento in Trento, Italy. (May 6, 2008)
Tech Urges Women to Try Engineering (pdf;
181 kb)
It used to be that a group of engineers was always a bunch of guys
with
a slide rules.
But slide rules have been replace by calculators and computers, and more
women are joining the fraternity, thanks to programs like Women in
Engineering at Georgia Tech. (Source: The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
(May 5, 2008)
Ayanna Howard Featured in New Scientist Magazine
ECE Associate Professor Ayanna Howard is featured in the New Scientist Magazine article “NASA Must Look Beyond the Moon.” Dr. Howard is part of a National
Research Council committee chosen by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to review NASA’s
Exploration Technology Development Program. This program focuses on developing
technologies for future human space exploration missions, and it has been
criticized for concentrating its efforts primarily on the moon rather than
Mars and beyond.
The article was published April 17, 2008, and can be found at http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13727-nasa-must-look-beyond. (May 1, 2008)
Bernard Kippelen Named Fellow of SPIE
ECE Professor Bernard Kippelen has been named one of 72 new Fellows of SPIE, an international society
advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. SPIE Fellows are chosen
for their contributions to optics, photonics, and imaging, as well as for their service to the general
optics community and to SPIE in particular.
Dr. Kippelen is being recognized for his achievements in organic optoelectronic applications. His research areas include the development of organic materials for organic light-emitting devices; the development of high-efficiency solar cells based on organic polycrystalline materials; the use of liquid crystals for switchable electro-active diffractive lenses; optically pumped organic lasers; and organic field-effect transistors. He has also served in various leadership roles for many SPIE conferences. (May 1, 2008)
Joe Hughes Named IEEE Member of the EAC of ABET
ECE Senior Associate Chair Joe Hughes has been named an IEEE member of the Engineering Accreditation
Commission (EAC) of ABET, a federation of 28 professional and technical societies. Dr. Hughes is currently
IEEE’s alternate member of EAC and a program evaluator since 1995. His term as an EAC commissioner
begins this July and is renewable annually for the next five years. He will continue serving as a member
of the IEEE Committee on Engineering Accreditation Activities and, for up to three years, as the IEEE liaison
between EAC and the IEEE Accreditation Policy Council.
EAC members serve as team chairs on evaluation visits to institutions with engineering programs and vote on the accreditation of these programs. Dr. Hughes joins Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Chair Bill Wepfer, who represents ASME, as the second Georgia Tech faculty member currently serving on this commission. (May 1, 2008)
Innovolt Makes Headlines
Innovolt, a Georgia Tech VentureLab company founded in 2005 by ECE Professor Deepak Divan, was featured
recently in both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
The newspapers highlighted Innovolt’s new current and voltage surge suppressor device. This device
differs from other products on the market in that it protects electronics not only against lightning
strikes, but also against voltage surges, current surges, and under/over-voltage.
Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 22
“Innovolt
Powers Up Sales with New Surge Protector”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 24
“An
Innovolt From Out of the Blue”
(May 1, 2008)
Last revised on July 29, 2008.
