Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
2010-2011 Annual Report
Points of
Pride
$24.7
million
research
award
funding
2010-11
11th best
value
nationwide
2nd highest
in nation
in industrysponsored
research
inside
2 Introduction
2 D
istinguished Alumnus
3 Statistics
4–6 Research Highlights
6 Faculty Awards
7 New Faculty
8 S tudent
Awards
DARPA Awards $2.53 Million for Active Sensing Research
T
he Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency bits than are actually needed to describe the image;
(DARPA) has awarded a $2.53 million, threebut, for many sensors the data collection itself is
year grant to a consortium of institutions led by
expensive or time-consuming. After examining
The Ohio State University for active sensing via
cases such as these, researchers have wondered if
compressive illumination research. As highlighted
they could directly acquire compressed data.
in a February 2010 article in The Economist, an
“Recent results from applied mathematics
exponential growth in the number of sensors
have provided conditions and guarantees for such
has created a data deluge. In this three-year
compressed sensing, and have spurred new work
DARPA program, a team of engineers, scientists
in optics, radar, magnetic resonance and other
and mathematicians are working to develop and
applications,” says Potter. demonstrate foundational principles for adaptively
“These recent results combine, illuminate and
managing the collection
extend a variety of ad hoc
of data.
techniques that engineers
Lee Potter,
have experimentally used
professor of electrical
for several decades.”
and computer
Potter’s team, which
engineering at Ohio
includes Phil Schniter,
State, leads the
associate professor of
project, which is
electrical and computer
one of six efforts in
engineering, and Emre
DARPA’s knowledgeErtin, assistant research
Images are compressible. The reformatted image on
enhanced compressive
professor of electrical and
the right (discrete wavelet transform) contains very
measurement (KECoM)
computer engineering,
few significant pixels. The compressed image has furprogram. Application
ther structure; Ohio State researchers are developing aims to develop an
areas targeted in the
adaptive sensing techniques and fast signal recovery application-agnostic
program include optical algorithms to exploit the structure in order to reduce foundational theory
imaging, spectroscopy
for active sensing with
the costs of sensing.
and radar.
adaptive collection of
“The central question this research seeks to
measurements. An active sensor transmits energy
answer is how to collect only that data which is
for sensing, in contrast to a passive collection
informative for the desired task,” explains Potter. strategy. Technology advances allow active sensors
“In this context, the very concept of information
to adapt, at both transmission and reception, to
depends on prior knowledge and the question to be
maximize the information gathered using limited
answered.”
sensing resources. For demonstration, the team is
As an illustration, Potter uses the example of
applying the new approaches to radar.
a cellphone camera that captures a two-megapixel
The Ohio State-led team includes researchers
(two million pixels) image, then compresses that
from four other universities. Co-investigators in the
image to only tens of thousands of bytes before
project include Rich Baraniuk, Rice University; Rob
sending it to the desired recipient. In this case, the
Nowak, University of Wisconsin; Thomas Strohmer,
silicon-based camera is so inexpensive that you
University of California-Davis; and Jarvis Haupt;
don’t mind collecting hundreds of times more data
University of Minnesota.
2
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Annual Report 2010-2011
Message from the Chair
T
Robert Lee, Chair
he ECE department achieved record
graduate student enrollment and research
expenditures in the 2010-2011 school year.
These achievements were possible because of
careful planning from the administrative staff
and hard work from the faculty.
Research expenditures grew by almost 50%
over last year to approximately $24.7 million.
Research awards totaled almost $24 million—
including two MURIs, three NSF CAREER
awards, and a R01 NIH grant—so expenditures
should remain high for the next few years.
In addition, our faculty members played a
significant role in winning one of only two USChina Clean Energy Research Centers.
The continuing growth in enrollment at
both the undergraduate and graduate levels
will have a major impact on our department.
In the Autumn quarter of 2010, undergraduate
enrollment grew by 6% to 714 students, while
graduate enrollment grew by a whopping
30% to 362 students. Based on numbers
already available for Autumn 2011, this
growth continues unabated with 22% and
14% increases in undergraduate and graduate
enrollments, respectively.
We completed a major revision of the ECE
sophomore curriculum in order to improve
retention and provide a laboratory experience
that is much more closely aligned to industry.
The year-long course sequence, aptly named
the sophomore experience, makes heavy use
of learning technologies including video
instruction and iPads. It was piloted this
past academic year with tremendous success,
leading to two college teaching awards for
Furrukh Khan, an ECE professor who was the
main developer of the sophomore experience.
Interestingly, the students completed the
sequence of three courses without a single
one dropping out. We plan to overhaul many
of our core laboratory courses using a similar
approach.
Faculty hiring was very successful this
past year. We hired Chris Baker as an endowed
professor to lead the radar effort here. We also
hired faculty members in power electronics
(Mahesh Illindala), power aware computing
(Xiaorui Wang) and hybrid control systems
(Wei Zhang). Read more about these four
professors on page seven.
Marvin White Named Distinguished Alumnus
M
arvin White was honored with a distinguished alumnus award by the Ohio State College of
Engineering at the 2011 Excellence in Engineering & Architecture Alumni Awards. White,
who received his PhD in electrical engineering from Ohio State in 1969, is a professor in Ohio
State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of the ECE Alumni
Society. His research areas are nanoelectronic devices and circuits.
From 1961 to 1981, White worked at the Westinghouse Space and Defense Center, rising
from associate to advisory engineer. Along with his colleagues, he designed advanced CMOS
integrated circuits and developed signal processing techniques such as correlated double
sampling for noise suppression in video, and sampled data systems, such as NASA imaging
systems. He took a sabbatical from 1966 to 1968 to attend Ohio State as an instructor and pursue
his doctorate in electrical engineering under Prof. Marlin Thurston.
From 1981 to 2010, he was the Sherman Fairchild Professor of Electrical Engineering
at Lehigh University, where he was director of the Sherman Fairchild Center and the
Nanoelectronics Laboratory. He supervised 34 doctoral students in advanced devices and circuits. During sabbaticals,
he was a visiting research scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory (1987-88) and a program director at the National
Science Foundation (1995-96) in Solid-State Microstructures.
White has published nearly 300 papers with students and colleagues and acquired 27 U.S. patents. He is an Institute
for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Life Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering for his
contributions to solid-state imagers and advances in silicon devices and technology. He has received numerous awards,
including the 1997 IEEE Electron Devices Society’s J.J. Ebers Award, the 2000 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics
Award, the 2001 IEEE Aldert van der Ziel Award and the 2010 IEEE EDS Distinguished Service Award. He is currently an
EDS distinguished national lecturer and vice president of awards.
The Ohio State University 3 Student Statistics
BSECE in Elec. Eng.
BSECE in Cptr. Eng.
MS
PhD
40
35
Degrees Conferred
2010-2011
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Summer 2010 Autumn 2010 Winter 2011
Totals:
26
49
46
Graduate Student Overview
2010-2011
Spring 2011
95
MS
PhD
Total Number of Graduate
Students (Au 2010)
179
210
New Applicants
620
489
Number Admitted
201
71
Number Enrolled
135
29
Average GRE (quantitative)
758
786
USA - 31%
China - 26%
India - 18%
Korea - 5%
Turkey - 5%
Taiwan - 2%
Egypt - 2%
Other - 10%
Percentage of Graduate
Students Enrolled by Country
4
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Annual Report 2010-2011
Terahertz Sensor Research Grows with New Lab
A
new, high sensitivity terahertz camera could enable
visibility in brown-out conditions, such as during
sand storms and/or rotorcraft take-off and landing in
desert environments. Terahertz sensors could monitor
the purity and quality of pharmaceutical products while
on the production line, and be used by consumers to
identify unmarked pills. These are just two examples of the
groundbreaking research that is ongoing and will continue
to grow in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering’s new center for research, testing and
commercialization of terahertz sensors.
The Wright Center for Sensor Systems
Engineering, an Ohio Third Frontier
program, awarded Ohio State $3 million
to establish the Hyperspectral Engine Lab
for Integrated Optical Systems (HELIOS).
Ohio State is providing an additional
$5 million in cost-share funding for
equipment and services.
Through HELIOS, researchers
are exploring the still uncharted
terahertz spectrum—a large part of the
electromagnetic spectrum at frequencies
between those of microwaves and
infrared light—and are utilizing Ohio’s
resources to develop smaller, faster and lower power
terahertz devices.
“Terahertz is much like X-ray imaging as it can
penetrate a wide variety of materials,” said John Volakis,
director of the ElectroScience Laboratory and principal
investigator of the Wright Center grant. “But it is far
superior because it is not harmful to tissues and can reveal
much more information.”
HELIOS’ research focus areas include terahertz
wave imaging, active monitoring of electronics chips and
pharmaceutical products for purity and quality control
on the production line, diagnosing skin hydration for a
variety of medical and cosmetic applications, and the next
generation of radio frequency integrated circuits for high
data rate proximity communications.
Kubilay Sertel, a research scientist at Ohio State’s
ElectroScience Laboratory, is currently working with
Traycer Diagnostic Systems Inc. to develop the first
real-time, high sensitivity terahertz camera that will
enable several critical imaging systems. Among these, the
immediate applications include diagnosing skin hydration
for a variety of medical and cosmetic applications; security
screening through clothing and identification of explosive
chemicals; enabling visibility in brown-out conditions,
such as during sand storms and/or rotorcraft take-off
and landing in desert environments; and high resolution
subsurface imaging for packaging and quality control.
HELIOS is housed in the new ElectroScience
Laboratory building, which just opened this year.
HELIOS researchers have
access to cutting-edge
research equipment,
including the Traycer CW
spectrometer (0.6-1.2THz),
above, and Agilent-VDI
PNX (325-750GHz), right,
for sensor and device
characterization.
“Locating HELIOS at the ElectroScience Laboratory
leverages Ohio State’s strong academic research base
and engineering expertise in sensors and imaging, and
capitalizes on existing investments in facilities, software
and instrumentation,” Volakis said.
The investment in HELIOS is already paying off. Ohio
State was been selected by the Office of Naval Research
for a large Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI)
grant to establish a new research program, “III-N Devices
and Architectures for Terahertz Electronics (DATE).” The
DATE program will explore the use of ultra fast gallium
nitride semiconductor devices at unprecedented high
frequencies above one terahertz. ECE professor Siddharth
Rajan leads the Ohio State team, which includes Kubilay
Sertel, John Volakis and Paul Berger. The Ohio State team
is budgeted to receive $3 million in funding over five years
and will work together with the lead institution, University
of Notre Dame, and two other universities.
Three-year projections suggest that HELIOS could
result in up to 62 new Ohio jobs created in addition to 16
academic research jobs.
The companies and organizations that are currently
collaborating with the ElectroScience Laboratory in HELIOS
are: The Institute for Development and Commercialization
of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST), the Air Force
Research Laboratory (AFRL) Raytheon Co., Agilent
Technologies, Inc., Lake Shore Cyrotronics, Inc., Photon-X,
Traycer Diagnostic Systems Inc. and TeraView Ltd.
The Ohio State University 5 More to the Face Than Meets the Eye
R
esearchers have been very successful in defining how
“One of the questions we are trying to address next is
facial expressions of emotion are produced, including
what happens with people with disorders like PTSD, are they
which muscle movements create the most commonly
much more attuned to recognition of fear?” said Martinez.
seen expressions. Yet little is known about how these
“That seems to be one of those hypotheses that will turn
expressions are processed by the visual system. Aleix
out to be true, but we’ll find out.”
Martinez, associate professor of electrical and computer
His research has also shown that certain facial
engineering and founder of
structures influence the way humans perceive
the Computational Biology
emotion. For example, the distance between
and Cognitive Science Lab, is
the baseline of the eyebrows and the mouth
working to change that.
influence the perception of facial expression of
Martinez and his team
emotions. A short distance between the brows
want to identify the cognitive
and mouth, and wider faces are both perceived
model used by the human
as being angry, whereas a longer distance
visual system to process
between the brows and mouth and thinner
facial expressions of emotion,
faces are perceived as sad.
which is a critical precursor
Martinez is also researching a second
to developing technology that
NIH-supported project, “Computational
surprise
fear
imitates human perception.
Methods for Analysis of Mouth Shapes in
The project, “A Study of
Sign Languages.” The goal of this two-year,
Aleix Martinez’s research has shown that when
the Computational Space
$400,000 research project is to understand
people classify images showing facial expressions of
emotions, people often make asymmetric mistakes. what are called “facial expressions of
of Facial Expressions of
For example, people will classify a fearful face as
Emotion,” is supported by a
grammar,” in regard to American Sign
a surprised face, but they will very rarely, or never,
five-year, $1.8 million grant
Language (ASL).
classify a surprised face as fearful.
from the National Institutes
In ASL, as in any other sign language,
of Health.
part of the grammar is encoded on the face,
Discovering how healthy individuals perceive facial
not the hands, Martinez explains. Linguists have tried
expressions of emotion is the first step. Next, Martinez’s
unsuccessfully for years to identify which components in
group will study and design protocols to help diagnose
facial expressions actually encode the grammar. Martinez’s
pathologies including depression, post-traumatic stress
group is working to design technology that can be used
disorder (PTSD) and autism.
to aid in the search of such components. This could
Martinez also wants to learn how face perception
revolutionize the study of sign languages the same way
develops from childhood to adulthood, how it develops
technology that analyzed components of the speech signal
over a longer span and how the elderly perceive faces. did for speech recognition.
In their quest to determine if there is a so-called
“What we’re trying to do is to create a new revolution
normal way of processing faces—something he thinks
in the linguistic community by providing a new set of
is unlikely—Martinez and his team will soon study how
technologies that could be used to study American Sign
young children, even babies as young at seven months
Language,” explains Martinez. “We have had a project in
old, perceive facial expressions of emotion. They will also
the past that did similar things for the analysis of the hand
examine different populations, and people with completely
motion and hand
different life experiences, to see if those factors influence
shapes, now we’re
“One of the questions we
perception of facial expressions of emotions. Studying
turning to the face, are trying to address next is
groups who have experienced trauma-inducing events,
which is a much
what happens with people
such as genocide, could aid in the early detection of postmore complicated
with disorders like PTSD,
traumatic stress disorder.
problem.”
are they much more attuned
“The question is not whether the face perception will
The second
have changed, but whether these changes are consistent
research project
to recognition of fear?”
across subjects in a way that can be used for diagnosis,”
could have vast
said Martinez. “That’s what we’re working on, to define a
implications on the way sign language is taught in the
protocol that works for the majority of people.”
future and make it easier for deaf children to learn English
Martinez’s research is already producing interesting
and other languages. It could also aid in the design of a
results, including disputing a widely held belief that
machine that could potentially translate American Sign
humans are very good at recognizing the facial expression
Language to English someday. Such a machine could have
of fear, a very primal emotion. The team found that adults
a dramatic impact in places like hospitals and emergency
were actually very bad at recognizing fear, but very good at
rooms where deaf patients sometimes have to wait up to 30 to
recognizing happiness.
60 minutes for an on-call translator to arrive.
6
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Annual Report 2010-2011
Three Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards
T
hree assistant professors in electrical and computer
engineering—Can Emre Koksal, Roberto Myers and
Jin Wang were awarded Faculty Early Career Development
awards from the National Science Foundation in 2011.
Koksal’s $400,000 grant will support his research
on the “Design and Control of Wireless Networks on
Network-Information-Theoretic Foundations.” This project
aims to significantly improve the performance of wireless
networks by developing practical network algorithms over
an underlying infrastructure of multiuser channels along
with the appropriate information-theoretic mechanisms.
This will enable the design and implementation of faster,
more reliable, and more robust wireless networks operating
under a variety of conditions.
Myers was awarded $530,000 for his research on
“Extreme Band Engineering in Polarization Graded
Nanowire Heterostructures for High Efficiency Photonics.”
Myers is growing and studying nitride nanowires that
increase the design flexibility of semiconductor photonics.
Polarization grading allows formation of pn-junctions within
nanowires without using impurity doping. This enables
enhanced performance of LEDs and photodetectors across
the ultraviolet to visible spectrum.
Can Emre Koksal
Roberto Myers
Jin Wang
Wang received $400,000 to support his research on
power electronics and high voltage intensive solutions for
very large scale megawatt photovoltaic systems. The objective
of this research is to significantly enhance the efficiency and
lower the cost of very large scale megawatt photovoltaic
power plants by deriving and realizing a new generation of
power electronics circuits and associated control strategies
for a hybrid PV-battery system. Wang’s project also includes
a comprehensive education plan, consisting of a one-day
sustainable energy/smart grid workshop for K-12 teachers,
a hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform for training
college students, and an internship program.
Charting the Future of GPS
S
ince its inception in the late 1970s, the Global
Positioning System (GPS) has become the backbone
of navigation, geo-location and timekeeping throughout
the world. GPS is as much a part of our infrastructure as
wireless communication or any other utility.
Ohio State, which has been called the “Silicon Valley
of Navigation,” was the site of a spring 2011 workshop
to discuss the evolution of GPS from the early days to its
present configuration, as well as its future direction. The
workshop included three invited speakers—John Betz,
Edward Martin and Anthony Russo.
Edward Martin, a nationally recognized expert in GPS
and recently retired Boeing Technical Fellow, discussed
how and when the GPS concept was conceived, the
evolution of GPS and the challenges faced by the program
throughout its development. He stressed the importance
of the team effort in creating GPS, which involved many
individuals and organizations.
Anthony Russo—senior executive service official,
Research and Innovative Technology Administration
(RITA), U.S. Department of Transportation—discussed the
present configuration and current status of GPS, as well
as the US policies regarding its operation, modernization
and availability. He briefly covered the current issue he is
dealing with regarding the 4G network band being located
next to the L1 band used for GPS.
Russo discussed what challenges this may have for the GPS
community in the future.
John Betz, a Fellow of The MITRE Corporation, shared
his thoughts for the future direction of GPS, as well as the
technical innovations and potential future applications of
GPS. Aviation safety is an example of one area where GPS
will play a large role in the future.
More than 120 scholars attended the workshop,
which was co-sponsored by the Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
and the College of Engineering. The workshop slides are
available online at www.pnt.gov/public/2011/03/ohio/.
GPS research is ongoing at Ohio State. ECE faculty
members Inder “Jiti” Gupta and Chi-Chih Chen are
involved in developing new antennas for GPS receivers
mounted on various platforms. Their work involves both
single and multiple element antennas. In the case of multiple
element antennas, the weights of individual antenna elements
are adapted in real time to increase the carrier-to-noise ratio
in the presence of interfering signals and/or satellite signal
multipath. Gupta is also exploring new methods to mitigate/
compensate the antenna induced biases in GPS receiver
measurements. Without mitigation/compensation, these
biases lead to significant errors in the position and velocity
information obtained from a GPS receiver.
The Ohio State University 7 Department Welcomes New Faculty
Chris Baker, Ohio Research Scholar in Integrated Sensor Systems & Endowed Professor
Doctoral Institution: University of Hull
Chris Baker was the dean and director of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the Australian
National University. He has been actively engaged in radar system research since 1984 and is the author of
over two hundred publications. Baker’s research interests include coherent radar techniques, radar signal
processing, radar signal interpretation, electronically scanned radar systems, cognitive radar sensing,
natural echo locating systems and radar imaging. Baker is the recipient of the IEE Mountbatten premium
(twice), the IEE Institute premium and is a Fellow of the IET. He is a visiting professor at the University of
Cape Town, Cranfield University, University College London and Adelaide University.
Chi-Chih Chen, Research Associate Professor
Doctoral Institution: The Ohio State University
Chi-Chih Chen has been conducting research in various capacities at the ElectroScience Laboratory
since 1993, most recently as a research scientist. His research interests include ground penetrating radar
technology, novel radar systems, buried target detection/classification, UWB antenna designs, UWB dualpolarization feed/probe antenna designs for antenna and RCS ranges, and compact/low-profile antenna
designs for communication and navigation systems. Chen received the Ohio State College of Engineering’s
Lumley Research Award in 2004 and 2010 for his research contributions. He is a Fellow and member-elect
of the board of directors of the AMTA and a senior member of IEEE.
Mahesh Illindala, Assistant Professor
Doctoral Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mahesh Illindala researches power electronics and controls for smart grids, microgrids,
distributed energy resources, electrical energy conversion and storage, and advanced electric drive
transportation systems. He has been recognized for contributions in electric power quality and
reliability, and has eight years of industry experience. Illindala previously worked at Caterpillar from
2005-2011. He is a senior member of IEEE.
Keith Redmill, Assistant Professor of Practice
Doctoral Institution: The Ohio State University
Keith Redmill has been a research scientist with OSU since 1999, working primarily with the
Control and Intelligent Transportation Research Lab and the Center for Automotive Research.
His research activities include control theory, sensing and sensor fusion, wireless communication,
intelligent transportation systems, and autonomous ground and air vehicles. He has also greatly
contributed to teams participating in the Multi Autonomous Ground Robotic International
Competition, DARPA Urban Challenge and DARPA Grand Challenge. He is a member of SIAM and a
senior member of IEEE.
Xiaorui Wang, Associate Professor
Doctoral Institution: Washington University
Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award recipient and NSF CAREER Award winner
Xiaorui Wang focuses on power-aware computer systems and architecture, real-time embedded
systems, wireless sensor networks, and cyber-physical systems. He is the author or coauthor of more
than 60 refereed publications. Prior to joining Ohio State, Wang was an assistant professor at the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Wei Zhang, Assistant Professor
Doctoral Institution: Purdue University
Wei Zhang’s research explores control and estimation of hybrid dynamical systems, game theory,
stochastic analysis, and their applications in various engineering fields, especially power systems, air
transportation systems and robotics. He was previously a post-doctoral researcher in the Electrical
Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at the University of California, Berkeley.
8
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Annual Report 2010-2011
205 Dreese Laboratories
2015 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1272
14450 017000 61801
Selected International & National Student Awards, 2010-2011
Student Award
Advisor
Damoun AhmadiBest Presentation Award, 2011 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference Jin Wang
Santino Carnevale2011 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Jose Gutierrez HENAAC 2010 Military ROTC Cadet Award for achievements as an ECE major
Roberto Myers
Nicholas Host
NASA Science and Technology Research Fellowship
John Volakis &
Chi-Chih Chen
Justin Kasemodel
Chi-Chih Chen
John Volakis
est Student Paper, 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Arrays B
Systems & Technology Mustafa Kuloglu Second Place, Student Paper Contest, 2010 Antennas Measurement Techniques Robert Burkholder
Association Conference
Chi-Chih Chen
Dominic Labanowski 2011 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
Chris Hammel Chung-Han Lin Invited Plenary Lecture at 2010 International Workshop on Nitride Semiconductors Leonard Brillson
Tyler Merz National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Leonard Brillson
Winston Churchill Scholarship at Cambridge University
Jeffrey Ouellette NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Ugur Olgun T hird Place, Student Paper Contest, 2010 Antennas Measurement Techniques
Association Conference Joel Johnson
Chi-Chih Chen
John Volakis
Naveen RamakrishnanFirst Place, Student Paper Contest, 2010 Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers
Gursharan Reehal Best Paper, IEEE Systems-on-Chip Conference Emre Ertin
Randy Moses
Mohammed Ismail
Kyle StewartNASA Science and Technology Research Fellowship Joel Johnson
Patrick Wensing
Three-Year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship David Orin
Da Xu & Ryan TongretBest Conference Paper Award, 2010 IEEE National Aerospace Electronics Conference Yuan Zeng
Samantha Yoder Four-Year Department of Defense Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (SMART) Fellowship
Waleed Khalil