Engineering & The World
Dan Ellis
Laboratory for Recognition and Organization of Speech and Audio
Dept. Electrical Eng., Columbia Univ., NY USA
dpwe@ee.columbia.edu
http://labrosa.ee.columbia.edu/
1. Science, Technology, Engineering, Math
2. Columbia Engineering
3. Sensors & Feedback
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STEM: Science, Technology,
Engineering, Math
• “Scientists discover the world that exists;
Engineers create the world that never was.”
Theodore von Kármán
ENGINEER
SCIENTIST
Technology
The World
Scientific
Knowledge
MATHEMATICIAN
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Famous People
• Scientists
• Mathematicians
• Engineers
ENGINEER
SCIENTIST
Technology
The World
Scientific
Knowledge
MATHEMATICIAN
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The Astrolabe (c. 600 CE)
• What time is it?
Istanbul, 1577
ENGINEER
SCIENTIST
Technology
The World
Scientific
Knowledge
MATHEMATICIAN
TSCU Engineering - Dan Ellis
Hipparchos, 190-120 BCE
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The Sea Clock (1759)
• But what time is it?
• “When longitude at sea
is lost, it cannot be found
again by any watch.” Isaac Newton
John Harrison, 1693-1776
ENGINEER
SCIENTIST
Technology
The World
Scientific
Knowledge
MATHEMATICIAN
TSCU Engineering - Dan Ellis
The cost of the first sea clocks
was ~ ⅓ of the ship
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The Brooklyn Bridge (1883)
• Bridge building was
the “hot technology”
of the 1860s
ENGINEER
SCIENTIST
Technology
The World
Scientific
Knowledge
MATHEMATICIAN
TSCU Engineering - Dan Ellis
Emily Roebling, 1843-1903
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The Engineering Process
• Analyze the problem
What principles can be
used to solve it?
• Design a solution
faster, better, cheaper
• Test it out
Does it behave as expected?
Why not?
• Refine & repeat
again and again and ...
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Teamwork
• There’s only so much
one person can do
Large projects require collaboration
How can teams work together
efficiently?
• Communication is critical to
Engineering
John Harrison had to wait until he
was 80 to receive his prize
• Documentation of what you’ve
done
for the team...
for the future...
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Are You an Engineer?
• There are many different kinds of engineer...
a successful team needs a range of talents
But I believe I was born to be an engineer
• Top signs:
You are curious about
how things work
You like to take things apart
(and put them back
together)
You really enjoy having an
idea about something that
might work, trying it out,
and finding it does
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Columbia Engineering
• The Fu Foundation
School of Engineering
and Applied Science
TSCU Engineering - Dan Ellis
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
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LabROSA
• The Laboratory for Recognition and
Organization of Speech and Audio
Information
Extraction
Music
Recognition
Environment
Separation
Machine
Learning
Retrieval
Signal
Processing
Speech
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Environmental Sound Recognition
• Computer learns sounds from examples
Search Results
Example Recordings
Sound Features
TSCU Engineering - Dan Ellis
Clusters
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Mobile Audio Awareness
• Recognize important sounds in real time
as an aid for the hearing impaired
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Sensors
• Technology is interesting
only if it interacts with the world
x(t)
A to D
ADC
x[n]
DSP
y[n]
Anti- Sample
alias and
filter hold
Sensor
TSCU Engineering - Dan Ellis
D to A
y(t)
DAC
Reconstruction
filter
WORLD
Actuator
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Feedback control
• A system that “acts” to correct errors
Target value
Sensor
+
WORLD
Actuator
• Challenge is in getting it
damped “just right”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAvtBQFQJw8
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Summary
• Science, Technology,
Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)
• The Engineering Process
• The Laboratory for Recognition and
Organization of Speech and Audio
(LabROSA)
• Feedback control
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