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| Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering
Chair
Kenneth A. Connor (Acting) Electrical, computer, and systems engineers have been at the forefront of new discoveries and their integration into advanced design and engineering methodologies. Inventions in areas such as integrated electronics and optical devices stimulate innovations in computers, control, and communications. New systems theory and mathematical techniques are then needed for analysis and design work. As a broad-based department, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE) offers several advantages for undergraduate and graduate study. One is the ability to attack the many facets of modern problems that cut across disciplinary lines. Another advantage is the flexibility for students to embark on individually tailored programs and for the department to launch new areas of research. Programs of Study The department offers programs leading to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and in computer and systems engineering. Each curriculum is sufficiently flexible to accommodate a wide range of interests. The curriculum the student selects is determined by his or her specific interests and, in some cases, by directions within a field of interest. Electrical Engineering Traditionally the largest and most diverse in all of engineering, this curriculum offers courses with various degrees of emphasis on theory, design, experimental work, and computer simulation. Subject matter ranges from semiconductors and electromagnetics to circuits and electronics, and to large-scale control, computer, communication, and information processing systems. Computer and Systems Engineering This field is one of the fastest-growing branches of engineering. Strong course sequences in software, hardware, and systems engineering are available. Students consider the digital computer as a system in itself, as a tool for modeling and design, and as an on-line element within a real-time system. There is the flexibility to study in depth automatic control, communications, or information processing, in addition to computer software, systems, and hardware. Areas of Advanced Study and Research Research programs are conducted in six major areas described below. Control, Robotics, and Automation Current research projects address both the theory and application of control. Faculty interest in control theory includes adaptive control, large-scale systems, optimization, multivariable control, robust control, nonlinear control, model reduction, and discrete event systems. Design results are applied to robotics, advanced automation systems, flexible manufacturing, human physiology, large space structures, power systems, semiconductor systems, and material processing systems. In robotics research, the focus is on intelligent robotic systems. Such systems represent a class of autonomous machines that can perform human-like functions with or without human interaction. They are fundamental for activities too hazardous for humans or too distant or complex for remote telemanipulation. This research is instrumental in advancing the theory of intelligent control with applications to systems of robotic arms. A robotic transporter with two arm manipulative capabilities, stereo vision, and tactile sensing, and connected to a Sun workstation network, has been developed. The design of controllers of large-scale systems is highly complex. Research is being performed on the design of low-order, structurally constrained robust controllers using iterative methods and convex programming techniques. The emphasis is also being given to linear and nonlinear model reduction methods. Applications to power systems, aircraft engines, and flexible structures are being considered, together with the development of control-aided design software. In view of the wide availability of low-cost, highly reliable microcomputers and workstations that can be used for both control systems design and control system synthesis, increased emphasis has been placed on the design of implementable digital adaptive control logic that can be used for maintaining uniform qualities in an aircraft or other systems, despite large variations in the parameters that define the system dynamic equations. Such adaptive control algorithms have been developed and applied to a wide range of applications, including robotics, blood pressure control, large flexible systems, and flight control systems. Discrete event systems theory is an emerging discipline relevant to communication protocols and parallel computing as well as manufacturing control. Petri net and formal language theory are being developed to model, design, analyze, evaluate performance, and control such interconnected systems. Important issues are deadlock avoidance, synchronization, concurrency, resource allocation, and random events. Applications under study are manufacturing automation and integration and task coordination for cooperating robotic systems. All dynamic systems are fundamentally nonlinear. The nonlinearity can be either treated as a perturbation of a nominally linear system or directly taken into account in a nonlinear control design. In the first approach, linear control designs have been developed under various performance and robustness specifications. In the second approach, various nonlinear control strategies have been developed based on the Lyapunov theory, optimal control, and predictive control. There are currently various research projects applying these tools in simulation and experimentation, to a wide range of applications including vehicles, smart structures with piezoelectric actuators and sensors and shape memory alloy wires, robot position and force control, extrusion, and welding. Communications, Information, and Signal Processing Advanced study and research in this field deals with the encoding, transmission, retrieval, and interpretation of information. Students may pursue programs of study strong in mathematical foundations, or oriented more toward hardware and practical implementation, or a combination of both. Communications research focuses on the transmission of information over wireless, optical, and wire channels. Link level concerns, such as modulation and coding, as well as local and wide area networks are considered. Two of the fundamental subdisciplines emphasized are statistical communications and telecommunications. The former considers special types of systems in different environments, typified by random signals in random channels, as in space communication. The latter includes the hardware and societal demands of telephone, wireless communications, cable TV, communications networks, including ATM and ISDN, and other systems. The area of information processing is concerned primarily with the theory and engineering design associated with interpreting and manipulating received data, primarily in discrete form. Major research topics include information theory, including rate distortion theory, along with the coding and compression of speech, image, and video signals. A quantitative understanding of the nature and meaning of information provides a theoretical foundation. A special research emphasis at Rensselaer is the application of image transmission and interpretation techniques to pattern recognition, image processing, digital video, and speech recognition. Signal processing considers the application of digital processing techniques to problems encountered in many areas, including biomedical instrumentation, control systems, and audio processing. Special laboratories are available for speech processing, video and image processing, networking and communications. Computer Engineering Advanced study and research in computer engineering covers a broad range of computing technologies and applications. These include hardware systems, image processing systems, computer graphics, computer communication networks, information systems, neural network computing, robotics, and computer-aided design and manufacturing. Some of the research activities are carried out in conjunction with the Computer Science Department and the interdisciplinary centers. The design, implementation, layout, and testing of hardware systems constitutes a vital component of computer engineering research. Research areas include multichip packaging concepts, high frequency package characterization, thermal management, optical interconnections, and packaging reliability. Other topics include advanced concepts in fault tolerant computing, wafer scale integration, high speed GaAs RISC engines architectures for VLSI signal processing, and computeraided design of VLSI for CMOS, bipolar, BiCMOS, and GaAs MESFET circuits. Fabrication and testing facilities are available in the Center for Integrated Electronics and Electronic Manufacturing. Research in image processing covers a range of technologies and applications. Research areas include pattern recognition and computer vision, digital image analysis, and design and evaluation of optical scanning systems. Applications include document image analysis and image reconstruction in medical, industrial, and military applications. Current research projects include parallel processing algorithms and architectures such as array image processors, color vision systems, computational 3-D microscopy, disk arrays, task-oriented sensing systems, and cellular automata transformations for low-level vision tasks. Artificial intelligence (AI), knowledge engineering, and neural network algorithms are some of the techniques exploited in this work. The Center for Image Processing Research and DocLab provide experimental facilities for this research. Computer graphics and computational geometry use efficient algorithms and data structures to process large geometric databases in CAD and Geographic Information Systems, perhaps in parallel. Applications include terrain visibility algorithms, cartographic map overlay, compression of elevation databases, local topological representations of polyhedra for simpler Boolean operations, and graphical visible surface algorithms. Multimedia work includes graphics courseware development for the WWW using HTML, Java, and VRML. Research in computer communication networks emphasizes high-speed integrated networks and the delivery of multimedia over local, metropolitan, and wide area networks. Current research focuses on fiber optic and wireless LANs, ATM-based Broadband ISDN networks, and network management. Information systems play a vital role in today’s world, especially with regard to decision making and the monitoring and control of operations. Research in this area has covered both the design and the development of such systems, including issues dealing with system sizing, system performance, geographic information systems, and decision support systems. Research areas in robotics include sensor fusion, assembly sequence planning, dexterous manipulation, teleoperated and variably autonomous systems, distributed control architectures, and their applications to inspection, maintenance, and servicing operations in hazardous environments. Extensive experimental and computational facilities are available in the New York State Center for Advanced Technology. In Computer-Aided Design, research is focused on the front end of the manufacturing process, namely on the product development process. The goal is to understand and develop computerbased systems to support initial conceptual design, feature-based design, geometric modeling, and rapid prototyping. Electronics and Circuits Research in this area is focused primarily on instrumentation and interfacing problems found in fields such as plasma diagnostics, computer hardware, communications, signal measurement, and biomedical engineering. Analog and digital circuits, including microprocessor and digital signal processor applications, are considered. Current projects are concerned with adaptive signal processing, digital communications, medical imaging, robot control, aids for the handicapped, and automated patient care. Microelectronics Technology and Design Advanced study and research includes highperformance integrated circuits, semiconductor devices for power and high-frequency applications, fabrication of novel semiconductor materials and device structures, and the use and development of computer tools for microelectronics design. Research in association with the Center for Advanced Interconnect Science and Technology focuses on overcoming the strong limits interconnects pose for future developments in VLSI technology. An extensive clean room in the Center for Integrated Electronics and Electronics Manufacturing (CIEEM) is equipped with complete capability for making silicon-based devices and integrated circuits and a full complement of equipment for compound semiconductor device processing. Activities in this area have been focused on novel device technology and process development, advanced interconnect processing, and the fabrication of micromechanical structures. The microelectronics group has several specialized laboratories equipped to meet industrial standards for advanced research techniques. The electronic materials laboratory includes several state-of-the-art bulk crystal growth systems, wafer slicing and chemical mechanical polishing facilities, liquid phase epitaxy system for multi-layer hetero-epitaxy growth, cold wall, epitaxial reactors for the growth of single crystal III-V and II-VI semiconductors. Diagnostic equipment in the laboratories includes a scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, a double crystal X-ray diffractometer, a Fourier transform IR spectrometer, a photoluminescence system with visible and UV excitation, a spectroscopic ellipsometer, and a Hall-effect measurement system. The high-voltage power device laboratory has equipment that can measure semiconductor power devices in wafer and package form up to 5000 V and 25 A. The equipment includes a Sony/Tektronix 370A curve tracer, an HP 4155 parameter analyzer with a high power module, a Velonex High Power Pulse Generator Model 350, custom high-voltage rectifier and IGBT switching circuits, a 500 MHz digitizing oscilloscope, Delta 9023 furnace, and a manual probe station with a high-temperature controller and chuck for device testing. The semiconductor device characterization laboratories are equipped for carrying out comprehensive electrical characterization of semiconductor devices. Automated measurement systems are available for CV and IV measurements and deep level transient spectroscopy. Facilities are available for cryogenic measurements of semiconductor and superconducting devices at liquid nitrogen and helium temperatures. Additional specialized instrumentation has been developed for analyzing the quantum efficiency and spectral response of solar cells and photoconductive materials; automated reflectance, electroreflectance, and photoreflectance for the characterization of semiconductor surfaces and quantum layers; and a wide-band 35 GHz microwave setup for contactless measurement of electric resistivity, mobility, and excess carrier lifetime in epitaxial layers or bulk wafers. A full complement of microwave equipment is available for high frequency testing, including HP 8510 and 8410 network analyzers, frequency counters, probe stations, and an automated multiprobe system for on-wafer time-domain measurements. Within the ECSE Department and the Center for Integrated Electronics and Electronics Manufacturing are numerous MicroVAX, Sun, and RS6000 workstations with a variety of commercial design and simulation software, presently including Cadence, Mentor, TMA, and Hewlett-Packard software suites. Research programs developing supplemental design tools for modeling integrated circuits, devices, processes, and interconnects have provided unique supplemental capabilities. Plasma Engineering and Electromagnetics Plasma engineering and electromagnetics have played key fundamental roles in electrical engineering throughout the history of our discipline. Research here in recent years has centered on two general areas—analysis of electromagnetic fields and characterization of plasma media. Project areas include diagnostics for fusion plasmas based on the interaction between energetic particle beams and plasmas, the application of finite element methods to microwave heating of a variety of materials and to antenna design, lowtemperature plasma modification of materials, magnetic levitation, and electric vehicles. Additional microwave projects are described in the section above. High-temperature plasma research is crucial to the development of a controlled thermonuclear fusion energy source. Rensselaer’s Plasma Dynamics Laboratory has a very active research program on the development of sophisticated particle beam diagnostic systems to make space and time resolved measurements on magnetically confined plasma experiments. Specific diagnostic techniques are developed and tested on relatively small-scale experiments in our on-campus laboratory, and then the techniques are scaled up and applied on major confinement experiments located at other U.S. universities (e.g., the Universities of Texas and Wisconsin), at U.S. national laboratories (e.g., Oak Ridge National Lab and Lawrence Livermore National Lab), and foreign institutions (e.g., the Japanese National Institute for Fusion Science). Electromagnetics remains one of the richest sources of problems and opportunities for electrical engineers. In recent years, the availability of powerful analysis tools, such as those based on finite element methods, has greatly enhanced our ability to exploit electromagnetic phenomena for the greater good of society. In conjunction with faculty and students from our Electric Power Department, we have addressed issues associated with high power microwave antenna design, assessing material properties for microwave heating applications, noise in electric vehicle design, and processing of waste materials. Facilities As detailed above, the department has a wide range of sophisticated equipment for experimental investigations, especially in the areas of robotics, communications and image processing, computer hardware, fusion plasmas, and microelectronics. Additionally, the department houses numerous computers, networked UNIX workstations, and various special-purpose systems. High-speed links provide access to supercomputer centers and national research networks. University computational facilities are described elsewhere in this catalog. Faculty Professors Bhat, I. Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); solid state, electronic materials. Associate Professors Franklin, W.R. Ph.D. (Harvard University); computational geometry, graphics and CAD, large geometric databases, geographic information systems, terrain visibility and compression. Assistant Professors Arcak, M. Ph.D. (University of California, Santa Barbara); design and analysis of nonlinear control systems, adaptive control, applications to mechanical systems. Research Associate Professors Gaska, R. Ph.D. (Wayne State University); wide band gap materials and devices; optoelectronics, high-power electronics, solid-state lighting. Adjunct Faculty Anderson, T.R. Ph.D. (New York University); electromagnetic theory, antennas, electromagnetic compatibility. Emeritus Faculty Borrego, J.M. P.E., Sc.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); semiconductor device physics and characterization, solar cells, applications of microwaves. Senior Research Engineer Schatz, J.G. A.A.S. (Hudson Valley Community College); vacuum and electronic systems. Research Associate Ehsani, H. Ph.D. (University of Texas); semiconductor devices. |
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