The Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering COVER: When going out in the field, ECE researchers can find themselves anywhere from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the plains of Antarctica. This year, an ECE team of four, led by Bob Clauer, traveled to Antarctica as part of an effort to establish magnetometer stations to help with the study of space weather. Read about the expedition and other out- of-the-lab experiences inside. (Photo illustration by Christina O’Connor)

This report was produced with funds from the Harry Lynde Bradley Foundation. Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants for admission or employment on the basis of race, gender, disability, age, veteran status, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or political affiliation. Anyone having questions concerning discrimination should contact the Office for Equity and Access. PRODUCED BY UNCORK-IT COMMUNICATIONS • PHOTOGRAPHY BY VIRGINIA TECH UNIVERSITY RELATIONS, UNLESS NOTED. PRODUCED BY UNCORK-IT COMMUNICATIONS • PHOTOGRAPHY VIRGINIA What’s Perspectives from the Inside Department Head 1 Letter from the Department Head continue to be honored and humbled to serve as department head of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Comput- 2 New Faculty Members er Engineering. I am still amazed by the accomplishments, 3 Letter from the Advisory Board Chair creativity and dedication of our students, staff and faculty. And, I remain energized by the loyalty of our alumni, the support of our corporate and other friends, and the enthusi- 4 FEATURES asm of the many employers that want to hire Virginia Tech 4 Deep Freeze: Space Science ECE graduates. Although this annual report includes only Takes ECE to Antarctica Ia small sample of the many exciting activities in ECE over the past year, 11 SuperDARN I hope that it conveys to you at least 12 Reaching for the Stars some of the quality, impact, innovation and, especially, potential of our 14 Tapping Multi-Core ECE Department that I have the good 17 When Hardware and Software fortune to experience every day. Hit Deep Water When I interviewed for the position of department head in February 20 Reverse Engineering a Network 2009, I put forward five principles to Fight Breast Cancer that I would use, and have used, to Scott Midkiff Apping Disasters guide me in this position. These are Department Head 22 to: (1) strive for quality; (2) maximize 24 Nanogrids for Sustainable Buildings impact; (3) be innovative; (4) look outward; and (5) ensure integ- rity. The fourth principle, to look outward, may seem of lesser im- 26 Fred Lee Invited to National portance. Indeed, with wonderful colleagues around campus, out- Academy of Engineering standing ECE laboratory facilities and the surrounding beauty of Hokie stone buildings, the Duck Pond, and the Blue Ridge Moun- 28 RESeARCH NEWS tains, looking “inward” is easy and rather satisfying. However, we must look outward for new ideas and to set benchmarks in our quest for even higher quality. We must collaborate with others, go 36 ECE PEOPLE beyond campus to conduct research, and cultivate our research and 36 Ph.D. Degrees Awarded educational programs beyond Blacksburg to maximize our impact. And, the more that we look outward, the more that others will look 36 Patents at us, which will further enhance our reputation and attract the best 38 Bradley Fellows students and faculty to consider joining Virginia Tech. It is also the new reality for higher education that we must also look outwardly 38 Bradley Alumni for a larger part of the financial support needed to provide a first- 42 Bradley Scholars class ECE education and enable cutting-edge research. This year’s report features ways in which some of our faculty 43 Corporate & Industrial Affiliates members are looking outward — from space science research in the 44 Donors to ECE extremes of Antarctica, to facilitating citizen science in response to environmental disaster in the Gulf Coast, and beyond. There are 46 Honors & Achievements many other examples of ECE faculty and students being deeply engaged beyond campus that are described only briefly or not at 48 ECE Faculty all in this report. The ECE faculty members and students based in

1 Persfrom the pectives Department Head Continued the National Capital Region and at the National Institute of Aero- We welcome two new members to our faculty, Jules White and space near NASA Langley Research Center are tangible evidence Dennis Sweeney. Jules’s expertise is in the area of cyber-physical of our engagement beyond the confines of campus. We also teach systems, which are systems with closely linked computational and courses, in person or via distance learning, to students across the physical aspects. Dennis is ECE’s new Director of Instructional Lab- Commonwealth of Virginia, in Egypt, and elsewhere in the nation oratories and is responsible for facilitating innovation in and ensur- and the world. Many ECE faculty members are key leaders in in- ing the efficient operation of our teaching laboratories. ternational technical societies, journals and conferences, including I also note the passing of Ira Jacobs on August 11, 2010. Ira was Dushan Boroyevich, the President of the IEEE Power Electronics truly a gentleman and a scholar. His wisdom, service and unwaver- Society. These are all examples of how ECE is making a difference ing optimism are greatly missed. around the world, and how we are bringing those experiences back In closing, I wish to thank our many friends and supporters, to Virginia Tech to improve and expand all that we do. both on campus and beyond. The support of the Bradley Founda- Beyond campus and on campus, much has happened within tion, industry partners, research sponsors, alumni and other friends ECE during the past year. I would like to highlight a few particular- is particularly important as we strive to further improve our educa- ly important milestones. University Distinguished Professor Fred tion and research programs. I especially want to thank the members Lee was one of 68 new members elected to the National Academy of the ECE Advisory Board and the members of advisory boards for of Engineering. As described on page 26, this is a significant and our research centers and groups for their wise counsel and support. well deserved honor, and a call to service, for Fred. Virginia Tech I am personally grateful for the dedicated service of Gino Manzo, is particularly proud of Fred as he is truly a “homegrown” NAE past ECE Advisory Board chair, and Mike Hurley, our current member. Joseph Tront has been named the W. S. “Pete” White chair. On campus, Dean Richard Benson and the rest of the College Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education. This two-year ro- of Engineering team continue to be of great assistance to me and tating chair was established by American Electric Power to honor others in ECE. Most importantly, I greatly appreciate the faculty, Pete White, a 1948 electrical engineering graduate of Virginia Tech. staff and students who are the Bradley Department of Electrical and Joe is being recognized for his long-term and continuing contribu- Computer Engineering. tions to the use of technology in the classroom. Joseph Baker was named the Steven O. Lane Junior Faculty Fellow. This fellowship was established in memory of the late Steven O. Lane, a 1978 electrical engineering graduate of Virginia Tech, and recognizes a junior faculty member for teaching and research excellence in electromagnetics and antennas. Masoud Agah and Allen MacKenzie were granted tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor and Scott Midkiff Bob Clauer was granted tenure at the rank of professor. Department Head

ty Jules White Jules White joined the ECE faculty as an as- tions between the physical and computational sistant professor. White’s research focus is aspects. White comes to Virginia Tech from cyber-physical systems, which are systems Vanderbilt University, where he was a research with closely linked computational and physi- assistant professor. White received his Ph.D. cal aspects. This emerging field is rooted in from Vanderbilt in 2008 and his M.S. in 2006. embedded systems but focuses on the interac- He earned a B.A. from Brown in 2001. ul N e w Fac

2 Perspectivesfrom the Chair of the Advisory Board

“Ut Prosim— That I May Serve”

have always been proud of Virginia Tech’s motto. It re- Two trends that continue to require the department and the minds us of a greater purpose for our education and re- university to be adaptive are the increased emphasis on application- search and for overcoming their associated challenges. Both oriented research (driven largely by the continued shift to direct as individuals and as a university department we must strive research funding, now 48 percent of the College of Engineering first to obtain a sound education and then apply what we’ve funding) and the increased need for multi-disciplined research and learned in theory and research to improve our community development in order to successfully address complex problems. and ultimately our world. These are two areas in particular where members of the Advisory In this annual report, you will see many great examples Board, as well as others in industry, should be well positioned to Iof field-leading research being applied to address all sorts of issues lend their expertise, professional connections, and funding support. and to improve people’s lives. The Bradley Department of Electrical There are many ways to get involved. Please consider ways you can and Computer Engineering’s (ECE) faculty and students have been contribute. Personal contributions and service to others, coupled doing their part to continue the department’s tradition of academic with strong education and technical know-how, are a powerful excellence with practical results. combination that makes the Virginia Tech community exceptional. Improving the energy situation at the local level and at the global scale is an area of interest for me as well as an area in which I believe the ECE department is well-positioned to contribute. With benefits ranging from reducing individuals’ utility bills to enabling worldwide sustainability, this area of research is notable for its many technical challenges and for potentially huge benefits to society: an Michael Hurley exemplary fit for our academics and research. Chair, ECE Advisory Board

Dennis Sweeney Dennis Sweeney joined ECE this spring as Di- edge laboratory and design courses. Sweeney rector of Instructional Labs. In this role, Swee- earned his BSEE (’71) from Virginia Tech, ney will oversee the creation, operation, and received an Master of Arts in religious studies ongoing improvement of instructional laborato- (’76) from the Catholic University of America, ries. He will also partner with faculty members and obtained his Master of Science (’86) and to develop and deliver original and cutting- Ph.D. (’92) degrees in EE from Virginia Tech.

3 DEEP FREEZE Space science takes ECE to antarctica PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOB CLAUER, HYOMIN KIM, JOSEPH MACON, AND KSHITIJA DESHPANDE PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOB CLAUER, HYOMIN KIM, JOSEPH MACON, AND KSHITIJA Photo Illustration BY CHRISTINA O’CONNOR 4 The research team com- batted the altitude, long days, and extreme cold Virginia Tech research team is working 40° magnetic meridian (longitude) — the same weather as they worked to to understand space weather — from magnetic meridian where researchers already have troubleshoot and install the South Pole. As part of a $2.39 mil- magnetometers in the northern hemisphere along data collection stations. The lion grant from the National Science the coast of Greenland. Once they have a similar team labored to install and Foundation (NSF), the team is deploy- chain in Antarctica, the team can see how the data protect their equipment, Aing seven autonomous data collection stations in from the two hemispheres relate. “We have mod- which was designed to Antarctica within the next four years. There are els of the global magnetosphere, but we’d like to withstand the grueling unique difficulties associated with the project, but validate those models,” explains Robert Clauer, Antarctic weather. also a unique payoff: these are measurements that the ECE professor who heads the team. “Since no one has taken before. these are all new measurements, that are coor- Each system is autonomous and designed to dinated between both Northern and Southern operate unattended for at least five years on the hemispheres, maybe we will see something that east Antarctic plateau. Data are acquired at Vir- lets us understand a new phenomenon.” ginia Tech in near real time using satellites. There are SuperDARN radars in the South When fully deployed, the chain of data plat- Pole area as well, so scientists can also measure the forms will help with studies of global phenomena electric fields over the new platforms. “Eventual- from the solar wind/magnetosphere interaction. ly,” Clauer says, “we’ll put all the data together to Specifically, researchers will be able to observe the start understanding it, then relate it to the North- changes in the electrodynamic circuit formed by ern hemisphere.” the solar wind coupled to both polar ionospheres This winter, Clauer, with post-doctoral re- by magnetic field lines. searcher Hyomin Kim and graduate students Jo- The seven stations will be roughly along the seph Macon and Kshitija Deshpande, traveled to PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOB CLAUER, HYOMIN KIM, JOSEPH MACON, AND KSHITIJA DESHPANDE PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOB CLAUER, HYOMIN KIM, JOSEPH MACON, AND KSHITIJA 5 “Because these systems are made to be deployed in such a harsh environment as the South Pole, there are some unusual design considerations.”

Left: The team flew a Antarctica to troubleshoot an existing station that lored to our needs in the polar regions,” Clauer Virginia Tech pennant had failed and to install two new stations as test notes. at the stations being tested systems at the South Pole research station. If the Because these systems are made for deploy- at South Pole. From the left, new stations function well for a year, they will be ment in such a harsh environment as the South Bob Clauer, Kshitija Desh- deployed next year to remote locations a few hun- Pole, there are some unusual design consider- pande, Joseph Macon, and dred kilometers from the South Pole. ations. The only way to transport the systems in Hyomin Kim. Bottom right: Antarctica is by small aircraft, so weight and size The data stations run on standard lead-acid batteries The Stations is important. Yet, the systems require enough bat- during solar winter. Each platform includes three devices: a flux- tery power to operate through the winter. gate magnetometer, a search-coil magnetometer, and a dual-frequency GPS receiver. The fluxgate Design for a Harsh Environment magnetometers measure background magnetic Clauer explains that it is also important for fields, which are associated with electrical- cur the systems to be simple and reliable. “Lots of rents in the ionosphere, while the search-coil exotic solutions may work, but they are very magnetometers specifically measure the changing risky,”he says. “Lead-acid batteries are very ro- magnetic fields and low frequency (ULF) waves. bust; they have been around a long time and they The GPS receivers can measure how a signal work. Solar cells run the system during the sum- changes from movement through the ionosphere, mer, lead-acid batteries during the winter.” and can calculate the number of electrons that the The electronics are housed in a super-insu- signal has moved through. This is very new tech- lated box, custom-made from vacuum panels nology, according to Clauer, who calls it risky for minimal thermal loss. Energy loss from the but very flexible. The GPS receivers were origi- electronics is sufficient to heat the box, but the nally designed at Cornell and customized Iridium radio and the GPS receiver cannot be by Brent Ledvina, a former ECE assistant operated for long at the same time, or the box professor, and Todd Humphries from the becomes too hot. When the outside temperature University of Texas at Austin. “It’s ideal is around -20° F, the temperature in the box is for us to get such a nice instrument tai- around 104° F (40° C) and can get up to 80° or

6 90° C very quickly with both devices running. form, and have only one magnetometer each. The team prepares to Clauer, however, isn’t concerned about this. “It’s PG1 was tested at the South Pole for a year before cover the vault of one of something we can deal with,” he says. being set up at its location, but PG2 was not tested the South Pole stations The Iridium radio transmissions also cause before deployment and is the one that failed and with plywood to protect some interference for the GPS receiver. The team returned to Virginia Tech. “We think it may be it from drifting snow. is working with positioning the GPS antenna to a communication failure,” says Macon, who at- minimize this interference. “This is a prototype tempted to fix the station in December. for testing,” Kim explains, “and we’ll debug the Macon notes that there will be some difficul- problems for a year before we move the systems to ties to overcome while setting up the system for actual locations. So it’s not too surprising that we testing in Blacksburg. “The platform can’t be set have some small issues to resolve.” up with liquid precipitation,” he explains, “be- The team built four stations this year. Two cause it’s designed for dry and cold weather. We are at the South Pole for a year of testing in Ant- have to figure out how to deal with that if we’re arctic conditions; one is at Ann Arbor, Michigan; going to set it up here in Blacksburg. It will work and one is at Virginia Tech. If the two stations es- just fine, but we have to make sure it’s protected tablished this year at the South Pole work reliably, for a different environment. There are a lot of they will be deployed in the field next year and wires to be buried in snow, and we can’t do that the stations from Ann Arbor and Virginia Tech here. Something might run over it, or some ro- will go for testing at the South Pole. dent might decide it’s tasty.” Two stations have already been deployed at The stations consist of a tower, a main vault locations in the field: PG1 and PG2. These sta- for batteries and electronics, and instruments. The tions are based on an earlier model of the plat- tower holds only the solar cells and Iridium radio

7 Greenland arlier in his career, Clauer worked with the magnetometer array in Greenland. This array, along the west coast of Greenland, is equipped Ewith enough stations to allow only a few hundred kilometers between them. Scientists have been collecting and analyzing data from this array for years, and are hoping that the new South Pole array will furnish them with similar data. Clauer relates one of his favorite experiences from his work in Green- land, when researchers saw small spikes in their data that needed to be ex- plained. Using data from the Greenland magnetometers, they found that all vectors pointed to a single point because a field-aligned current and a radial electric field caused the ionosphere to move in a circle around the current. “I ECE professor Bob Clauer really appreciate clever displays of data; they open your eyes to understand at the South Pole what is happening. It’s rare that you see data come out that looks so perfect.”

antennas — everything else is buried to protect it floating and changing potential all the time.” from the environment. The main vault contain- ing the batteries and electronics is buried about The Trip four feet deep, while the instruments are buried Of the four, Kim is the only one with pre- Below: The field camp in shallower pits. vious experience at the South Pole. This was his established on the Antarctic Every pit is covered with plywood to make fourth trip to Antarctica and third to the Pole, Plateau to recover malfunc- it safer for the devices and easier to dig up again. and he even recognizes some of the same people tioning station PG2 Precipitation deposits snow for the team uncover- from previous trips. “I think there are two differ- (84.42°S, 57.96°E). ing the devices. However, when Macon and Kim ent types of people; one type really loves to be Next page: Team members were digging up PG2 they found that they had to back, for others one time is fine,” he says, “but from the left are Joseph shovel 2.5 feet of snow to uncover the main vault. whenever I go, I see some of the same faces.” He Macon, Hyomin Kim, and “The equipment is specifically designed to be Kshitija Deshpande. The finds something different every time, however. picture is taken at the set while wearing gloves, except for the coax ca- Not only was this his first time camping on the re- “Happy Camper” training ble for the radio. You still have to take your gloves mote Antarctic Plateau, but it was also his longest course given at McMurdo off to attach that,” Clauer says. “The best thing trip so far. “Staying for so much longer was very Station prior to deployment I found was the chemical hand warmers. Even in physically challenging. There was much more to the South Pole. Antarctica, they last about seven hours,” he adds. work involved and even very simple tasks could “We were lucky that there wasn’t be a challenge,” he says. much wind,” he reports. “If there’s Clauer’s previous experience had been in wind, then it’s even colder and you Greenland, which he says was a “smaller, simpler can’t keep the snow shoveled.” operation. Antarctica is huge by comparison — The stations also are affected there is a much bigger learning curve. Greenland by the extreme dryness. “Because is not quite as high, and not quite as cold.” it’s so dry, our electric tower gets a Travelers are advised to spend their first days lot of electrical potential produced at the South Pole acclimating to the altitude. by the blowing snow,” Clauer says. Deshpande explains, “if you get serious altitude Static electricity is a big problem. sickness, you may have to be evacuated. You al- “You’re on 3 km of ice, so ground- ready are short of breath, and it’s cold, so your ing is nearly impossible. We ground body doesn’t really work normally at all. Just our stuff to the tower, which is walking around is a pain. Climbing stairs to get

8 Camp / PG2

Geographic Station #1 South Pole

1000 Miles

1000 Km

SuperDARN The at McMurdo South Pole Station up to the galley to eat is a big deal. And it’s such a cold air that it just cuts your throat. You have to fight your own body to get stuff done.” “What struck me the most,” Macon declares, “was realizing how treacherous the continent is. As you get out to the South Pole, it hits you that this place is really cold. Antarctica really just doesn’t care if I make it out of here or not. It inspires a certain amount of respect.” But Macon outh Pole Station is a permanent research station admits that the experience was worth it. “This located in the center of Antarctica, only about wasn’t a super-fun field trip,” he says, “It took a S350 meters from the Geographic South Pole. lot of effort and commitment to get through it, Clauer notes, “it has many scientific applications, in- but I’m proud of our team.” cluding a clean air sector, a dark sector where no lights By the second day, the team was ready to start are allowed, and a seismic research sector.” installing the two platforms. One of the locations With all this research around, finding a location was 3/4 of a mile from the station. “It would take to set up sensors in the surrounding area can be tricky. at least an hour to walk there, and you’d arrive To get out on the plateau to set up sensors, people and totally exhausted,” says Macon, so they traveled equipment are flown to their site in small planes. “You by snowmobile. It took about five days to get the need good GPS coordinates for each station so that the first system set up, at which point the team split. plane can find it again,” according to Clauer. “We ac- Macon and Kim went camping out to PG2 while cidentally put one of our stations in the middle of the Clauer and Deshpande stayed to install the second ski trail, but it wasn’t a problem to move the trail over platform. a bit,” he says. The only way to access South Pole Station is to Camping take a plane from McMurdo Station, which is located Although being inside the elevated station on the coast of Antarctica. There is only one type of was comfortable, out in the field it was extremely plane coming from McMurdo to South Pole Station: a cold. Macon, Kim, and a professional mountain- C130, which is a military plane with skis that is mostly eer went camping by PG2 to try to fix the system for cargo. Five firefighters must be on the runway every or, failing that, to pack it up and bring it home. time it takes off or lands.

9 “Antarctica really just doesn’t care if I make it out of here or not. It inspires a certain amount of respect.” “It’s quite an experience,” says Kim, who had where, only three people doing nothing with no never camped out during any of his previous trips. civilization around.” Luckily, the plane was able “The South Pole is already high, so everyone has to make the trip the following day. some altitude sickness. Where we were camping was 2000 feet higher than the South Pole. We Celebrations were okay, but we had to breathe harder.” Celebrating the winter holidays at the South It took the first day to set up the camp. The Pole was a unique experience. “They had a really second day they tried to troubleshoot the system, nice Christmas dinner for us,” says Deshpande. then packed it up. By the end of that day, the “They put the blinds down so that it looked like Below left: group picture three were ready to be picked up. But that eve- evening in spite of the 24-hour sunlight. Every- of the “Happy Camper” ning the wind picked up. one was dressed up, and the food was good. There students around the dinner “When we first got out there, we could see was even a Yule log on the flat-screen televisions!” table that they constructed forever, it’s just this ocean of white. But when the Because the ice sheet and South Pole station in the snow. Center: The wind gets up strong enough to kick up the snow, move, the location of the actual rotational pole team celebrates New Year it just starts closing in on you and turns into a gray shifts relative to the station over time. A surveyor 2011 at the South Pole. soupy mess,” Macon reports. is brought to the station each year and on New Right: Bob Clauer passes The trio had plenty of supplies, since camp- Years Day, a new pole is placed at the proper loca- the 2011 South Pole marker ers in Antarctica are required to take enough food tion of the south rotational pole. The team was in the annual pole moving to last for seven days longer than they think they part of the moving of the pole ceremony, a yearly ceremony. will need to be out. Accord- New Year’s event. ing to Macon, “it was just This year, however, marks the 100th year kind of a mental struggle. since the South Pole was first visited, and there There’s nothing to do.” is a special centennial pole to mark the occasion. Kim adds, “it’s not like Everyone resident at the station forms a line from you’re stuck at an airport. the old pole to the new location and passes the You’re in the middle of no- new pole hand-to-hand to the new location. TOP LEFT: CHRISTINA O’CONNOR, OTHERS COURTESY OF SUPERDARN LABORATORY 10 SesearchersUP at the Virginia Tech ERDARNOriginally, SuperDARN measurements From left: Kevin Sterne SuperDARN laboratory have been were available only for the far northern and inspects electronics hardware; a monitor working on adding four new radars southern latitudes, but in recent years Su- showing combined data to the Super Dual Auroral Radar perDARN researchers have been adding from all SuperDARN sites; Network (SuperDARN). SuperDARN new radars to the network to extend its cov- the new site located in Ris an international collaboration erage to middle latitudes. In the past two Oregon, and the new site located in Kansas. involving scientists and engineers in more years, the Virginia Tech SuperDARN team than a dozen countries. High frequency (HF) has worked on building four new radars radars are positioned around the world and at two separate sites: Ft. Hays, Kansas, operated continuously to provide global, in- and Christmas Valley, Oregon. Dartmouth stantaneous maps of plasma convection in College is the lead institution for the two the Earth’s ionosphere. Scientists around Christmas Valley radars and Virginia Tech is the world use SuperDARN data to help un- the lead institution for the two Hays radars. derstand the many effects of space weath- Over the next couple of years, the Virginia er, according to Joseph Baker, who is part Tech team will be involved in adding two ra- of the Virginia Tech SuperDARN team, along dars in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and with Ray Greenwald, J. Michael Ruohoniemi, two more in the Azores Islands of Portugal. and Lasse Clausen. TOP LEFT: CHRISTINA O’CONNOR, OTHERS COURTESY OF SUPERDARN LABORATORY 11 n the polar night of early February, at the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, Alaska, a Virginia Tech Reaching for team launched a rocket into an aurora. The team included ECE associate professor Scott Bailey, Chris Hall of aerospace and ocean engineering, two students and a postdoctoral associate, plus colleagues from three other in- the stars stitutions. The 10-minute flight took the rocket 200 miles above the ground To study our own and represented the first time a sounding rocket was used for pointing at a star near the horizon and using attenuation of starlight to de- atmosphere Itermine atmospheric constituent concentrations. Some measurements are harder to obtain than others, and Bailey’s team sometimes must take their measurements by sending special equipment up on rockets. With funding from NASA, the team was aiming at Spica, 260 light years away, in an effort to measure the amount of nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere. Nitric oxide is important because it can destroy ozone. One of the chemical byproducts of the aurora, nitric oxide is usually found in the thermosphere — at a far higher altitude than the ozone in the stratosphere. However, “in the polar night, there are no solar pho- tons to break up the nitric oxide,” Bailey explains, “so the aurora keeps building it and there’s nothing to take it away. Then it has time to flow downward and destroy large amounts of ozone.” According to Bailey, “we’ve observed the ozone destruction that we believe occurs from aurorally produced nitric oxide, but we’ve never measured the nitric oxide itself at night, when it must be flowing down. The methods we use for nitric oxide in the daytime don’t work at night.” The team aimed the sounding rocket at Spica because it shines exceptionally well at wavelengths that only nitric oxide absorbs. With the star in occultation (covered by Earth’s atmosphere), they hoped to measure the density of nitric oxide molecules along the path from the rocket through the atmosphere. They used an ultraviolet spectrograph designed at the University of Colorado to measure the starlight. The more nitric oxide between the rocket and the star, the more the spectrograph signal decreases when viewing through the atmosphere. “It’s tricky to find a star that’s bright at the UV wavelengths that only nitric oxide absorbs.” It’s also hard to get the rocket pointed at the star, he explains. NASA has equipment that can take the rocket up to space and point it within two arcminutes (one arcminute is 1/60 of a degree), but this only works when the rocket is pointing at a star sufficiently high PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCOTT BAILEY

12 in the sky. However, to study the atmosphere, the rocket had to actually look toward the Earth’s horizon. To compensate for this, they planned for the rocket to first lock onto a star higher in the sky, then use a gyro system to scan it down mechanically. An internal camera system would then help align it more precisely. “When you look at the whole system, it’s very complicated, but on the other hand, except for the looking near the horizon, this pointing approach is well within the team’s experience,” says Bailey.

Building the Hardware Building the hardware presented a number of challenges. The experiment was led by Virginia Tech, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Colorado, Utah State University, and Artep Inc. (a small company in Maryland). “It was an interesting challenge bringing together hardware when it came from four different places,” says Bailey. The tele- scope they used, for example, had been flown on rockets in the 1980s and 1990s, but had been on display in Colorado. The team performed all the testing and integration at Virginia Tech, and then integrated with NASA’s systems at the Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern shore of Virginia, and then integrated the entire payload with the rocket motors once in Alaska. “It’s a big success for Virginia Tech to get it together and get it launched.” In addition to Bailey and Hall, the team includes master’s student Padma Thirukoveluri, Ph.D. student Justin Carstens, and postdoctoral associate Brentha Top: The team tested and integrated Thurairajah. all the hardware for the experiment at Virginia Tech, then integrated with Even with all the lab tests, Bailey explains that NASA subsystems at Wallops flight field trials are a vital part of the research. “You think facility, and installed the motors in it’s only a small difference from what you’ve done be- Alaska. Center left: Bailey’s team fore, but all the new variables come together to make involved a number of undergraduate it something different. A failure in the pointing system and graduate students over a couple- prevented us from getting pointed at the star,” Bailey year period. Shown here from the left are Brentha Thurairajah (postdoc), explains. Even though this year’s launch didn’t return graduate students Cissi Lin, Justin with the data they had hoped to collect, he remains op- Carstens, and Padma Thirukove- timistic. “We’re a long way from being done,” he says. luri, and Bailey. The space monkey “We learned a lot about pointing at a star close is a good luck tradition for Artep to earth. It’s the first time a sounding rocket had done (not flown). Center right: The star tracker camera mounted inside the that.” The team would like to try again, and hopes in rocket skin. Bottom: The rocket was the future to expand the effort to include measurement launched from Poker Flat Research on the same star, but from a satellite. Range during a beautiful aurora. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCOTT BAILEY

13 Tapping multi-core With the current trend of multi-core processing, software is struggling to keep up with the new hardware. We are all familiar with the dual- and quad-core systems common in new off-the-shelf desktop and lap- top computers, but some time-critical applications are beginning to be run on machines with up to 50 cores, compounding the difficulty.

CE associate professor Binoy understood about doing this on multi-core Ravindran is leading a team platforms.” of students to confront some One challenge for the group is satisfy- of the unique challenges of ing time constraints for dynamic applica- multi-core computing — tions. According to Ravindran, conven- managing time constraints tional real-time concepts and techniques are of dynamic time-critical largely focused on static, device-level moni- applications on multi-core toring and control, in which the software hardware, and automatically operates in a largely predictable environ- modifying existing time- ment — real-time system’s Ecritical code for use on the new hardware. historical niche. Working with the U.S. Navy, the team is Dynamic application also successfully applying their theories and contexts, however, in- Real-time capability experimental software systems to real pro- volve situations where no duction systems. one knows when events without rewriting will trigger computations, Real-Time Systems what resources computa- millions Ravindran and his team are investigat- tions will need, or how ing real-time systems applications. They long computations will of lines of code must figure out how to satisfy application- take to execute. “In spite level time constraints on the new multi-core of this,” Ravindran explains, “we still have hardware. “We have fairly mature theory to meet application time constraints as best and techniques for understanding how to as we can, in a way that makes sense to the satisfy application time constraints on ma- application, given the current situation and chines with only one processor,” Ravindran circumstance.” acknowledges, “but comparatively little is Ravindran has worked on the devel-

14 Single-core processor.

Multi-core processor running single-threaded software.

Multi-core processor running multi-threaded software, such as that enabled by ChronOS and HyFlow.

opment of real-time resource management on automated concurrency refactoring: of automatic and semi-automatic tech- techniques for such dynamic real-time ap- techniques that introduce greater concur- niques that can take an existing real-time plications for the past 15 years. “We have rency into legacy real-time code to exploit code base and introduce greater concurren- developed multiple generations of algo- the parallelism of new multi-core hardware, cy to exploit the parallelism of the multiple rithms and system software (including oper- without manually rewriting large portions cores, while still meeting time constraints. ating system kernels, Java virtual machines, of existing code. Concurrency occurs when “For this to work, program transformation and middleware) for this problem space in multiple computations execute simultane- techniques backed by real-time scheduling the past, but none have looked at the multi- ously on physically separate computing and concurrency theory must be designed,” core challenge,” he says. cores on multi-core hardware, often result- emphasizes Ravindran, “we are developing The team is developing both the un- ing in greater application throughput and such theory, as well as modified compilers derlying theory and system software to enhanced timeliness. and runtime systems, which can take legacy meet this challenge. The group has re- “The challenge is to transform exist- real-time code in the front and crank out Real-time capability cently developed the ChronOS real-time ing real-time software to support emerging transformed code for multi-core platforms Linux kernel, the Linux operating sys- multi-core platforms,” according to Ravin- at the other end.” For this purpose, the without rewriting tem modified to support dynamic real- dran. “Real-time software poses particular team is exploiting a technique called soft- time applications on multi-core hardware. difficulties because time constraints that ware transactional memory or STM, which millions ChronOS is open source and available via were met in the earlier code must continue has recently gained significant traction in www.chronoslinux.org. to be met after the transformation, while the concurrency community due to its proof lines of code greater concurrency is being exposed. This gramming ease and scalability on multiple Modifying Existing is a significant problem for many organiza- cores. Real-Time Software tions with enterprise-class legacy real-time In addition to ChronOS, the team is The team is also tackling the related software, running into millions of lines of developing a Java-based distributed software challenge of modifying existing real-time code, as they confront a hardware technol- system called HyFlow to aid with distrib- software, or “legacy” real-time code, for use ogy refresh challenge.” uted multi-core real-time programming. on multi-core platforms. They are working The team is working to develop a suite “Many real-time (and non real-time) sys-

15 Binoy Ravindran and some of the students in the Real-Time Systems Laboratory. From left: Sonal Saha, Peter DiMarco, Aaron Lindsay, Matthew Dellinger, Mohamed Saad, Alex Turcu, and Bo Zhang.

tems are networked computers, each with U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) a software proof-of-concept to demonstrate potentially multiple cores. Programming Dahlgren and the Naval Engineering Educa- ideas. ChronOS, HyFlow, and other arti- such hardware is challenging, as reasoning tion Center (NEEC), allows them to target facts down our pipeline are not products by about multicomputer concurrency adds an Navy production systems for testing their any stretch. We are in the business of doing extra level of complexity,” says Ravindran. ideas at the Navy’s Dahlgren laboratory. academic research: answering interesting He adds that “STM is not a silver bullet, but “The Navy’s Aegis Combat System, a highly fundamental questions,” Ravindran ex- it is a promising solution for some funda- complex computer system, has been a big plains. The emerging multi-core challenge, mental multi-core concurrency problems. inspiration for us in the dynamic real-time working with a complex system like Aegis, HyFlow extends STM for networked com- problem space,” Ravindran emphasizes. For access to a production system, collabora- puters, encapsulating STM’s programming two years, Ravindran has been working at tion with NSWC, and the on-site testing of ease and scalability as an easy to use Java Dahlgren during the summer as an Office their research keeps the team highly moti- programming interface.” More information of Naval Research Faculty Fellow and tak- vated, he says. on HyFlow can be found at www.hyflow.org. ing his students with him to Dahlgren to test “Part of the reason the dynamic real- Ravindran and his team are devoted their ideas. time problem space is so little understood,” to building their experimental software as Last summer at Dahlgren was very suc- he continues, “is the lack of access to non- open-source projects. “I want to keep Chro- cessful he says. “At the end of the summer, trivial applications for academic research- nOS and HyFlow open source,” he says, “I preliminary versions of ChronOS and Hy- ers. Our work with NSWC has solved that think that’s the way to build robust software Flow were able to support key components problem for us.” and increase innovation. You have to get the of Aegis on new multi-core hardware and Ravindran enjoys the connection to larger community involved.” demonstrate improvement. We were able to his own introduction to dynamic real-time understand what works and what doesn’t systems, “My own graduate theses, which Applying Theory and Software and why, and we came back with a new were in the dynamic real-time space, were in the Real World set of difficult problems to work on.” Ra- inspired by Aegis and work at NSWC Dahl- Ravindran and his students aren’t just vindran continues, “Additionally, students gren. It is incredibly satisfying for me to developing theory and experimental soft- were incredibly excited about the Navy and pass those experiences to my students and ware systems, though — they are working work in the national security arena, which see them get similarly excited.” with the U.S. Navy to put their ideas into are the central goals of NEEC.” practice. Their work, funded in part by the “Experimental software is just that — PHOTO BY JOHN MCCORMICK

16 When hardware & software pplying its expertise to both surface and underwater vehicles, the ASCL team analyzes each situation and adds whatever is necessary to achieve the autonomy required. Sometimes this means developing fundamentally new algorithms and integrating them with an existing boat, sometimes creating a new robot with added physical capabilities,A and frequently integrating both physical and software features of the projects. Research that is so dependent on successful fieldwork presents special challenges. According to ECE associate professor Dan Stil- well, director of the ASCL, “there’s a big difference between working in the lab and working in the field, and that gap is huge. There are all sorts of new failure modes, and all sorts of risks. Our vehicle disappears on purpose, so if it doesn’t work right we won’t know. It just won’t come back. In our case, that means we’ve just wasted two years of work, so our tolerance for risk is very low.” There are also special challenges posed by field work. “A team may spend long days in the hot sun or the bitter cold, depending on the season. In these circumstances, effective teamwork is a necessity.” But, as Stilwell says, “we do get to go out to the Gulf of Mexico and hang out in a boat.” His team has tested systems not just in the Gulf, but also in coastal and fresh water rivers and lakes of Virginia, the rivers of Louisiana, and the Chesapeake Bay.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles In collaboration with the Naval Postgraduate School and Craig Woolsey of aerospace and ocean engineering (AOE), Stilwell and his team are adding intelligence to existing surface vehicles. They Whether they are add- are developing a sensing and autonomy package that can make any ing brains to existing boat autonomous, giving the Navy the option to let their boats transition from manned to unmanned at the flip of a switch. Stilwell systems or designing explains the project as “the ability to make a boat smart, not the design of a new boat. The Navy doesn’t need another robotic boat,” entirely new robots, he continues, “the Navy needs to make its boats smart.” A large part of this project is the development of new classes researchers in the of guidance algorithms. “At some point, the vehicle has to decide Autonomous Systems where to go and how to get there,” says Stilwell. Their new algorithms allow an autonomous vehicle to operate in extremely large and Controls Laboratory and mostly unknown environments. “We can’t run global algorithms in real-time, because the do- (ASCL) don’t just simu- main is just too big,” Stilwell explains. “The amount of time needed late — their systems to run calculations is consistent with how large an area you’re planning over.” To deal with this, Stilwell continues, “our algorithms dive into real waters. switch between thinking globally and thinking locally.” The global domain is a big picture of the larger area, while the local domain includes trajectories for where the vehicle needs to go immediately, PHOTO BY JOHN MCCORMICK

17 From left to right: The team tests an unmanned surface vehicle (ASV) on the water. Christian Sonnenburg (left) and Aditya Gadre use wireless communication to monitor the ASV. The AUV’s sail, hull, and propeller. This autonomous drifter can operate in rivers. A diver tests the AUV in during a trial in Panama City, Fla. at a very detailed level, and can be computed in real-time. “This AUV can travel a long distance to a specified location, Incorporating information from the global domain, the local anchor itself to remain in that location for an extended period of algorithms can make decisions rapidly. “The vehicles start with a time, then return home when its mission is complete,” says Stilwell, map, but that map will have lots of errors,” according to Stilwell. who, with Neu, oversaw a successful deployment of the AUV in As long as the local trajectories and data correspond relatively well Panama City, Fla. last summer. to what is known of the global information, the vehicle will con- Six feet long with a diameter of seven inches, the new AUV tinue based on the local trajectories. weighs almost 100 pounds and is more than twice the size of the “We don’t have to process globally until we see that what we’re 475 AUV, which has been used for many applications since 2007. doing locally and what we would have done globally are different in The main weight of the AUV is its battery payload. Because of a meaningful way,” says Stilwell. “We don’t have to think globally its independence, the AUV must tote all its power onboard. “The very often,” he continues, “not until the theory says it absolutely AUV’s efficiency was a big concern for the hydrodynamic design,” has to be done, and in practice that turns out to be seldom. The vast says Neu. “We designed the shape to reduce drag and the propulsion majority of the time we’re only looking ahead a minute or two. system is as efficient as possible.” Approximately half of the battery We’re able to effectively combine global and local in a smart way.” power is used in traveling to the destination and back; the AUV Working with surface vehicles also presents challenges the reserves the remaining power for operating sensors while anchored team doesn’t face in their work with underwater or ground robots. and collecting data. “Dynamics count for a boat,” explains Stilwell, “A boat can slip For surface communications and navigation, the AUV is out- around a corner. It can go sideways. We had to develop some new fitted with a GPS receiver, an RF modem with a couple-mile reach, theory that deals with the fact that dynamics really matter.” and a satellite communications system. The AUV has an acoustic modem for communication while submerged, but a ship needs to Self-Mooring AUV be nearby to talk to it. Most autonomous vehicles are closely monitored during op- To get a GPS reading, the AUV surfaces periodically while eration, but Stilwell and Wayne Neu of AOE are leading a team traveling to its assigned location. Upon reaching its destination, the that has built a different kind of autonomous underwater vehicle AUV must rapidly anchor itself — before it has time to drift. (AUV), in collaboration with the Naval Oceanographic Office According to Neu, developing the mooring system was the (NAVO). This new AUV operates alone and can go long periods greatest challenge of this project. The solution is a vacuum-attached of time without communication. Even more unusual, the AUV false nose, which becomes the anchor. “When we were brainstorm- is self-mooring. It can anchor itself in a precise location ing what shapes we needed to grab and hold to the ocean bottom, of the ocean without drifting. we realized the anchor doesn’t have to hold. Down deep in the ASV PHOTOS BY JIM STROUP, UNCORK-IT, AND ASCL LAB

18 ocean, currents are small,” notes Neu. concept, through design, fabrication, and field trials. “It’s great en- The team found that the anchor took too long to separate from gineering.” the AUV if they merely released the pressure and allowed it to drop. So, a cartridge of compressed air is used to blow the anchor off. Riverine Drifter The anchor release system is another crafty solution. When it’s The Navy is also interested in a drifter that can operate suc- time to come home, the AUV uses a galvanic release to cut the wire cessfully in rivers, and Barron Associates in Charlottesville, Va. has attaching it to the anchor. A galvanic release relies on an anode and asked the ASCL to create one. cathode separated by seawater and won’t work in freshwater bod- A drifter is mostly passive, taking measurements as it drifts. ies. When a potential is applied to one side, the 3-4 mm stainless The specific challenge for drifting in rivers, however, is that all the steel wire rusts through in about 10 minutes, freeing the AUV to re- drifters will converge to the same streamline — getting measure- turn home. The anchor is left at its location. “The anchor is a cheap ments from only one of many possible streamlines. “They would part,” Neu explains, “It’s just a hunk of steel appropriately shaped.” like to measure what’s going The control algorithms for this AUV were created via the same on in the river,” says Stilwell, process developed for the 475 AUV, but the development time- “but they can only get this frame was weeks instead of the many months it took before. “We one streamline.” So, work- have robust control architectures and a good development process,” ing with Woolsey and Neu, says Stilwell. Developing the process took time initially, but now Stilwell’s team is building a the process is part of his laboratory’s toolkit. drifter with an actuator that In addition to the military, applications for AUVs with these can sense if it is following the capabilities include environmental monitoring, acoustic monitor- drifter ahead and change to ing for whales and other sea life, or taking readings during extreme another streamline. events such as hurricanes, when it isn’t safe for humans. Since the For this project, they AUV can remain at rest for many months, it can conduct long-term cannot use flaps or fins be- Dan Stilwell (left) and Brian McCarter marine life population assessments. cause they would get fouled work on the AUV electronics. “What’s cool about this kind of work,” Stilwell says, “is that in a river. So the system in- it’s extremely cross disciplinary. We have hydrodynamics issues, we cludes only one propeller, carefully screened from “river muck,” need level-headed mechanical design, we have cost constraints. We and a reaction wheel inside. The reaction wheel consists of a metal have issues with electronics components and need to get some cus- plate that spins to rotate the craft. tom designed — but not too much, and we need autonomy software The drifter is mostly spherical, with nothing that could easily that can operate robustly without human intervention throughout get caught by any debris in the river. all phases of an extended mission.” The challenge, according to Stilwell is “how to deploy several “All these different disciplines come together in one vehicle drifters and have them talk to each other and avoid each other’s and it turns into a real system. We take all this knowledge from streamlines, and do it in such a way that it minimizes energy. The aerospace and ocean engineering and electrical and computer engi- propeller should spin rarely. Half our program is making vehicles neering and actually see it fly.” Students on the project leave with smart,” he continues, “the other half is making new types of a great portfolio, he says. “They have taken a project from initial vehicles.” ASV PHOTOS BY JIM STROUP, UNCORK-IT, AND ASCL LAB

19 SCIENCESLIDES / VISISCIENCE CORP. ERα signaling in breast cancer ERα signaling

Activating phosphorylation Inhibiting phosphorylation Altered Oncogene Altered Tumor Suppressor Reverse engineering a network to fight breast cancer

rmed with computer algorithms and estrogen receptors play an important role in breast data-mining techniques, Jason Xuan cancer. For cells that contain estrogen receptors, is diving into massive amounts of pro- called ER+, estrogen is considered to be fuel for tein and gene data to fight breast cancer. breast cancer, according to Xuan, who is also as- The associate professor, who is posted at sociate director of Virginia Tech’s Computational Athe Advanced Research Institute in Arlington, is Bioinformatics and Bioimaging Laboratory. seeking the key to breast cancer endocrine thera- Estrogen can pass through the cell membrane. py resistance. When estrogen enters a cell that is ER+, it triggers He has been awarded a $1.56 million grant a series of biochemical pathways, referred to as the Estrogen receptor for this work from the National Institutes of estrogen receptor signaling network, that causes signaling networks Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute. He and cell growth and other behaviors, he explains. are very complex and little Yue (Joseph) Wang, the Grant A. Dove Profes- Endocrine therapies (commonly called hor- understood. There can be sor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are mone therapies) for breast cancer, such as Tamox- millions of interactions in working with colleagues from the Georgetown ifen, block the direct effect of estrogen and slow the network of a single cell. University Medical Center on the project. down the replication of breast cancer cells, Xuan The hormone estrogen and proteins called says. “Only 50 percent of all ER+ tumors are re-

20 sponsive at first to antiestrogens such as Tamoxi- models of the network. fen and many initially responsive tumors even- Xuan’s goal is to first understand the net- tually become resistant to endocrine treatment, work, then understand how it becomes resistant, leading to tumor recurrence and death,” he says. so that eventually researchers can find targets for Often, the cell finds a way around the block drugs that can reverse the resistance. “We will and the cancer becomes resistant to endocrine discover new knowledge of ER-signaling and therapy. “When it comes back, then we have no ultimately use this information to identify new cure for patients,” says Xuan. “We have not yet therapeutic targets for drug discovery,” he says. found a drug to battle the recurrence. That’s very Xuan’s project is part of Virginia Tech and troubling.” Georgetown University Medical Center’s Center According to Xuan, “Evidence has begun to for Cancer Systems Biology that focuses on treat- accumulate in our studies and others that ER-sig- ing breast cancer. Started in 2010, the center seeks naling can contribute, at least in part, to endocrine to develop more advanced and better-targeted resistance. In this project, we hypothesize that treatments for the disease. The center’s specific new insights into ER-signaling can be discovered focus is on the role of the estrogen receptor in to circumvent endocrine-resistant tumor growth. breast cells. Xuan is an expert in bioimaging, We want to reverse endocrine therapy resistance.” Scientists at Georgetown are focusing on bi- with research interests in intelligent Estrogen receptor signaling networks are ology, examining cell cultures, mammary tumors computing, bioinformatics, compu- very complex and little understood. The problem in animals, and patient breast tumors to determine tational systems biology, informa- is huge: there can be millions of interactions in the estrogen receptor-positive molecular signaling tion visualization, advanced image network of a single cell. To discover these inter- systems. Virginia Tech researchers are providing analysis, cellular and molecular im- actions, Xuan’s team is developing new machine bioinformatics analysis of the Georgetown data aging, and image-guided radiation learning algorithms, or data mining techniques, and building mathematical models of the molecu- therapy. to analyze the protein–protein interactions and lar control systems. William Baumann, ECE asso- gene expression data. From measurements of ciate professor, and John Tyson, professor of bio- behavior, they are trying to reverse engineer the logical sciences, are also involved in the center, and estrogen receptor signaling network and to build are tackling models from the molecular level.

DID YOU KNOW? • There were 209,060 new cases of breast ? cancer in 2010.

• There were 40,230 deaths from breast cancer in 2010.

• Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the United States.

• 70 percent of the 209,000 newly diagnosed cases of invasive breast cancer in the United States will be classified as ER+.

• Approximately 30 percent of all ER+ early-

stage breast cancers eventually recur. SCIENCE SOURCE / PHOTO RESEARCHERS, INC. RESEARCHERS, PHOTO / SOURCE SCIENCE

21 GETTY IMAGES /BACKGROUND: JEFF GENTNERS; SKYLINE: DON KLUMPP

apping DisasterS Enabling citizen scientists to help collect disaster data The 2010 Nashville flood nstead of just taking pictures to show their have provided important information if they had was one of the triggers that friends during emergency situations, civil- a way to transmit it to a central location. Rising prompted White and his ians with smartphones could be collecting floodwaters can be determined from pictures, and team to develop an app for necessary data for scientists and emergency dangerous areas can be marked using a phone’s tapping citizen scientists. responders. “The best pictures of the Nash- internal GPS. The phones have the tools, and villeI flooding were what people were taking on White’s team is working on the interface. By using civilians and their their phones,” says Jules White, an assistant pro- According to White, “emergency workers cell phones, White envisions developing an interface with fessor who joined ECE last fall as a specialist in or scientists can deploy this system on people’s visual layers that will allow cyber-physical systems. White and his students phones. It will reconfigure the sensors on the scientist and users to have a are working on an app for smartphones that will phones to gather whatever information they better understanding of the enable “civilian scientists” to use their phones to need.” People would have to download the app, before and after situations help during emergencies. but after that, their phones would tell these vol- posed by natural disasters. The National Science Foundation awarded unteers what to do. White a $65,000 grant for this project, which was “Ideally,” White continues, “we could prompted by recent disasters — including the collect thousands of photographs.” However, Gulf Coast oil spill and the Nashville flooding. they also need to weigh the value of the pho- In both situations, civilians already on site could tos against the need to use the cell network for

22 GETTY IMAGES /BACKGROUND: JEFF GENTNERS; SKYLINE: DON KLUMPP

“The best pictures of the Nashville flooding were what people were taking on their phones.”

emergency response or other applications. Because of the limited Below: Jules White (left) bandwidth available during emergencies, one consideration for with Hamilton Turner, have the team is the possibility of capturing and storing information been exploring low-power considerations for using cell that can be sent to scientists later using ad hoc techniques. “We phones during disasters. have to manage the available resources,” says White. Specific challenges the group faces include determining how many phones are needed for a given scenario, how to optimize power, and how to securely exchange information. Power-aware computing is a large part of the project, according to White. “People may not be able to charge their phones during an emergency situation,” he explains. “So we’re optimizing Power saving sensors and communication to maximize battery life.” Securely transferring information is another concern. One with method the team is considering for transferring data from one SPOT phone to another at the same location simply requires both people to move their phones in a particular way. ower conservation, a The team is also working with civil engineering professor critical issue for smart Mani Golparvar-Fard on high-precision augmented reality: how Pphone apps, becomes to overlay the position of dangerous areas on new photos using even more critical during an previous photos of the same place from a different angle. This is emergency. Power conserva- currently done with GPS and compass readings, but is imprecise, tion for smartphones is made more difficult by the according to White. “You can tell buildings, but not doorways,” layers of middleware that come between the soft- he explains. ware and hardware — layers that are extremely dif- The team is combining image-matching with GPS and com- ficult to simulate. pass data. “Image-matching is an offline process which takes a Graduate student Hamilton Turner has been couple hours right now, but we want to get it done faster. This working with White and a team at Vanderbilt on a is a future direction for us,” explains White. “The context is all method to emulate smartphone power consump- phases of construction. We want to overlay what the structure is tion. The work received a best student paper and supposed to look like and what it does look like, and use that to presentation award at the 1st International Confer- predict structural damage. I think it’s going to be a really interest- ence on Pervasive and Embedded Computing and ing project.” Communication Systems. White’s team consists of six undergraduate researchers, three The paper, “Analyzing Mobile Application Soft- graduate researchers, Hamilton Turner, Paul Miranda, and Dan- ware Power Consumption Via Model-Driven Engi- iel Guymon, and some students at Vanderbilt University and the neering,” discusses the System Power Optimiza- tion Tool (SPOT) — a tool to automate these University of Alabama. The undergraduates are Adam Antonioli, emulations. SPOT’s estimations come within 3-4 Stephen Byle, Matt McGarvey, Joe Payne, Zach Rattner, Semere percent of actual smartphone power consumption. Sium, Abdulah Asiri and Avanash Sridhar. White expects two or Turner worked with White as an undergradu- three graduate researchers to join the team this summer. ate at Vanderbilt University on a project that used White enjoys working with the students at both undergradu- smartphones to detect traffic accidents. He also ate and graduate levels. started a team there to develop smartphone apps. “The most fun part of this work is seeing a lot of really smart students come up with creative ideas,” he says.

23 Nano for sustainable gridsbuildings ith wind, solar and other clean en- age functions — and can be extended to multiple ergy sources gaining popularity buildings. worldwide, engineers are seeking Mattavelli is working with professors Fred ways to make renewable energy Lee, Dushan Boroyevich, and Khai Ngo, and systems more affordable and to in- research engineer Igor Cvetkovic and a team of tegrateW them with existing ac power grids. Much graduate students on the effort. “We are focus- research focuses on distributed power systems ing on energy conservation for buildings, because and the concept of microgrids, in which multiple residential and commercial buildings represent 68 electrical generation sources, energy storage, and percent of U.S. electricity consumption and al- loads connect as a single point on the grid. most 40 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide Researchers from the Center for Power emissions,” he explains. “We are applying power Electronics Systems (CPES) are tackling the is- management to reduce electrical energy use and sue from what they call a “nanogrid” perspective. to make renewable energy more cost effective.” Less extensive than a microgrid, a nanogrid can The team is investigating smart ac nanogrids be as small as the energy management system for for today’s technology and dc nanogrids for the an entire building, explains ECE Professor Paolo smart, sustainable homes and buildings of tomor- Mattavelli. A nanogrid includes the generating row. The ac nanogrids incorporate smart appli- source, in-house distribution, and energy stor- ances, lighting and heating/ventilation/air con- Nanogrids are being developed to manage energy in single or multiple buildings, in an effort to reduce electrical consumption. ILLUSTRATION: JAIME DE LA REE. PHOTO TOP: JOHN MCCORMICK: RIGHT: CHRISTINA O’CONNOR ILLUSTRATION: JAIME DE LA REE. PHOTO TOP: JOHN MCCORMICK: RIGHT: CHRISTINA

24 Left: Paolo Mattavelli is part of the power electronics team developing technology for nanogrids to manage the power for today’s and tomorrow’s smart buildings. Below: Igor Cvetkovic presents results to the Re- newable Energy Mini-Con- ditioning (HVAC) with on-site power generation with two dc voltage levels: a high-voltage (380 V) sortium. The CPES mini- and an Energy Control Center (ECC). The ECC dc bus powering HVAC, kitchen loads, and other consortiums offer industry partners the opportunity can communicate with the power system operator major home appliances, and “a multitude of low- to participate in research for energy trading purposes, while also acting as voltage (48 V, 24 V, etc.) dc buses powering small at a pre-competitive level. a data acquisition unit. The ECC can collect and tabletop appliances, computer and entertainment record the power flow data not only from and to- systems, and LED lighting.” wards the grid, but also from all the converters There are many challenges for implementing and smart appliances in the home. the ac and dc nanogrids, the main one being fault CPES researchers have developed and dem- current interruption in higher voltage dc systems. onstrated unidirectional and bidirectional invert- Communication, control and optimization also ers that operate with an ECC to isolate a house present challenges, Mattavelli says. “This is a very from the utility grid, work in stand-alone mode, complex system. We want to control the overall and synchronize and reconnect the house to the system at the same time we are controlling at the grid without load power interruptions. The next component level. How do we optimize each part? step, Mattavelli says, is to integrate energy storage How do we implement a cost-effective communi- and renewable energy sources with cost-effective cation that enable system energy optimization?” solutions” Power management with ac and dc nanogrids Power management via ac nanogrids can is not an entirely new concept, Mattavelli says. achieve significant energy savings, he says. “How- “Similar systems have already been applied in the ever, if we change the architecture from a single transportation area, with the all-electric ship and ac system and go straight from dc renewable en- the more-electric airplane.” Experience with such ergy sources and storage elements to dc loads, we standalone systems gives power electronics re- can significantly reduce power losses and cost,” he searchers confidence in their success. adds. “Many of the same concepts are also used in A dc nanogrid would start with fewer power low-power applications,” he says. “A notebook converters, higher overall system efficiency, and computer, for example, has different load con- easier interface of renewable energy sources to a verters, source converters and even a single moth- dc system. “There would be no frequency stabil- er board. A dc nanogrid could potentially have ity and reactive power issues, and less conduction even a higher level of power management as a loss,” he says. “Moreover, the consumer electron- notebook — of course at a different power level.” ics, electronic ballasts, LED lighting, and variable- Ultimately, Mattavelli says, the sustainable speed motor drives can be more conveniently home will have the net-zero energy consumption powered by dc.” from the utility grid and zero-emissions. “This is CPES researchers envision a dc nanogrid our goal,” he says. ILLUSTRATION: JAIME DE LA REE. PHOTO TOP: JOHN MCCORMICK: RIGHT: CHRISTINA O’CONNOR ILLUSTRATION: JAIME DE LA REE. PHOTO TOP: JOHN MCCORMICK: RIGHT: CHRISTINA

25 FRED LEE ELECTED to NATIONAL ACADEMY of ENGINEERING niversity Distinguished Professor Fred Lee has been Processing Department at TRW Systems. elected to the National Academy of Engineering As electronics became ubiquitous and consumed more pow- for his contributions “to high-frequency power er, problems with overheating, switching losses, energy efficien- conversion and systems integration technologies, cy, electromagnetic interference (EMI), and packaging of power education, industry alliances, and technology conditioning systems grew in importance. To overcome these transfer.” Membership in the academy is one of the problems, Lee and his students pioneered various soft-switching highestU professional honors accorded to an engineer. techniques in the 1980s and 1990s, such as zero-voltage (ZV) qua- Lee, who directs the Center for Power Electronics Systems, is si-resonant, ZV multi-resonant, and ZV pulse-width modulated the third ECE professor to attain this honor, joining Arun Phadke converters. and James Thorp. These soft-switching techniques eliminate virtually all Lee has an international reputation not only for developing switching losses and stresses and reduce switching noise and EMI. novel power electronics technology, but also for promoting the Soft-switching technology has become the mainstay of modern use and effectiveness of power electronics and helping to develop power electronics equipment, leading to reduced size and weight, the field. Power electronics, he says, is an enabling technology with improved reliability and efficiency. Lee holds 19 U.S. patents that can reduce electrical consumption by up to 33 percent. in soft-switching technology. “Almost everything a consumer touches has power electronics Lee and his graduate students also have made their mark on in it. It is really an enabling technology that is not often visible,” computer processors. In 1997, his team developed a multi-phase he says. To help the field achieve that promise, he has built strong voltage regulator (VR) module for the then-upcoming generation industry–university collaborations and has been an innovator in of Intel Pentium microprocessors. Today, every microprocessor is breaking barriers to technology transfer. powered with this multi-phase VR. It is easily scalable to meet ever-increasing current consumption, clock rate, and stringent Technical Breakthroughs voltage regulation requirements. Its use has been extended He first came to Virginia Tech to build the university’s power to telecommunications networks, and all forms of mobile electronics program in 1977 — the year after the first commercial electronics equipment. Lee’s team has generated 25 U.S. patents power MOSFET was introduced. He had served for three years in VR technology, addressing key areas such as power delivery as a Member of the Technical Staff of the Control and Power architecture, modularity and scalability, control and sensing, PHOTO LEFT: JOHN MCCORMICK; RIGHT: MICHAEL KIERNAN 26 “Almost everything a consumer touches has power electronics in it. It is really an enabling technology that is not often visible.”

integrated magnetics, and advanced packaging and integration. universities and more than 100 corporations, for 10 years, the maximum number allowed by the scientific agency. The center Developing the Field participants included Virginia Tech, the University of Wisconsin- Lee has been a strong proponent of university-industry col- Madison, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, North Carolina A&T FRED LEE laboration, believing that with industry involvement, university State University, and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. researchers can pursue research that can have the greatest impact During its 10-year tenure, the Center was cited as the model ERC on society. for its industry collaboration, technology transfer, and education In 1983, he founded the Virginia Power Electronics Center, and outreach programs. which later became a Technology Development Center for Lee’s research interests include high-frequency power con- ELECTED the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology. Under Lee’s version, distributed power systems, renewable energy, power leadership, this center became the largest university-based power quality, high-density electronics packaging and integration, and electronics research group in the country. More than 90 firms modeling and control. He has supervised to completion 80 mas- became associated with the world-renowned center. ter’s level and 71 Ph.D. students. He holds 69 U.S. patents, and In August of 1998, Lee and Dushan Boroyevich were suc- has published 236 journal articles and more than 585 refereed cessful in competing for a National Science Foundation Engi- technical papers. neering Research Center called the Center for Power Electronics He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical en- Systems, with total National Science Foundation funding that gineering from Duke University in 1972 and in 1974, respectively. exceeded $30 million. He earned his undergraduate degree from the National Cheng Lee directed this government center, comprising five Kung University in Taiwan in 1968. PHOTO LEFT: JOHN MCCORMICK; RIGHT: MICHAEL KIERNAN 27 Spectrum sensing ALGORITHMS for cognitive radio

n the first phase of a more than two-year study funded by InterDigital, Claudio da Silva’s team of wire- Iless researchers have made great strides in developing more reliable and efficient spectrum sensing techniques that will be needed to meet the ever-expanding demand for wireless technologies. Their techniques can be used in cognitive radio systems, devices that first identify underutilized spectrum with the use of spectrum databases and/or spectrum sensing and then, following pre-defined rules, dynami- From left: Ph.D. student William Headley, Claudio cally access the “best” frequency bands on an opportu- da Silva, and Ph.D. student Gautham Chavali. nistic and non-interfering basis. During the first phase of the study, “by exploiting robust to both man-made noise and severe multipath location-dependent signal propagation characteristics, fading. “The vast majority of sensing algorithms were we have developed efficient sensing algorithms that en- developed for channels in which the noise is a Gaussian able a set of devices to work together to determine spec- process,” said Gautham Chavali, a Ph.D. student who trum opportunities,” said William Headley, one of the also works on this project. “However, experimental Ph.D. students working on this project. studies have shown that the noise that appears in most For the second year of the study, the focus is chang- radio channels is highly non-Gaussian,” Chavali added. ing to the design of spectrum sensing algorithms that are —Lynn Nystrom

Cognitive radios that perform well while learning cognitive radio that determines its own best com- Funded by an NSF grant, Volos and Buehrer have munications method for a situation is closer to real- demonstrated if there is a moderate number of methods Aity, thanks to recent results from an ECE wireless that meet minimum performance requirements, that a communications research team. CE can reach near-maximum performance in a relatively Postdoctoral associate Haris Volos (Ph.D. ’10) and short number of trials. They have also developed a Ro- associate professor R. Michael Buehrer have developed bust Training Algorithm (RoTA) that attempts to main- cognitive radio techniques that enable a radio to perform tain a minimum performance level while trying possibly well while learning and selecting its optimal configura- better-performing methods. tions. “Our training algorithm makes the link stable dur- Typically, radio designers analyze each communi- ing learning,” Volos says. cation method in terms of goals and will arrive at a set of “A soldier attempting to use a radio during a critical adaptation rules for the radio, according to Volos. “The operation would rather have a slowly improving con- analysis is time-consuming and if the channel models nection that a connection that erratically fluctuates,” he used do not hold, or in an unexpected situation, the de- explains. “Likewise, a mobile user streaming a favorite sign becomes irrelevant,” he says. Cognitive radios us- show prefers a slowly improving connection than a link ing a cognitive engine (CE) have been proposed that find that pauses at crucial moments.” the optimal configuration. However, learning speed and The work was honored in November with the Fred performance during learning have been big challenges, Ellersick Award for Best Paper in the Unclassified Tech- he says. nical Program at MILCOM 2010. PHOTO BY JIM STROUP

28 R esearch ne w s Research NEWs Distributed computing in a wireless environment

he Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is formed efficiently via many, physically connected computers,” said funding a proof-of-concept study by ECE’s wireless commu- Jeffrey Reed, principal investigator for the project. “Our effort will Tnications researchers, along with the Virginia Bioinformatics focus on developing distributed computer systems that work in a Institute to develop highly connected computer systems that oper- cable-free environment, which will bring a new level of flexibility ate in a wireless environment. to users who need to work in rapidly changing, often challenging, Small handheld devices and other computers that are smart mobile environments.” enough to work in a wireless setting would allow military person- The initial project will demonstrate the feasibility of wireless nel and other users to pool computing and communication resourc- distributed computing using the Defense Advanced Research Proj- es for gathering intelligence more easily, analyzing information ects Agency’s Wireless Network after Next (WNaN), an established more efficiently, and, ultimately, making better decisions in a wide program that looks to develop flexible and scalable communication range of locations. networks that use very inexpensive yet flexible software radios. “Traditional wired distributed computing has been around —Barry Whyte for many years, allowing computationally intensive tasks to be per-

Virginia Tech officially launches Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse Web portal irginia Tech released its full version of smart grid projects in the United States and the Smart Grid Information Clearing- more than 50 projects overseas,” said Saifur Vhouse Web portal in September. Rahman, director of the Virginia Tech Ad- The Web portal is the platform for di- vanced Research Institute, National Capi- rect sharing and dissemination of relevant tal Region, and principal investigator for smart grid information, ranging from back- the portal. ground documents, deployment experienc- “The portal has upwards of 1,000 es, technologies, and standards, to ongoing smart grid-related documents and multi- smart grid projects around the world. It is media, which provide both background and designed to serve as the first stop for smart in-depth information, such as use cases, les- grid related information and acts as the es- sons learned, cost-benefit analyses, business sential gateway that connects the communi- cases, legislation and regulation activities, ty to various information sources scattered detailed information on standards, and list year contract by the Department of Energy on the worldwide web. of smart grid technologies and sample ven- in October 2009 to develop the portal with “The full version of the Smart Grid In- dors,” he said. content assistance from the IEEE and the formation Clearinghouse as released today The Virginia Tech Advanced Research EnerNex Corporation. contains information about more than 200 Institute was awarded a $1.25 million five- —Barbara L Micale

ECE research projects on IPv6 addresses, auroral spiral win GSA awards wo ECE students won awards at this year’s Graduate Student od for assigning Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses. Their Assembly (GSA) Research Symposium: Matthew Dunlop secure dynamic solution, he explains, “provides a powerful moving Twon a first place award for his poster presentation, “Dynamic target solution that preserves both users’ privacy and security.” Obscuration of IPv6 Addresses to Achieve a Moving Target De- Frissell, who works in the Virginia Tech SuperDARN Labora- fense,” and Nathaniel Frissell won a second place award for his tory, is studying the characteristic energies of auroral spirals. The poster presentation, “Characteristic Energies in an Auroral Spiral.” team analyzed an auroral spiral that they observed from Longyear- Dunlop and other researchers in the Information Technology byen, Svalbard (an archipelago north of the arctic circle) in February Security Office and Laboratory have developed a more secure meth- 2010. (Read more at www.ece.vt.edu/news/articles/GSA) PHOTO BY JIM STROUP

29 Swarm intelligence to validate designs

This graph illustrates how ant colonies use swarm intelligence to identify the best path to food sources.

he National Science Foundation has and systems in order to expose such subtle search to the collective consciousness. “The awarded Michael Hsiao a three-year bugs has become a daunting task. Verifying development of new theories and algo- T$363,439 grant to apply swarm intel- the correctness of the design is now a tre- rithms will allow for deeper understanding ligence to design validation. According to mendous bottleneck.” Taking their inspira- of semi-formal verification and state space Hsiao, “the likelihood of hidden, subtle tion from swarms of ants, the group is using exploration,” says Hsiao. bugs increases with growing design sizes, swarm intelligence techniques to transfer and reaching corner cases in large designs individual knowledge acquired during a

Testing and diagnosis Fingerprint images ynn Abbott and Michael Hsiao are on an interdisciplinary of embedded memory team devoted to quality assessment of fingerprint images. Au- CE professor Michael Hsiao won a three-year, $180,000 Ltomated fingerprint identification systems typically depend on Semiconductor Research Corp. grant for testing and di- detecting the locations of “minutiae,” which are the endpoints and Eagnosing circuits with embedded memories. Circuits are bifurcations of friction ridges on a person’s skin. Human examiners, increasingly utilizing embedded memories, according to Hsiao, in contrast, usually rely on properties in addition to minutiae loca- “which makes traditional testing and diagnosis methods diffi- tions, such as the shape of ridges themselves. The team is develop- cult.” ing a novel approach that involves “extended feature sets,” combin- Using Logic Built-In Self-Test (LBIST) and Satisfiability ing minutia and friction ridge properties with other data. Modulo Theories (SMT) based techniques, the researchers will Left: Results in which a fingerprint provide a cost-effective method to improve the diagnostic abil- image has been processed to de- ity of these embedded memory circuits. “This research project tect a skeleton image (top right), aligns well with the semiconductor industry’s strategic direction then associations between ridges and minutiae have been detected to drive test costs down,” says Hsiao, “and in particular, fits well (left). The same ridges have been with LBIST strategy.” color-coded (bottom right) to aid in visualization. PHOTOS BY JIM STROUP

30 Research NEWs Evaluating cryptographic performance here exists no official standard for measuring hardware imple- circuit area and performance. mentation cost, but three universities are combining forces NIST is the organization that defines the standards, including Tto develop a new performance evaluation environment for encryption standards. For anything as large as the Internet, every- cryptographic hardware and software. Teams from George Mason one has to use the same algorithm to make sure each person can read University (GMU), University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and what someone else has posted. Virginia Tech are working together to solve the problem. NIST opened the SHA-3 competition in 2007, and everyone The impetus for this effort is the National Institute of Stan- who wanted to enter sent in their hashing algorithm by October dards and Technology (NIST) cryptographic hash algorithm 2008. The judging is a three-year process. Fifty-one submissions competition, which is seeking a new hash algorithm to be called were accepted into the contest, and the cryptographic community SHA-3. Security is one of the main criteria for this competition, is now working together to break the entries, narrowing down the but is also the most difficult to measure, according to ECE’s Patrick submissions to a few finalists. Meanwhile, the computer engineer- Shaumont, who is leading Virginia Tech’s team. Leyla Nazhandali ing community is looking at the algorithms as well — figuring out is a co-principal investigator on the project. which ones can be mapped to software and to hardware. NIST will The new evaluation environments created for this project will choose the winner based on cryptographic strength and implemen- supply a way to measure hardware implementation cost, including tation strategy.

From left: Dinesh Ganta, chief tester; Mike Henry, chief designer, and Lalleah Rafeei test chips for identifying fingerprints and function. Leyla Nazhandali and Patrick Schaumont encourage undergraduates to join their research teams. Rafeei was an undergraduate researcher who then chose to pursue a graduate degree. Right: Leyla Nazhandali displays an ASIC chip manufactured to amplify processing flaws without impacting function. The flaws can be used as unique chip identifiers for secure applications. Magnifying processing flaws to make on-chip fingerprints andom variations in chip manufacturing can be exploited to tical. They all have slight differences,” she says. create unique, stable on-chip identification, according to a Their team is using those typically undesirable traits to make Rresearch team at Virginia Tech. ECE’s Leyla Nazhandali and unique, trustworthy electronic hardware fingerprints. They are Patrick Schaumont, working with Inyoung Kim of statistics, have magnifying the process variations to make it stable in spite of tem- developed techniques to amplify naturally occurring manufactur- perature changes that occur during chip operations. “We are going ing variations — without hurting chip functions. against the typical paradigm,” says Nazhandali. “Manufacturers try Current chip identifiers are simple pieces of data that can be to reduce process variation and we want to magnify it.” easily copied just like the social security number of an individual. Using special circuits and techniques, the team has fabricated “We would like to build chip identifiers that are like human finger- prototype ASIC chips with a magnified process variation effect. prints in nature, so that they cannot be copied” Nazhandali says. “Our results to date show we can improve the stability of the chip Process manufacturing variations are caused by the limitations identification by a wide margin — about 18 percent,” she reports. of photolithography, explains Nazhandali. “Because of that and “Yet the chips still function to specifications.” non-uniform conditions during fabrication, no two chips are iden- PHOTOS BY JIM STROUP

31 Letting Computers Dream CE associate professor JoAnn Paul recently received a $191,709 computation can reach results that cannot be reached in conven- grant from the National Science Foundation to research a new tional computer organization.” Econcept for parallel computing: designing computers based on Using the Dream Architecture for Lateral Intelligence (DALI), the principles of human dreaming. Paul is using two modes: awake and dreaming. While awake, some “When we dream, we shut off as many inputs as possible and, lateral processors will be active and some will be observers. In the literally, stimulate our own minds internally and with nonlogical dream phase, the processors will use condensed playback – simulat- imagery,” she says. ing dreaming — to resolve which of the multiple models executing “The need to dream can be inferred from the brain’s most strik- on the lateral processors should dominate under different circum- ing physical and behavioral characteristics. These characteristics can stances. The initial application for this research is speech recogni- be applied to computer organization and lend insight into how tion in pervasive computing devices. WIRES ON DEMAND n ECE computer engineering team, led by Cameron Patter- They start with a dynamic module library, and reconfigure the son and Peter Athanas was recently awarded a patent for work FPGA using reconfigurable partial bitstreams. A bitstream is the for- Aimproving the adaptability and efficiency of Field Program- mat used to send configuration data to an FPGA. This project, called mable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). According to Patterson, “The difficult Wires on Demand (WoD) “is based on the insight that reconfigurable aspect of hardware reconfiguration is not creating the computational hardware’s untapped strength is a just-in-time optimization of com- blocks, which are generally available from FPGA vendors and third munication paths in datapath and multi-core architectures, providing parties, but linking the blocks in a manner that suits each application’s global rather than just local optimization,” explains Patterson. unique connectivity, bandwidth, and latency requirements.”

Making chips smaller and faster s part of the push to make chips smaller and ous elements. One project for the group involves faster in an era when simply adding more mixed-anion and mixed-cation based quantum Atransistors is no longer feasible, Mantu Hu- well field-effect transistors (QWFETs) on silicon dait and other researchers in the Advanced Devic- (Si), which offer the potential for high-perfor- es & Sustainable Energy Laboratory (ADSEL) are mance and ultra-low power applications, accord- working on fabricating smaller and faster transis- ing to Hudait. The team is also developing tun- tors at lower supply voltage operation. nel field-effect transistors (TFETs), which allow The team is heterogeneously integrating sharp turn-on characteristics. compound semiconductor materials and device Moreover, the team is working towards the structures on silicon substrate using their novel demonstration of high-efficiency compound buffer architecture along with other materials to semiconductor solar cells on Si substrate for sus- take advantage of the material properties of vari- tainable energy. Breath analysis with MEMS as chromatography, the separation of a gaseous mixture ysis systems. into its components, currently requires bulky tabletop in- Their specific focus is a micropreconcentrator, which is the Gstruments — requiring samples to be acquired, stored, and part of the device that collects samples of a gas. According to Agah, transported to a laboratory. In collaboration with Andrea Dietrich “The micropreconcentrator’s high performance is attributed to the of civil and environmental engineering, multiple inlets/outlets, novel high-aspect-ratio (360 m) parabolic Masoud Agah and other MEMS research- reflectors, and cobweb configuration of absorbent films, allof ers are working on micro gas chromatog- which promote the absorption of chemical species. The perfor- raphy: making the gas chromatography mance of the new design was compared with solid phase microex- systems small enough to be handheld for traction (SPME), a commonly used sample preparation method in applications such as accurate breath anal- breath analysis.”

Left: 3-D rendering of the micropreconcentrator, inset are SEM micrographs of the fabricated microstructures. PHOTOS BY JIM STROUP

32 Research NEWs

Cooling ICs with microchannels

esearchers in ECE’s Microelectrome- However, the heat produced by these three different channel geometries were chanical Systems (MEMS) lab are new three-dimensional ICs is an obstacle. simulated using computational fluid dy- Rworking on a new way of cooling The heat of an IC increases with the num- namics to prove that channels fabricated three dimensional integrated circuits (ICs). ber of layers, but the surface area available using this method could adequately cool According to Masoud Agah, who leads the for cooling remains unchanged. The team future integrated circuits.” Physical testing project, “stacking of silicon layers to create is investigating how to cool these ICs by verified these simulations. Of the three ge- three dimensional integrated circuits has integrating microchannels into the design. ometries they are working with, the micro- been considered a promising approach to The microchannels “require fewer fin geometry has the highest heat transfer reduce interconnect delays, increase tran- masks and fewer process steps than previ- capability and lowest simulated substrate sistor density, and reduce chip area.” ous methods,” says Agah, “furthermore, temperatures.

Antennas inside lot of times, your advisor’s weird ideas really work,” says masters student Jacob Couch, who is working with ECE “Aprofessor Peter Athanas on a new use for a field programmable gate array (FPGA): a transmitter using the routing resources of an FPGA. The transmit-only mechanism uses an oscillator to communicate binary data to an external antenna via amplitude shift keying (ASK). ASK works by keeping frequency constant while varying the amplitude of the signal. In this case, as in most ASK applications, the signal is either “on” or “off,” denoting logic 1 or logic 0. Couch explains that “we’re redoing the routing on an FPGA to take an existing design and attach a geometric shape to it. If this shape oscillates at a high frequency, we can pick up the radiation.” Once the oscillator is in place, Couch looks for unused routing resources to build the antenna. One of the most successful antenna designs uses a fractal design, which allows for the maximum wire length and number of corners. “Everything on the FPGA is so small that we are trying to make it bigger,” explains Couch. Also, longer funded through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency antennas allow him to use a lower frequency: the frequency range (DARPA) Trusted Integrated Circuits (TRUST) project, and the he’s looking at now is in the hundreds of MHz. CCM lab is a subcontractor of USC ISI, which has a branch in Ar- “This is all done from within the FPGA,” Couch stresses, lington. The TRUST project is making sure that the technology “there are no external ports. This is a mechanism to release data going into U.S. weapons systems is reliable. “We’re funded to in- from the FPGA.” He is testing the designs on a Xilinx FPGA, sert black hat things into an FPGA, such that another group on this which is less than one inch by one inch. project can detect what we have done to the FPGA. But we’re also For testing purposes, Couch has borrowed a wideband anten- looking to do white hat applications from the tools we have devel- na from ECE professor Bill Davis with the Virginia Tech Antenna oped,” says Couch. Group (VTAG). “It has relatively uniform gain from 50 MHz to “In the FPGA community we’re constantly looking at slight 2 GHz, so it’s good for testing,” explains Couch. improvements here and there, but very few big picture ideas. This is What data can this design transmit? Anything. “We could ex- something kind of off-the-wall that no one has ever tried before.” pose any data on the FPGA,” according to Couch. The project is And it works. PHOTOS BY JIM STROUP

33 3-phase ac-dc converter tolerates high-temp environments CPES research team has developed a three-phase ac-dc converter for harsh industrial environments that preliminary tests Ashow operates in up to 150° C ambient temperatures. Con- verters for industrial harsh environments require not just high- temperature semiconductor devices, but also high-temperature gate drive, passive components and control electronics, according to Ruxi Wang, a Ph.D. student on the project. With a high-temperature SiC power module and high-temperature mother board implementing the required functions, the 1.4 kW prototype converter has been tested to operate between -50° C and 150° C ambient temperatures, with the junction temperature of the SiC power module reaching 250° C.

From top: This prototype ac-dc converter can operate in ambient temperatures up to 150° C; a heat map showing the temperatures on the converter; a graph showing the converter’s performance.

Modeling EMI behavior for aerospace ower electronics researchers have developed fast, accurate, ally take up to 30 percent of volume in a typical aerospace power behavioral EMI-modeling techniques for higher frequencies supply. P(>10 MHz) that previously were not easily modeled. The team solved the problem with behavioral modeling, in- “EMI models should be simple enough so that simulations can volving a noise model with linear noise source and impedance, run on most computers,” says Hemant Bishnoi, a Ph.D. student then fit the terminal behavior of the system at high frequency. The who worked on the project. The models should also be accurate in model was successfully tested on dc-fed half-bridge and three-phase the interested range of frequencies, he notes. “Unfortunately, with inverter systems using measurements from outside the system on state-of-the-art in EMI modeling, these two goals cannot be met positive, negative, and ground terminals. The model runs in the fre- simultaneously at higher frequencies. A new breed of EMI models quency domain and simulations are very fast — usually lasting only is needed that can facilitate size reduction of EMI filters, that usu- several seconds.

New high-frequency core loss measurement stimations of magnetic core loss are of great interest to power core being tested.” electronics engineers and magnetic material scientists. How- The measurement accuracy of the new method is more ro- Eever, conventional measurement methods, like four-wire and bust with phase discrepancy, which is the major problem for high- calorimeters are typically not accurate at high frequency, or are too frequency core loss measurement, he notes. The new methods are complicated and time consuming. appropriate for high frequency (1 MHz–100 MHz, or even higher) A CPES research team has developed a series of new methods measurement. “With these new methods, core loss for different to measure high-frequency magnetic core loss that are simple, fast, flux waveforms can be accurately measured and many magnetic accurate and adaptive for any excitation waveform and dc flux level. phenomena and models can be verified,” he says. The new methods The new methods compare the core being tested with air core by can be the standard methods for high-frequency magnetic materi- using reactive cancellation concept, explains Mingkai Mu, a Ph.D. als loss characterization, and be built as high-accuracy measurement student who invented these methods. “Since the air core is lossless,” instruments.” he says, “the difference in the two cores represents the loss for the CHRISTINA O’CONNOR

34 Research NEWs SENSOR NETWORKS Large-area CO2 detection network esearchers in the Center for Photonics Technology (CPT) are Anbo Wang, CPT director, explains that “each sensor node

developing a long-term, large-area, fiber-optic sensor network operates on CO2 absorption in the near infrared where low cost that can detect and locate carbon dioxide (CO ) leaks. These tunable DFB lasers are commercially available.” Laser spectroscopy, R 2 sensors, which use laser spectroscopy to detect gases, can operate according to Wang, is immune to interference from other chemical over a large area and have low power needs: they can be operated for species, which makes it ideal for operation in environments such as

multiple years either by battery or solar panel. The data from each CO2 sequestration sites. sensor will be transmitted wirelessly to a central receiver, which can The project is funded by the Department of Energy (DOE)

generate a CO2 spatial distribution in real time. National Energy Technology Laboratory. Fully-distributed sensing platform he Center for Photonics Technology was recently awarded a operate continuously over hundreds of meters, and they provide three-year project by the National Science Foundation to de- high sensitivity at a low cost. “This platform,” Wang continues, “is Tveloping a fully distributed fiber-optic chemical and biological particularly attractive for applications such as pollution detection sensing platform. in rivers and lakes; chemical-bio terrorism agent detection in sta- This platform, according to ECE’s Anbo Wang, “can detect and diums, airports, buildings, and other public venues; and hydrogen monitor a variety of chemicals and biological agents continuously detection in today’s aerospace fuel tanks and tomorrow’s hydrogen along the fiber and can cover a large spatial range.” These fibers can stations and factories.” Advancing the quest for clean coal sing Ultra Super Critical (USC) steam cycle designs, coal are rated for the necessary in-furnace conditions of a USC boiler. power plants can gain a 10 percent increase in efficiency and a Because of the higher operating temperatures, USC compo- U25-30 percent decrease in CO2 emissions. ECE’s Anbo Wang nents degrade more rapidly. Although a component’s mean degra- is helping make this improvement a reality with a grant of more dation can be predicted with existing systems, the precise state of than $1 million from the Department of Energy’s National Energy each component is unknown. The estimates are overly conservative Technology Laboratory (NETL) to develop fiber-optic strain, tem- and susceptible to unanticipated component failure, Wang says. perature, and pressure sensor technology. The new sensors must operate at higher temperatures and pres- The USC efficiency depends in part upon keeping the plants sures than the existing technology without sacrificing any accuracy continually operational while staying within equipment and ma- or long-term operating reliability. They will also have multiplexed terial limitations. The new USC boilers are designed to operate capability for a distributed sensor network, allowing for more accu- above 700°C and several thousand psi for steam, and higher for gas. rate identification of those operating conditions that will adversely According to Wang, “these higher temperatures and pressures re- impact boiler reliability — and therefore plant operation. quire local measurements rather than the global process operation Wang’s team is working with Gary Pickrell of materials science and control measurements available from the current generation and engineering, who leads a team developing the sensor packaging of sensors. The local measurements are needed to assess equipment and protection, and Alstom Power, which will identify the neces- health or impending problems over and along the entire compo- sary environmental conditions and evaluate sensor attachment and nents area.” And none of the existing distributed sensor networks placement.

Making solar energy affordable, efficient ason Lai’s team at the Future Energy Electronics Center, is analyzing how power conditioning can make solar cells more efficient. The team has set up three different Jarrays of solar cells on a solar house built by Virginia Tech students 10 years ago for the Solar Decathlon. The team is analyzing data via three separate communication platforms Pachube.com (www.pachube.com/feeds/16184), Google PowerMeter, and EPRI. One array measures a common configuration where all the panels are placed in for a centralized inverter. The other two arrays measure variants of the FEEC’s proposed topology: one uses an individual dc-dc converter for every two panels and links to the grid with a centralized inverter, while the other links every two panels into a separate micro-inverter. The study shows highest energy production with the micro-inverter approach, but cost-effectiveness must be studied. The project is part of a $3.2 million

CHRISTINA O’CONNOR grant from the Department of Energy’s High Penetration Solar Deployment effort.

35 2009/2010 PH.D. DEGREES Awarded PHAhuja, Sumit.D Chen,DE Qinqin GFahmy, SherifREES Fadel Gong, Ting & Patents High Level Power Estimation Cognitive Gateway to Promote Collaborative Scheduling and Computational Dissection of and Reduction Techniques Interoperability, Coverage Synchronization of Distribut- Composite Molecular Sig- for Power Aware Hardware and Throughput in Hetero- able Real-Time Threads natures and Transcriptional Design geneous Communication Committee Chair: Ravindran, B. Modules Using Microarrays Committee Chair: Shukla, S. K. Systems Committee Chair: Xuan, J. Committee Chair: Bostian, C. W. Feinauer, Lynn Ralph Arana, Andrew Jex Generic Flow Algorithm for Hambrick, Joshua Clayton Power Systems Analysis in the Cheng, Danling Analysis of Interdependent Configurable, Coordinated, Power-Angle Domain Integrated System Model Multi-Domain Distributed Model-Based Control in Elec- Committee Chair: De La Ree, J. Reliability Evaluation and Network Systems trical Distribution Systems Prediction for Electrical Committee Chair: Broadwater, R. P. Committee Chair: Broadwater, R. P. Baisden, Andrew Carson Power Systems: Graph Trace Generalized Terminal Modeling Analysis Based Solutions Francis, Gerald Han, Kai of Electro-Magnetic Interference Committee Chair: Broadwater, R. P. An Algorithm and System for Scheduling Distributed Real- Committee Chair: Boroyevich, D. & Hsiao, M. S. Measuring Impedance in the Time Tasks in Unreliable and D-Q Coordinates Untrustworthy Systems Bank, Jason Noah Cheng, Xueqi Committee Chair: Boroyevich, D. Committee Chair: Ravindran, B. Propagation of Electromechani- Exploring Hybrid Dynamic and cal Disturbances Across Static Techniques for Soft- Fu, Dianbo Howells, Christopher Corey Large Interconnected Power ware Verification Topology Investigation and Sys- The Modeling and Analysis of Systems and Extraction of Committee Chair: Hsiao, M. S. tem Optimization of Resonant the BAD/tBID/BAK Pathway Associated Modal Content Converters as a Chemical Reaction from Measurement Data Dong, Junwei Committee Chair: Lee, F. C. Network Committee Chair: Liu, Y. Microwave Lens Designs: Committee Chair: Baumann, W. T. Optimization, Fast Simulation Gandhi, Mital Arun Bernabeu, Emanuel Ernesto Algorithms, and 360-Degree Robust Kalman Filters Us- Jia, Tao Methodology for a Security- Scanning Techniques ing Generalized Maximum Collaborative Position Loca- Dependability Adaptive Committee Chair: Zaghloul, A. I. Likelihood-Type Estimators tion for Wireless Networks in Protection Scheme Based on Committee Chair: Mili, L. M. Harsh Environments Data Mining Dong, Yan Committee Chair: Buehrer, R. M. Committee Chair: Centeno, V. A. & Investigation of Multiphase Ge, Feng “Andrew” Thorp, J. S. Coupled-Inductor Buck Soft Radio-Based Decentralized Kim, Jae Hyuck Converters in Point-of-load Dynamic Spectrum Access Variable-Speed Switched Castles, Ricky Thomas Applications Networks: A Prototype Design Reluctance Motor Drives for A Knowledge Map-Centric Committee Chair: Lee, F. C. and Enabling Technologies Low-Cost, High-Volume Ap- Feedback-Based Approach Committee Chair: Bostian, C. W. plications to Information Modeling and El-Nainay, Mustafa Yousry Committee Chair: Ramu, K. Academic Assessment Island Genetic Algorithm-Based Committee Chair: Kachroo, P. Cognitive Networks Committee Chair: MacKenzie, A. B. Patents awarded “Wires on Demand: Run-Time Communica- “Multi-Element Resonant Converters,” “Multiphase Voltage Regulator Having tion Synthesis for Reconfigurable Comput- D. Fu, F.C. Lee, Y. Liu, M. Xu. Coupled Inductors with Reduced Winding ing,” C. Patterson, P. Athanas, J. Bowen, Resistance,” Y. Dong, M. Xu, F.C. Lee. T. Dunham, J. Rice, M. Shelburne, J. Pletri, “Non-Isolated Bus Converters with Voltage J. Graf. Divider Topology,” M. Xu, J. Sun, F.C. Lee. “Quasi-Parallel Voltage Regulator,” M. Xu, J. Sun, Y. Liu, F.C. Lee “Method and Apparatus for Mobility En- “Asymmetrical Interleaving Strategy for hancement in a Semiconductor Device,” Multi-Channel Power Converters,” C. Wang, “Apparatus and Methods for Forming a M. Orlowski and S. Venkatesan. M Xu, F.C. Lee. Modulation Doped Non-Planar Transistor,” R. Pillarisetty, M.K. Hudait, M. Radosav- “Analog Fourier Transform Channelizer and “Coupled-Inductor Multi-Phase Buck Con- ljevic, W. Rachmady, G. Dewey, J. Kava- OFDM receiver,” M. Lehne and S. Raman. verters,” M. Xu, F.C. Lee, Y. Ying. lieros.

“Digital Power Supply Control,” J. Li, Y. Qiu, “Reducing Common Mode Noise of Power “Group III-V Devices with Multiple Spacer M. Xu, F.C. Lee. Factor Correction Converters Using Gen- Layers,” M.K. Hudait, M. Radosavljevic, R. eral Balance Concept,” S. Wang, F.C. Lee, Pillarisetty, G. Dewey. P. Kong.

36 PH.D. DEGREES Awarded PH.D DEGREES &Kim, Rae-YoungPatentsLiu, Chu-Chuan Shaban, Heba Ahmed Wang, Ying Improved Renewable Energy Advanced Projection Ul- A Novel Highly Accurate Dynamic Cellular Cognitive Power System Using a Gen- trasound Imaging with Wireless Wearable Human System eralized Control Structure for CMOS-based Sensor Array: Locomotion Tracking and Committee Chair: Bostian, C. W. Two-Stage Power Converters Development, Characteriza- Gait Analysis System via Committee Chair: Lai, J. tion, and Potential Medical UWB Radios Xia, Tao Applications Committee Chair: Buehrer, R. M. Frequency Monitoring Network Kleppinger, David Lawrence Committee Chair: Wang, Y. J. (FNET) Algorithm Improve- Prioritized Reconfiguration of Silvius, Mark Daniel ments and Application Interdependent Critical Infra- Liu, Jia “Kevin” Building a Dynamic Spectrum Development structure Systems MIMO Wireless Networks: Mod- Access Smart Radio With Committee Chair: Liu, Y. Committee Chair: Broadwater, R. P. eling, Theory, and Optimiza- Application to Public Safety tion Disaster Communications Xu, Bin Lai, Shouwen Committee Chair: Hou, Y. T. Committee Chair: Bostian, C. W. & Fast Path Planning in Uncertain Duty-Cycled Wireless Sensor MacKenzie, A. B. Environments: Theory and Networks: Wakeup Schedul- Morales-Tirado, Lizdabel Experiments ing, Routing and Broadcast- An Approach to Using Cognition Skolthanarat, Siriya Committee Chair: Stilwell, D. J. & ing in Wireless Networks The Modeling and Control Kurdila, A. J. Committee Chair: Ravindran, B. Committee Chair: Reed, J. H. of a Wind Farm and Grid Interconnection in a Multi- Zhang, Di Lally, Evan Michael Ning, Puqi Machine System Analysis and Design of Paral- Fourier Transform Interferome- Design and Development of Committee Chair: Centeno, V. A. leled Three-Phase Voltage try for 3D Mapping of Rough High Density High Tempera- Source Converters with and Discontinuous Surfaces ture Power Module with Cool- Suris Pietri, Jorge Alberto Interleaving Committee Chair: Wang, A. ing System Rapid Radio: Analysis-Based Committee Chair: Boroyevich, D. Committee Chair: Ngo, K. D. T. & Receiver Deployment & Wang, F. Lee, Cheewoo Wang, F. Committee Chair: Athanas, P. M. Analysis and Design of a Zheng, Yexin Novel E-Core Common-Pole Park, Sung Yeul Thacker, Timothy Neil Circuit Design Methods with Switched Reluctance Motor A Wide Range and Precise Ac- Control of Power Conversion Emerging Nanotechnologies Committee Chair: Ramu, K. tive and Reactive Power Flow Systems for the Intentional Committee Chair: Huang, C. Controller for the Fuel Cell Islanding of Distributed Gen- Lee, Jong-Suk Power Conditioning Systems eration Units Zhu, Yitan FleXilicon: A New Coarse- Committee Chair: Lai, J. Committee Chair: Boroyevich, D. Learning Statistical and Geo- grained Reconfigurable Archi- metric Models from Microar- tecture for Multimedia and Rajagopalan, Vidya Wang, Chuanyun ray Gene Expression Data Wireless Communications Increasing DBM Reliability Us- Investigation on Interleaved Committee Chair: Wang, Y. J. Committee Chair: Ha, D. S. ing Distribution Independent Boost Converters and Ap- Tests and Information Fusion plications Methods Committee Chair: Lee, F. C. & Committee Chair: Wyatt, C. L. Xu, M.

“Thin Transition Layer Between a Group Shaheen, L. Chow, P.G. Tolchinsky, J.M. “Replacement Gate, Self-Aligned Process III-V Substrate and a High-K Gate Dielec- Fastenau, D. Loubychev, A.W.K. Liu. for Fabrication of Enhancement Mode III-V tric Layer,” W. Rachmady, J. Blackwell, S. QW Devices,” P. Majhi, M.K. Hudait, J.T. Ka- Datta, J. T. Kavalieros, and M.K. Hudait. “Semiconductor Buffer Architecture for valieros, R. Pillarisetty, M. Radosavljevic, III-V Devices on Silicon Substrates,” M.K. G. Dewey, T. Rakshit, W. Tsai. “Quantum Well Field-Effect Transistors with Hudait, M.A. Shaheen, D. Loubychev, Composite Spacer Structures, Apparatus A.W.K. Liu, J.M. Fastenau. “Methods of Forming Buffer Layer Archi- Made Therewith, and Methods of Using tecture on Silicon and Structures Formed Same,” M.K. Hudait, R.S. Chau, M. Ra- “High Hole Mobility p-Channel Ge Tran- Thereby,” M.K. Hudait, P.G. Tolchinsky, dosavljevic, R. Pillarisetty, G. Dewey. sistor Structure on Si Substrate,” M.K. L.A. Chow, D. Loubychev, J.M. Fastenau, Hudait, S. Datta, J.T. Kavalieros, P.G. A.W.K. Liu. “Dislocation Removal From a Group III-V Tolchinsky. Film Grown on a Semiconductor Sub- “Selective High-K Dielectric Film Deposi- strate,” M.K. Hudait, P.G. Tolchinsky, J.T. “Dopant Confinement in the Delta Doped tion for Semiconductor Device,” W. Rach- Kavalieros, and M. Radosavljevic. Layer Using a Dopant Segregation Barrier mady, M. Radosavljevic, M.K. Hudait. in Quantum Well Structures,” M.K. Hudait, “Buffer Layers for Device Isolation of De- A.A. Budrevich, D. Loubychev, J.T. Kava- “Fabrication of Miniature Fiber-Optic Tem- vices Grown on Silicon,” M.K. Hudait, M.A. lieros, S. Datta, J.M. Fastenau, A.W.K. Liu. perature Sensors,” Y. Zhu, A. Wang.

37 2010 bradley BRAD2011 fellowLsEYS

Uchenna Matthew Matthew Thurman Anyanwu Bailey Carter Deyerle BSEE ’09, BSEE/BSCPE/ BSCPE ’09, BSEE ’10, San Jose Math ’09, University of Virginia Tech State University Virginia Tech California, Advisor: Advisor: Allen Advisor: San Diego Dong Ha MacKenzie Dan Stilwell Advisor: Chris- Research: Research: He Research: topher Wyatt Integrated is exploring wireless commu- Development of a robot to Research: Improving the accu- circuits currently have dedi- nication and reconfigurable navigate/examine the inte- racy of neural source localiza- cated pins for the testing and devices to develop inexpen- rior of Navy ships. Corrosion tion from magnetoencephalog- diagnostic interfaces. He is sive, flexible software-defined inspection is a major cost. raphy (MEG) recordings. The working on an interface which radios. High-speed random We are developing an autono- localization of these sources will superimpose signals onto access data networking is the mous robot that can navigate will help to investigate brain the power supply, enabling ultimate goal. through the tanks and voids of connectivity. diagnostic communication Career aspirations: To be lead naval ships and examine more without additional pins. researcher or CTO at a com- of the interior surface for cor- munications company. rosion than is now possible.

Francis Aphrem Brian L. Berg (Ph.D. ’01) Charles F. Bunting (Ph.D. ’94) Director of Software Engineering Associate Professor Nathaniel August DTS Oklahoma State University bradley (BSCPE ’98, MSEE ’01, Ph.D. ’05) Agoura Hills, Calif. On IEEE EMC Society Board of Mixed Signal Design Engineer Has started a new role investi- Directors for 2011–2013. Advanced Design Group, Intel gating DTS’ strategies in digital Portland, Ore. entertainment such as audio, Carey Buxton (Ph.D. ’01) Current project is an all-digital video, and 3D. Electronics Engineer Alumni PLL. FBI ERF Ray A. Bittner, Jr. Quantico, Va. JoAnn M. Adams (BSEE ’94) Carrie Ellen Aust (BSCPE ’98) (BSCPE ’91, MSEE ’93 Ph.D. ’97) Co-owner, Big Fish Design Senior Hardware Engineer Scott C. Cappiello (BSCPE ’94) Centreville, Va. William Barnhart (BSEE ’00, Microsoft Research Senior Director MSEE ’02) Redmond, Wash. of Program Management Robert J. Adams Raytheon Working on topics such as FPGAs MicroStrategy, Inc. (BS ’93, MS ’95, Ph.D. ’98) Denver, Colo. and portable devices. San Marcos, Calif. Associate Professor, ECE University of Kentucky Stephen P. Bachuber Aric D. Blumer (Ph.D. ’07) J. Matthew Carson (BSEE ’98) Lexington, Ky. SDG Systems Engineer, Engine Dept. Mark W. Baldwin Joe Gibbs Racing J. Shawn Addington (BSEE ’93, MSEE ’05, Ph.D. ’08) Bryan Browe Huntersville, N.C. (BSEE ’90, MSEE ’92, Ph.D. ’96) Engineer, Dominion Working to improve engine reliabil- Department Head, ECE Glen Allen, Va. Kirsten Brown (BSEE ’94) ity and power. Virginia Military Institute Working in control and protection Chief of Staff to the CEO Lexington, Va. of power generation equipment. MicroStrategy, Inc. Ricky T. Castles (BSCPE ’03, He volunteers as a coach/as- Alexandria, Va. MSCPE ’06, MSISE ’08, Ph.D. ’10) sistant coach for several youth William Barnhart Engineering Faculty Member sports teams. Steve Bucca Benjamin Beasley (BSEE ’09) East Carolina University (BSEE ’87, MSEE ’90) Greenville, N.C. Sarah S. Airey (BSCPE ’01) Associate Zeta Associates Working to develop curriculum for Mark Bucciero a new EE concentration. Christopher R. Anderson Fairfax, Va. (BSCPE ’01, MSCPE ’04) (BSEE ’99, MSEE ’02, Ph.D ’06) MSEE in progress at Virginia Tech Eric Caswell (Ph.D. ’02) Assistant Professor, ECE R. Michael Buehrer (Ph.D. ’96) United States Naval Academy Associate Professor Annapolis, Md. Virginia Tech

Matthew Anderson (BSCPE ’04)

38 Michael Kelson Michael Kevin Jones Fraser Gent Hopkins BSEE ’09, BSEE ’09, BSECE ’10 BSEE ’09, Virginia Tech Virginia Tech University of Virginia Advisor: Advisor: Texas at Austin Commonwealth Virgilio Centeno Anbo Wang Advisor: University Research: Research: As Michael Hsiao Advisor: Currently part of the Research: Lynn Abbott working with Center for Photonics Technol- General purpose computing Research: He is investigating Dominion Power and the DOE ogy, he is designing fiber optic on graphics processing units methods to encode visual to develop a three phase track- sensors fit for physical, chemi- (GPGPUs) can give a 20x information using haptic and ing linear state estimator on cal, and biological measure- speed boost. He is working audio interfaces for the blind. Dominion’s 500 kV network ments. Fraser is developing on developing and modifying In addition, he is working on using phasor measurements. a novel gas detection system algorithms for important tasks the adult-size humanoid robot, Career aspirations: To spend based on dual measurements in microprocessor testing and CHARLI, for Virginia Tech’s 20–25 years in the electric of absorption and refractive verification to map them to a entry into the 2011 RoboCup power industry before returning index change. GPGPU environment. competition. to a university to teach during retirement.

Dae Hee (Daniel) Cho (BSEE ’06) Joel A. Donahue (MSEE ’94) Todd Fleming Jonathan Graf Attorney President (BSEE ’94, MSEE ’96) (BSCPE ’02, MSCPE ’04) Dickstein Shapiro LLP Janlee Services, Inc. Director of Trust Technologies Los Angeles, Calif. Professional engineering services Ryan J. Fong Luna Innovations Recently graduated from NYU for homeowner, legal, and aca- (BSCPE ’01, MSCPE ’04) Roanoke, Va. School of Law. demic sectors. Senior Firmware Engineer Current focus on solving forward- ITT looking security problems for Jeffrey R. Clark Brian M. Donlan (MSEE ’05) Elkridge, Md. the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Ross Clay (BSCPE ’09) Thomas Drayer (Ph.D. ’97) Jayda B. Freibert (BSEE ’98) M.S. student Timothy Gredler (BSCPE ’03) North Carolina State Univ. Bradley D. Duncan (Ph.D. ’91) Daniel Friend Senior Design and Raleigh, N.C. Associate Dean of (BSEE, MSEE ’98, Ph.D. ’09) Development Engineer Graduate, Continuing, Communication Systems Engineer Lutron Electronics Brittany Clore (BSCPE ’10) and Professional Education Northrop Grumman Coopersburg, Pa. Graduate student Professor, EE and Electro-Optics Virginia Tech University of Dayton Bradley H. Gale (BSEE ’97) Christopher R. Griger Dayton, Ohio Robert M. Gardner (BSCPE ’02) Patrick Coleman Senior Digital Hardware Engineer Gregory D. Durgin (BSEE ’03, MSEE ’05, Ph.D. ’08) Kevin Cooley (BSEE ’02) Engineer III National Instruments (BSEE ’96, MSEE ’98, Ph.D. ’00) Austin, Texas Associate Professor Dominion Virginia Power David C. Craven Georgia Tech Richmond, Va. Daniel Michael Hager (CPE ’08) Lead engineer for Dominion’s Stephen Craven Atlanta, Ga. Embedded Software Engineer electric transmission smart grid Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Cas Dalton (BSCPE ’03) W. Ashley Eanes (BSEE ’95) program. Was accepted into Lockheed Richard B. Ertel (Ph.D. ’00) Daniel J. Gillespie (BSCPE ’95) Martin’s Engineering Leadership Phillip Danner (BSCPE ’91) Development Program. Bradley A. Davis (Ph.D. ’01) Brian F. Flanagan Brian Gold (BSEE ’97, MSEE ’98) (BSEE/Math ’01, MSCPE ’03) Adam Hahn Daniel Davis (BSEE ’03) Senior Staff Engineer Kevin P. Flanagan Alex Hanisch (BSCPE/Math ’03) Oracle; Redwood City, Calif. Modeling and Simulation Scientist- Scott Davis (BSCPE ’00) (BSCPE ’00, MSCPE ’01) Design Engineer Joint Warfare Analysis Center Senior Software Engineer Dahlgren, Va. Kollmorgen Micron Folsom, Calif. Abigail Harrison (BSCPE ’04) Armando Delahostria

39 2010 bradley BRAD2011 fellowLsEYS Continued

Nicholas Nathan Kees Amy Malady Javier Kaminski BSEE ’08, BSEE ’09, Schloemann BSEE/BSCPE Virginia Tech Virginia Tech BSCPE ’04, ’10 Advisor: Advisor: A. A. MSEE ’07, Virginia Tech Jason Lai (Louis) Beex Clemson Advisor: Research: He Research: University Charles is investigat- Developed Advisor: Bostian ing common- a robust Michael Buehrer Research: He is a lead devel- mode electromagnetic cyclostationarity feature based Research: He is using Bayes- oper on the Cognitive System interference soft-switching and classifier for analog and digital ian networks and inferencing Enabling Radio Evolution hard-switching full-bridge sin- signals. Developed a low order techniques to fuse position (CSERE) project to provide a gle-phase inverters, especially cyclostationarity feature based estimates from multiple sensors development system to ex- the reduction in high-frequency detector for continuous phase to find accurate position data. plore and enhance any aspect shaft voltage caused by the modulated (CPM) signals. Career aspirations: To develop of a cognitive radio. CSERE doubly-fed three-phase inverter Continuing work on developing and market an original product, will allow him to explore new topology. a CPM classifier. or to research and teach engi- ideas in cognitive radio, such neering as a professor. as non-global decision making.

Daniel J. Hibbard Madiha Jafri (BSCPE ’03) Zachary La Celle (BSEE ’09) Engineer James Hicks (Ph.D. ’03) Daniel A. Johnson (MSEE ’01) Robotic Research LLC bradley Gaithersburg, Md. Hugh E. Hockett (BSCPE ’03) Amy M. Johnson Working with ground autonomous Janie Hodges (BSCPE ’01) Edward Andrew Jones robotics platforms for use in various military and civilian environments. Spencer Hoke (BSCPE ’03) Brian Thomas Kalb Alumni Senior Software Engineer Evan Lally (BSEE ’03, MSEE ’06, Continued Qualcomm Adam Kania (BSEE ’01) Ph.D. ’10) Raleigh, N.C. Optical Scientist Switched jobs last year to move David A. Kapp (Ph.D. ’96) Luna Innovations Nathan Harter (MSEE ’07) Blacksburg, Va. closer to family. Now working for Dimosthenis C. Katsis Jennifer J. Hastings (BSEE ’96) Qualcomm on Snapdragon cell (BSEE ’95, MSEE ’97, Ph.D. ’03) Jeffery D. Laster phone software. President, Athena Energy Corp. (BSEE ’79, Ph.D. ’97) Dwayne A. Hawbaker (MSEE ’91) Russell T. Holbrook (BSCPE ’03) Bowie, Md. Principal Technical Manager William C. Headley Presently developing new products Mentor Graphics, Addison, Texas Andrew Hollingsworth (BSCPE ’02) for the alternative energy market. Matt C. Helton (BSEE ’01) Also busy consulting for the DoD Mark A. Lehne (Ph.D. ’08) Plant Engineering Ellerly Lewis Horton and various defense contractors Together with ECE’s Sanjay Raman, Eastman Chemical Co. on power supply designs. recently received a patent titled Kingsport, Tenn. Keith Huie “Analog Fourier Transform Channel- David Kleppinger (BSCPE ’04) izer and OFDM receiver.” Team Lead for Coal Gasification Ryan Hurrell (BSEE ’03) Plant Engineering Program Manager/Electrical Paul A. Kline (Ph.D. ’97) Charles Lepple Benjamin E. Henty (MSEE ’01) Engineer (BSEE ’00, MSEE ’04) Northrop Grumman/Remotec Gregory Kozick (BSCPE ’03) Senior Research Engineer Working to provide an improved ro- Johns Hopkins University APL Jason Hess (BSEE ’97, MSEE ’99) William B. Kuhn Manager, HW Engineering botic manipulator to address spe- Laurel, Md. cific challenges of vehicle based (BSEE ’79, Ph.D. ’96) Cisco Systems Professor, EECE Austin, Texas improvised explosive devices for Jason Lewis (BSEE ’99) EOD customer consideration. Kansas State University H. Erik Hia (BSCPE ’99, MSCPE ’01) Recent research projects include Joseph C. Liberti (Ph.D. ’95) Currently working on SHDSL John Todd Hutson (BSEE ’93) infusing sustainability into the K-State ECE curriculum. Zion Lo (BSEE ’94) optimization algorithms, including Sr. Software Engineer/Architect near-end cross-talk cancellation. Ryan Irwin Graduate student, Virginia Tech IQNavigator, Denver, Colo.

40 2010/2011 Webber Fellow

Benton Willis Troy Ben York Anne Martin Thompson BS ’07, BSEE ’08, BSECE ’10, BSEE ’05, MS ’09, University of F.W. Olin University of Baylor Alabama College of Tennessee- University MSEE ’10, Engineering Knoxville Advisor: Virginia Tec Advisor: Advisor: Michael Hsiao Advisor: Michael Michael Buehrer Research: His Jason Lai Buehrer Research: In an indoor environ- research is currently focused Research: He is designing and Research: In communica- ment, GPS signals are faulty on satisfiability solvers, a implementing high efficiency tions, she is working on the and sometimes non-existent. known NP-complete prob- power conversion for renew- secrecy capacity of MIMO Collaborative position location lem. He is investigating the able energy and micro-grid systems, and how it can be is using a network of intercon- techniques currently utilized by applications. Current research approached in practice. In nected nodes that each know well known satisfiability solv- involves system and battery networking, she is looking at how far away they are from ers to see if their performance management for bidirectional how the addition of femto- each other to pinpoint each can be improved. isolated supplies. cells can affect a cellular node’s individual location. network.

Daniel L. Lough Garrett Mears (BSCPE ’00) Paul Erik Nguyen Jamie Riggins (BSEE/BSCPE ’04) (BSCPE ’94, MSEE ’97, Ph.D. ’01) Chief Software Architect (BSCPE ’98, MSCPE ’99) A captain in the U.S. Air Force, she Open Vantage Ltd. was featured in Virginia Tech’s Spring Andrew Love London, U.K. J. Eric Nuckols 2010 Corps Review. Graduate student, Virginia Tech Developing an innovative new (BSEE ’97, MSEE ’99) mobile entertainment project. Pablo Max Robert (Ph.D. ’03) Cheryl Duty Martin (BSEE ’95) Neal Patwari Vinodh Menon (BSCPE ’02) (BSEE ’97, MSEE ’99) David Gray Robertson Stephanie Martin (BSEE ’04) Assistant Professor Jammer Techniques Optimization Michael Mera (BSEE ’03) University of Utah Thomas W. Rondeau (JATO) Communications Electronic Technical Lead, Electrical Engineer 2011 University of Utah Early (BSEE ’03, MS ’06, Ph.D. ’07) Attack Team Lead U.S. Army Career Teaching Award Rondeau Research, LLC Johns Hopkins University APL; Picatinny, N.J. Philadelphia, Pa. Columbia, Md. Joseph Allen Payne (BSEE ’00) New maintainer of GNU Radio. Carl Minton (MSCPE ’99) Michael Mattern (BSEE ’02) My Linh Pham (BSCPE ’07, Thomas M. Rose (MSEE ’96) John Morton (MSEE ’98) BS in Physics ’07) Senior Engineer Christopher Maxey (BSCPE ’02) Ph.D. student in Applied Physics Boeing Christian Murphy Harvard University St. Louis, Mo. Eric J. Mayfield (BSEE ’97) Cambridge, Mass. Stephen Nash (BSCPE ’03) Jon Scalera (MSCPE ’01) Patrick McDougle (BSEE ’03) Software Engineer Sr. W. Bruce Puckett (MSEE ’00) Lockheed Martin IS&GS Amy Schneider (BSCPE ’03) Brian J. McGiverin (BSCPE ’96) Rockville, Md. Yaron Rachlin (BSEE/Math ’00) Senior Member of Technical Staff Steven Schulz (MSEE ’91) John T. McHenry Troy Nergaard (MSEE ’02) (BSEE ’98, MSEE ’90, Ph.D. ’93) Draper Laboratory Engineering Manager, Charging Cambridge, Mass. David C. Schroder (BSEE ’05) Senior Electrical Engineer Systems U.S. Department of Defense Tesla Motors Parrish Ralston Ian Schworer (BSCPE ’03, MSEE ’05) Keith McKenzie Palo Alto, Calif. (BSEE ’06, MSEE ’08) Graduate Researcher Associate, Global Technology Bank- ing Barclays Capital, Investment David McKinstry (MSEE ’03) Michael H. Newkirk Virginia Tech (BSEE ’88, MSEE ’90, Ph.D. ’94) Banking Division James W. McLamara Principal Professional Staff Christian J. Reiser (Ph.D. ’05) Applied Physics Laboratory Jeff Scruggs (MSEE ’99) Steve Richmond (MSEE ’01) Johns Hopkins University Kashan Shaikh (BSCPE ’02) ECE Advisory Board Member

41 2010 bradley BRAD2011 scholLarsEYS

Allison Hofer Callie David Mazur EE ’14 Johnston EE ’11 Hartland, Wis. CPE ’14 Pittsburgh, Pa. Career goals: Cleveland, Ohio Career goals: To become Career goals: Ph.D., then a patent at- To work with manage group torney. artificial designing large Why ECE: intelligence or electrical solu- “The selling point for me music technology. tions for industry. on this major was the large Why ECE: “My internship at Research: Characterization amount of communication that Rockwell Automation sparked and measurement of power takes place between electri- my interest and inspired me to angle on synchronous ma- cal engineers and many other pursue a degree which can be chines to prevent inter-machine engineering majors.” applied in a variety of different oscillations. ways.” Experience: Rockwell Automa- tion internships. Most memorable: “Ability to par- take in design projects throughout my undergraduate career.”

Neil Steiner (MSEE ‘02, Ph.D. ‘08) David Tarnoff (MSEE ’91) Jason Wienke (BSEE ’02) Computer Scientist Associate Professor USC Information Sciences Computer & Information Science Thomas Williams (BSEE ’00) bradley Institute East Tennessee State University William J. Worek Douglas R. Sterk (MSEE ’03) Alexander J. Taylor (BSCPE ’99, MSCPE ’02) CPES Lab Manager Senior Engineer Ph.D. student, Virginia Tech Daniel Tebben (Ph.D. ’06) SAIC Arlington, Va. Alumni Jerry Towler (BSEE ’08) Scott Stern (BSEE ’93) Continued Program Manager Graduate Research Assistant Kai Xu (BSEE ’95) Compunetix Unmanned Systems Lab Adam Keith Shank Monroeville, Penn. Virginia Tech Matthew Yaconis Manages development efforts Raymond A. Sharp (BSEE ’02) Rose Trepkowski (MSEE ’04) Jason Jon Yoho (Ph.D. ’01) for mission-critical conferencing Design Engineer systems. Rebecca Shelton (MSEE ’08) Christian Twaddle (BSCPE ’01) Picosecond Pulse Labs Samuel S. Stone (BSCPE ’03) Program Manager, ITT Corporation Boulder, Colo. Jacob Simmons (CPE ’08) Columbia, Md. Anne (Palmore) Stublen Phillip A. Zellner Roger Skidmore Matthew C. Valenti (BSEE ’91) Richard Zimmerman (BSCPE ’07) (BSCPE ’94, MSEE ’97, Ph.D. ’03) Newark, Del. (BSEE ’92, Ph.D. ’99) Professor, CS & ECE Applications Programmer Jeff Smidler (BSEE ’98) Seema Sud (Ph.D. ’02) West Virginia University Virginia Tech Transportation Morgantown, W.Va. Institute Chelsy Wynn Smidler Erica Sundstrom Blacksburg, Va. Michael Vercellino Amanda (Martin) Staley Juan E. Suris (Ph.D ’07) Gregory A. Zvonar (MSEE ’91) (BSEE ’99, MSEE ’01) Assistant Professor Wesley Wade (BSEE ’93) Senior Engineer University of Puerto Rico MITRE Corporation Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Kristin Weary (BSEE ’03) McLean, Va. Electrical Engineer Recently joined a project dedicat- Ethan B. Swint Bechtel-Knolls Atomic ed to identifying gaps in research Graduate Research Assistant Power Laboratory for the FAA’s NextGen programs Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech Niskayuna, N.Y. Graham Stead (BSCPE ’93) Michael L. Webber (MSEE ’03)

42 Corporate&Industrial AffiliAffiliates ates

CPES Partners Eaton Corporation – Caterpillar, Inc. Wireless @ VT Danfoss Drives Innovation Center Affiliates DRS Power and Control Principal Plus Members Fairchild Semiconductor Corp Applied Signal Technology, Inc. Technologies, Inc. ABB, Inc. GHO Ventures, LLC Harris Corporation Emerson Motor Company ALSTOM Transport Maxim Integrated Products L-3 Communications Ford Motor Company Chicony Power Samsung Telecommunications Fuji Electric Advanced Technology Co., Ltd Associate Members America Technology Co., Ltd. China National Electric Crown International SRC, Incorporated General Dynamics Apparatus Research Institute Cummins, Inc. Telcordia Technologies, Inc. Land Systems Crane Aerospace & Electronics Delphi Electronics & Safety Thales Communications Hamilton Sundstrand Delta Electronics Enphase Energy, Inc. Zeta Associates, Inc. Hitachi, Ltd. Emerson Network Enpirion, Inc. Honeywell International Corp Power Co., Ltd Hitachi Computer Peripherals WICAT-VT Co., Ltd. Kohler Company GE Energy Partners Intel Corporation LEM USA, Inc. GE Global Research Applied Signal Technology, Inc. Johnson Controls Miller Electric Mfg. Co. Groupe SAFRAN Center for Advanced L-3 Communications Milwaukee Electric Tool Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Engineering and Research Power Paragon Inc. Company International Rectifier Harris Corporation Lexmark International National Instruments Intersil Corporation Intel Corporation Microsoft Corporation Oak Ridge National Laboratory Linear Technology National Instruments Mitsubishi Materials Corp. Oshkosh Truck Corporation Lite-On Technology Corporation Qualcomm, Inc. Murata Power Solutions Pacific Scientific EKD Monolithic Power Systems Rockwell Collins NetPower Technologies, Inc. Phoenix International National Semiconductor Corp SRC, Inc. Nippon Chemi-Con Corp. Plexim GmbH Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. U.S. Army CERDEC (Commun.- Sharp Laboratories of America PowerHub Systems NXP Semiconductors Elec. Res. Dev. Engr. Ctr.) Shindengen Electric Mfg. Rockwell Automation – OSRAM Sylvania, Inc. Zeta Associates, Inc. Kinetix Richtek Technology Corporation Co., Ltd. S&C Electric Company Rolls-Royce TDK-Lambda Corporation Simplis Technologies, Inc. Space @ VT Siemens Corporate Research The Boeing Company Synopsys, Inc. Affiliates Texas Instruments Toyota Motor Corporation TECO Westinghouse Northrop Grumman Corp. TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. Universal Lighting Technolo- Tektronix, Inc. Orbital Sciences Corporation United Technologies gies, Inc. (formerly PEW) Toshiba International VPT, Inc. Research Center Vacon, Inc. Corporation Trane Company Principal Members Affiliate Members Trendsetter Electronics AcBel Polytech, Inc. American Superconductor VPT, Inc. Analog Devices ANSYS, Inc. AO Smith Corporation Whirlpool Corporation Yaskawa Electric America, Inc.

43 Donors to ECE DoDuring the Fiscaln Year 2010ors Alumni Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this report, we acknowledge that errors may have occurred. If your name was omitted or listed incorrectly, please accept our sincere apologies and send corrections to the Office of University Development at (540) 231-2801, or contact: www.givingto.vt.edu/Contact/contact-form.

Glenn Michael Allen W. Douglas Drumheller David Scott Lehnus Daniel M. Sable & Rebecca S. Allen & Peggy (“Jean”) Drumheller & Maja M. Lehnus & Pamela Sable David E. Ames Stephen Paul Earwood Fangxing Li B. June Schmidt & Linda R. Ames G. Stephen Ellis & Erin Q. Zhou & Richard E. Schmidt Charlotte Marie Baker & Debbie J. Ellis John Keith Loftis, Jr. James Franklin Schooler & Christopher M. Mitchell Walter L. Epperly & Pauline R. Loftis & Nancy J. Schooler Sandee Kay Bailey & Dorothy Epperly Edith Dole Marsh Margaret Ficklen Schubert & David W. Bailey Samuel Macin Estill & Ronald L. Marsh & Thomas A. Schubert Andrew Beach & Jeffra D. Estill Joseph Walter Matzen, Jr. Edith L. Schulz Alexander Shrive Beck Gilbert Lawrence Faison The Honorable Joe Turner May Scott Yates Seidel Estate of Doris C. Belak & Jewel C. Faison & Roberta D. May & Deborah Q. Seidel T. Wayne Belvin Robert W. Freund John Thomas McHenry Bernard Silverman & Colleen F. Belvin Ralph V. Geabhart, Jr. Scott Andrew Merritt Michael Elliot Sockell Archie W. Bennett & Sandra C. Geabhart Matthew D. Miller Charles S. Stevens & Shirley T. Bennett Jane A. Gilbert Jeannette Marcella Mills & Ann C. Stevens Alston Wilcox Blount, III Michele Urban Greenwood & David L. Mills Russell Alan Strobel & Melissa R. Blount & Mark J. Greenwood Peyton Leftwich Morgan, III & Pam M. Strobel Gregory Edward Bottomley James Thomas Griffin Manish Hari Nasta Harvey Lee Sutton & Laura J. Bottomley Paul Stephen Hamer Charles E. Niedermayer, IV & Agnes Sutton Robert Francis Bruce & Mary Hamer Forrest Eugene Norrod Arthur D. Thompson & Connie E. Bruce Jesse T. Hancock & Karen Norrod & Virginia Thompson Donna Wiltsey Carr & Valorie R. Hancock Michael L. Oatts Catherine Gray Thorpe & John Carr Edgar D. Harras & Cheryl C. Oatts & Michael A. Eades Chien-Hung Chao & Danna J. Harras Sharon Lynn Ocheltree Paul Turner Thurneysen & Sandy J. Chao Hugh Edward Hockett & Stewart L. Ocheltree Jr. & Shirley A. Thurneysen Leslie Haden Christian Roger Lee Hopkins Lowell Thomas Overby Deborah R. Tillotson & Pauline H. Christian & Amelia Hopkins & Carolyn Overby & Daniel H. Tillotson John Colin Collins Hsien Lu Huang Allan B. Pedin, III Amanda M. Trussell & William W. Collins & Hui-Lein P. Huang & Anne L. Pedin C. Hyde Tucker Ernest Dyson Crack Kenneth Lee Johnson Maj. Gen. Milton A. Pilcher & Gloria J. Tucker & Jackie A. Crack & Edward L. Johnson C. L. Purdy Daniel E. Vogler Kevin Eugene Crawford Edward A. Jones & Carol T. Purdy & Jean S. Vogler & Janet Crawford John A. Kise, Sr. Virginia Katherina Ratway Evan Michael Weiner Kenneth E. Cutler & Karen Kise & Michael J. Ratway Ann P. Wingfield & Lisa Cutler Joseph Edward Kusterer David B. Reed & William A. Wingfield Carl Lea Darron & Maryann W. Kusterer Eugene H. Reilley, Jr. Naveen Yadlapalli George Stephenson Davis Ting-Pui Lai & Frederica Reilley & Kathryn Y. Davis William Kenneth Lamp Gerald F. Ricciardi Steve Otho Dixon Helene Lane William G. Roberts & William F. Lane

44 Corporate Donors Blackwell Award American Electric Power Lockheed Martin Scholarship any of this year’s dona three floors in 1971. During this Service Corp. Foundation tions were earmarked period, the department doubled Boeing Company MetLife Foundation Mfor the Bill & LaRue in size, from 21 faculty members Dominion Virginia Power Micron Technologies Blackwell Graduate Research in 1966 to 39 in 1981. Electronics & Telecommunica- Microsoft Research Paper Award, endowed in honor Blackwell stepped down as tions Research Institute, National Semiconductor Corp. of former department head and head in 1981 to serve as a pro South Korea Northrop Grumman Corp. professor William A. Blackwell, fessor. He remained active with Exelon Corp. Science Applications Harris Foundation International Corp. who died in March 2010. the department after retire IBM International Foundation Radio Club of America, Inc. Blackwell was ment, editing a Intel Corp. VMDAEC born in Fort Worth, textbook, encour Texas, in 1920 and aging young faculty served in the U.S. members, and co- Army Air Force writing a history of during World War the department. II. He joined the Blackwell ECE Friends Virginia Tech fac earned many hon- ulty in 1966 and ors in the field. He William A. Blackwell Doris S. Abraham Stanley Honda served as head of was a lifetime Fel- & Robert Abraham & Bambi Honda the Electrical Engineering De low of the IEEE, and a regional Sunny B. Bettis Insoo Hwang partment until 1981. During his IEEE Outstanding Educator. Charles W. Bostian Jerry Wayne Jackson tenure as department head, the The University of Illinois & Frieda F. Bostian Mary T. Joynes foundations of today’s depart named him a Distinguished Jerry L. Bowman & John L. Joynes ment were developed. Whit Alumnus in 1979 and Texas Amie Brauer Felicia H. Jung Paul E. Britton & Song K. Jung temore Hall was built and the Tech named him a Distin- William C. Britton James A. King, Jr. department moved into the first guished Engineer in 1990. & JoAnne H. Britton & Sara King Gary S. Brown Cynthia C. Kizer & M. K. Brown Herman E. Koenig Donnie King Fund Anne Bryant & Ruth J. Koenig & Tim Bryant David M. Lofe ther donations this year Lou Gehrig’s disease. Louis A. Bullington & Luwanna S. Lofe were given to a scholar- King became one of the Hugh G. Campbell Lewis W. Maye, III Oship fund endowed in world’s few experts in magne- David Y. Chen Jeanne C. Melone memory of Donnie Marvin tometry — magnetic measure- & Shu-Tsung Chen Scott F. Midkiff King (BSEE ’69), ment technology to Linda P. David & Sofia Z. Midkiff who died in 2009. help the Navy track James A. Eder Michael L. Miles King, an ex- submarines and lo- & Kathleen M. Eder Patricia C. Monson pert and technical cate mines. Nancy C. Farrell & Duke G. Monson leader in the small, King spent half & Charles Farrell Quyen Phan but critical field of his career develop- Sarah F. Glass Irma P. Sisson magnetometers, ing technology to Linda Hadley Frederick W. Stephenson & Jeffrey G. Hadley Paul M. Tibbets inspired many with Donnie King, BSEE ’69 hunt and track So- Dana J. Harris Thomas M. Villani his dogged determination to viet submarines, then after the Daniel B. Hodge solve problems and an unshak- Cold War was thrilled to col- & Lorraine A. Hodge able good nature. laborate and become friends King continued his work with some of his former techni- while battling increasing handi- cal competitors from Russia. caps from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as

When you hear from The College Annual Fund this fall, make your gift to ECE.

45 HONORS& HoACHIEVEMENTSnors Honors & Awards Fred C. Lee has been named Jeff Reed’s appointment as the mittee on Wearable Information The faculty team mentored the one of 68 new members elect- Willis G. Worcester Professor Systems (TCWIS). Lumenhaus team that won the ed to the National Academy of of Electrical and Computer 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe. Engineering for his contributions Engineering was renewed for Anbo Wang was named a Fel- to power electronics. Member- another five-year term. low of the International Optics T.-C. Poon was appointed a ship in the academy is one of and Photonics Society. Distinguished Chair Professor Krishnan Ramu was honored by Feng Chia University, Taiwan. the highest professional honors Sandeep Shukla is an ACM Dis- accorded to an engineer. with the Anthony J. Hornfeck Service Award by the IEEE tinguished Speaker and an IEEE Stephen Ellingson received A Saifur Rahman received the Industrial Electronics Society. Computer Society Distinguished College of Engineering Faculty IEEE-USA Professional Achieve- Visitor. Fellow Award. ment Award for 2010. His ap- Dushan Boroyevich has been elected President Elect of the Amir Zaghloul was named a William Baumann earned a pointment as the Joseph Loring Distinguished Lecturer for the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Professor of Electrical and Com- IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS). IEEE Sensors Council for 2010- Teaching and a Certificate of puter Engineering was renewed 2011. He was also elevated Teaching Excellence. for another five-year term. Michael Buehrer and postdoc- to Life Fellow of the IEEE and toral associate Haris Volos won Fellow of the Applied Computa- Jason Lai received a Dean’s Joseph Baker was named Ste- Award for Excellence in Re- ven O. Lane Junior Faculty Fel- the Fred Ellersick Award for tional Electromagnetics Society. Best Paper in the Unclassified search. low of Electrical and Computer Virgilio Centeno, with col- Engineering. Technical Program at MILCOM Hardus Odendaal received a 2010, for their paper, “Robust leagues from architecture, business, and engineering, won Dean’s Award for Excellence in Joseph Tront was named the Training of A Link Adaptation Service. W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Cognitive Engine.” the Virginia Tech 2010 XCaliber Innovation in Engineering Edu- award for excellence in creat- cation. Tom Martin was elected vice ing and applying technologies chair of the IEEE Technical Com- on a large-scale team project.

Books Published

Tom Hou co-edited Cogni- Sandeep Shukla co-edited Syn- William Tranter and Tamal Yue (Joseph) Wang and tive Radio Communications thesis of Embedded Software: Bose have a new book co- Jinhua (Jason) Xuan were and Networks: Principles and Frameworks and Methodolo- authored with Ratchaneekorn contributing authors of Volume Practices; Academic Press/ gies for Correctness by Con- Thamvichai: Simulation Models XVIII of the Encyclopaedia of Elsevier, 2010. struction; Springer, 2010. He of Phase Tracking Devices Us- Sports Medicine series, which also co-authored Low Power ing MATLAB; Morgan-Claypool, covers genetic and molecular Patrick Schaumont published Hardware Synthesis from 2010. aspects of sports perfor- A Practical Introduction to Concurrent Action-Oriented mance. Hardware/Software Codesign; Specifications; Springer, 2010. Springer, 2010.

46 Editorships Tom Hou is editor of IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, for the IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications. technical editor of IEEE Wireless Communications, and area editor of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He also T.-C. Poon is division editor of Applied Optics. serves as editor of ACM/Springer Wireless Networks (WINET) and the editor of Elsevier Ad Hoc Networks Journal. Saifur Rahman is editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Sustain- able Energy. Michael Hsiao is associate editor of ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems and serves on the editorial Sandeep Shukla is associate editor for IEEE Transactions on boards of IEEE Design & Test of Computers and the Journal of Computers, IEEE Embedded Systems Letters, IEEE Design & Test, Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications. and Elsevier Journal on Nano-Networks. He is also guest editor for a special issue of IEEE Design & Test on Transaction Level Allen MacKenzie is associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Modeling for Multi-Core Systems. Communications and IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. Anbo Wang is senior editor of Sensors - Insciences Journal. Paolo Mattavelli was the 2010 associate editor for IEEE Trans- actions on Power Electronics and IPCC Transactions Review Chair Jason Xuan is associate editor of BMC Bioinformatics. Conference Chairs & Speakers

Peter Athanas gave the keynote speech at DCIS 2010: The Scott Midkiff was technical program co-chair for the 5th ACM In- 25th Conference on Design of Circuits and Integrated Systems, ternational Workshop on UnderWater Networks (WUWNet), Sept. Nov. 2010 in Lanzarote, Spain. He also served as program chair 2010, Woods Hole, Mass, and workshops co-chair for the IEEE for FPT 2010: International Conference on Field-Programmable International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communi- Technology, Dec. 2010, Beijing; and for RSP 2010: 21st IEEE cation (PerCom), March 2011, Seattle, Washington. International Symposium on Rapid System Prototyping, June 2010, Washington, D.C. Saifur Rahman served as the general chair of the Asia Pacific Power & Energy Engineering Conference, March 2011, Wuhan, Dushan Boroyevich gave an invited plenary talk at the Applied China. Power Electronics Conference (APEC), March 2011, Fort Worth, Texas. Patrick Schaumont was program co-chair for the ACM Workshop on Embedded Systems Security, Oct. 2010, Scottsdale, Ariz. Dong Ha served as technical program chair for US-Korea Confer- ence (UKC) 2010, August 2010, Seattle, Wa. Sandeep Shukla presented a keynote talk at the International NOTERE 2010: Novel Technologies for Distributed Systems Con- Tom Hou is vice chair of the IEEE INFOCOM Standing Commit- ference; June 2010, Toezur, Tunisia. tee. He served as technical program co-chair for the Internation- al Conference on Computer Communication Networks (IC3N), Anbo Wang served as chair of Advanced Sensor Systems and Aug. 2010, Zurich, Switzerland; and as lead technical program Applications IV, Photonics Asia, Oct. 2010, Beijing, China; and co-chair of IEEE ICC 2010 – Wireless Networking Symposium, chair of Optical Fiber Sensors and Applications IV, April 2010, May 2010, Cape Town, South Africa. Orlando, Fla.; and Photonic Microdevices/Microstructures for Sensing II, April 2010, Orlando, Fla.

Tenure & Promotion Exceptional National Service Masoud Agah was tenured and promoted to associ- Sanjay Raman is program manager in the Microsystems Technol- ate professor. ogy Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA/MTO). Robert Clauer was tenured at his currently held rank of professor. William Tranter is a program director in the Division of Com- puting and Communication Foundations (CCF) at the National Allen MacKenzie was tenured and promoted to as- Science Foundation. sociate professor. Saifur Rahman is chair of the NSF Advisory Committee for Inter- national Science and Engineering.

47 Facece facululty ty A. Lynn Abbott Luiz DaSilva Majid Manteghi Timothy Pratt Associate Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Professor Illinois ’89 Kansas ’98 UCLA ’05 Birmingham ’68 Masoud Agah William A. Davis Tom Martin Saifur Rahman Associate Professor Professor Associate Professor Joseph Loring Professor Michigan ’05 Illinois ’74 Carnegie Mellon ’99 Virginia Tech ’78 Peter Athanas Jaime de la Ree Paolo Mattavelli Sanjay Raman Professor Associate Professor Professor Professor Brown ’92 & Assistant Department Head University of Padova ’95 Michigan ’97 Pittsburgh ’84 Scott Bailey Kathleen Meehan Krishnan Ramu Associate Professor Steven Ellingson Associate Professor Professor Colorado ’95 Associate Professor Illinois ’85 Concordia ’82 Ohio State ’00 Joseph Baker Scott F. Midkiff Binoy Ravindran Assistant Professor Louis Guido Professor & Head Associate Professor Michigan ’01 Associate Professor Duke ’85 UT Arlington ’98 Illinois ’89 William T. Baumann Lamine Mili Jeffrey H. Reed Associate Professor Dong S. Ha Professor Willis G. Worcester Professor Johns Hopkins ’85 Professor Liege ’87 UC Davis ’87 Iowa ’86 A. A. (Louis) Beex Leyla Nazhandali Sedki Riad Professor Thomas Hou Assistant Professor Professor Colorado State ’79 Associate Professor Michigan ’06 Toledo ’76 Polytechnic Univ. ’98 Dushan Boroyevich Khai D.T. Ngo J. Michael Ruohoniemi American Electric Power Michael Hsiao Professor Associate Professor Professor Professor Caltech ’84 Western Ontario ’86 Virginia Tech ’86 Illinois ’97 Hardus Odendaal Ahmad Safaai-Jazi Tamal Bose Mantu Hudait Associate Professor Professor Professor Associate Professor Rand Afrikaans ’97 McGill ’78 Southern Illinois ’88 Indian Institute of Science ’99 Marius Orlowski Wayne Scales Robert P. Broadwater Mark Jones Professor, VMEC Chair Professor Professor Professor Tuebingen ’81 Cornell ’88 Virginia Tech ’77 Duke ’90 Jung-Min Park Patrick Schaumont Gary S. Brown Jason Lai Associate Professor Assistant Professor Bradley Distinguished Professor Purdue ’03 UCLA ’04 Professor of Electromagnetics Tennessee ’89 Illinois ’67 Cameron Patterson Sandeep Shukla Fred C. Lee Associate Professor Associate Professor R. Michael Buehrer University Distinguished Calgary ’92 SUNY Albany ’97 Associate Professor Professor Virginia Tech ’96 Duke ’74 JoAnn Paul Daniel Stilwell Associate Professor Associate Professor Virgilio Centeno Douglas Lindner Pittsburgh ’94 Johns Hopkins ’99 Associate Professor Associate Professor Virginia Tech ’95 Illinois ’82 Paul Plassmann Dennis Sweeney Professor Professor of Practice C. Robert Clauer G. Q. Lu Cornell ’90 Virginia Tech ’92 Professor Professor UCLA ’80 Harvard ’90 T.–C. Poon Kwa-Sur Tam Professor Associate Professor Claudio da Silva Allen MacKenzie Iowa ’82 Wisconsin ’85 Assistant Professor Associate Professor UC- San Diego ’05 Cornell ’03

48 ece industrial Advisory board

William H. Tranter Lasse B.N. Clausen Rodney Clemmer Jeannette Mills ’88 Bradley Professor Postdoctoral Associate Manager, Software Engineering Senior Vice President of Communications GE Energy, Controls Gas Business Operations Alabama ’70 Richard W. Conners & Power Electronics & Planning Associate Professor Emeritus Center of Excellence Baltimore Gas and Electric Joseph G. Tront & Research Associate Professor W.S. “Pete” White Professor Robert Fulton ’82 Behnam Moradi SUNY Buffalo ’78 Carl B. Dietrich Vice President Senior Member Research Associate Professor Business Development of Technical Staff Anbo Wang Space Systems Group Micron Technology Clayton Ayre Professor Aditya S. Gadre Orbital Sciences Corp. Dalian ’89 Research Associate Michael Newkirk ’88, ’90, ’94 Roger Gambrel Principal Professional Staff Yue (Joseph) Wang Jianmin Gong Senior Director The Johns Hopkins University Grant A. Dove Professor Research Scientist Engineering Simulation Applied Physics Laboratory Maryland ’95 and Training S.M. Shajedul Hasan Rockwell Collins Steve Poland C. Jules White Research Scientist CEO Assistant Professor R. Matthew Gardner ’08 Prime Photonics Jing Huang Vanderbilt ’08 Electric Transmission Planning Postdoctoral Associate Dominion Virginia Power Dan Sable ’85, ’91 Chris Wyatt President and CEO Associate Professor Hyomin Kim Truls Henriksen ’90 VPT, Inc. Wake Forest School Postdoctoral Associate Consultant, Ecto, LLC of Medicine ’02 Eric Starkloff Julien B. Ouy Mike Hurley Vice President Product Yong Xu Postdoctoral Associate Advisory Board Chair Marketing for Test Assistant Professor Program Manager National Instruments Caltech ’01 Arun G. Phadke Satellite Programs University Distinguished Naval Research Laboratory Alan Wade Jason Xuan Professor Emeritus President Associate Professor & Research Professor Michael Keeton ’71 Wade Associates Maryland ’97 Senior Program Director Apoorva Shende Orbital Science Corporation Timothy Winter ’81 Yaling Yang Postdoctoral Associate Vice President Assistant Professor Stephen Larson ’90 Market Development Illinois ’06 Yi Shi Manager, St. Louis Area Electronic Systems Research Scientist Schneider Electric Northrop Grumman Corp. Instructors James S. Thorp John Logrando Brandon Witcher ’01, ’03 Kristie Cooper Hugh P. and Ethel C. Kelly Director, Electrical Power Senior Member Instructor Professor Emeritus Systems Engineering of Technical Staff & Research Professor Lockheed Martin Sandia National Laboratory Leslie K. Pendleton Space Systems Company Director of Student Services Brentha Thurairajah Joyce Woodward Postdoctoral Associate Gino Manzo Department of the Navy Jason Thweatt Director, Microelectronics Instructor Haris I. Volos Postdoctoral Associate Technology and Products Manassas Site Executive Research Faculty Dan Weimer BAE Systems Ashwin Amanna Research Professor Senior Research Associate Dave Marsell ’88 Wensong Yu Chief Technologist Charles W. Bostian Research Assistant Professor Pressure Systems, Inc. Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus Amir I. Zaghloul & Research Professor Research Professor Xia Cai Baigang Zhang Postdoctoral Associate Research Associate The Bradley Department Non-Profit Org. of Electrical & Computer Engineering U.S. Postage Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University PAID 302 Whittemore Hall Blacksburg, VA 24060 Blacksburg, VA 24061 Permit No. 28