ISSN 2010-1651  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 A BI-ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

DR QIU CHENG WEI PAGE AND HIS NUS ECE IS RANKED 6TH IN THE QS WORLD COLLABORATORS 08 DEVELOPED A NEW MECHANISM UNIVERSITY RANKINGS BY SUBJECT 2014 FOR EMPLOYING A SINGLE NATURAL UNSTRUCTURED LIGHT BEAM ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

PROFESSOR T. VENKY VENKATESAN APPOINTED PROVOST CHAIR PROFESSOR

THE ECE PAGE PROFESSOR T. VENKY VENKATESAN DEPARTMENT ORGANISED A TWO- 16 APPOINTED PROVOST CHAIR DAY WORKSHOP ON “EMBEDDED SYSTEMS WITH ARDUINO” PROFESSOR FOR SENIOR INTEGRATED PROGRAMME (IP) AND JUNIOR COLLEGE STUDENTS

THE ECE DEPARTMENT PAGE HELD ITS 6th ALUMNI FAMILY DAY AT UTOWN 17 ON 31 AUGUST 2013

PAGE PROF. T. VENKATESAN IS CURRENTLY THE DIRECTOR OF THE NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE AT THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (NUSNNI) WHERE HE IS A PROFESSOR OF 02 ECE AND PHYSICS. CONTENTS HoD SPEAKS... DEPARTMENT 01 Award of ECE Scholarships While ranking of universities Appointment of Provost Chair 02 can be rather subjective Professor depending on the parameters Introducing Professor Krishna measured, this particular V. Palem ranking shows that we are well- 03 Engineering Educator Award regarded by our peers, employers Young Faculty Research rate our graduates highly and that Award our research has been rather impactful. 04 New Appointments and Promotions 05 Celebrating SONDRA’s 10th Anniversary 07 Assoc Prof Tan Kay Chen Prof Chua Kee Chaing Elevated To IEEE Fellow Head, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, NUS

RESEARCH I am happy to note that NUS’ Electrical Engineering 08 Dr Qiu Cheng Wei Wins the program is now ranked 6th globally (up from 10th last SNAS Young Scientist Award year) according to the latest QS Global Universities 09 New Innovation Enables Bigger ranking announced just last week. While ranking of and Longer Lasting Memory in universities can be rather subjective depending on the Electronic Systems parameters measured, this particular ranking shows that 10 NUSwan – A Tool for Persistent we are well-regarded by our peers, employers rate our Monitoring of Water Bodies graduates highly and that our research has been rather impactful. All these are results of the quality of our staff, STUDENT students and alumni, and I congratulate everyone for this 11 Graduate Student Achievements very fine achievement. 12 CEG Students Win First and Once again, in this issue you will read some examples of Second Prizes at iCreate the fine achievements of our faculty and students over the Mobility Challenge 2013 last six months. I would particularly like to congratulate 13 NUS DCP Teams Emerge Associate Professor Tan Kay Chen on his elevation to Victorious in Taiwan and Fellow grade of the IEEE, Professor Thirumalai Venky South Korea Venkatesan on his appointment to a Provost Chair, 14 Victory at the Singapore Space Associate Professor Aaron Danner on being conferred Challenge 2013 the Engineering Educator Award, and Dr Qiu Cheng Wei 15 NUS ECE Open House 2014 on being conferred both the Singapore National Academy 16 ECE Outreach Workshop on of Science’s Young Scientist Award and the Faculty’s “Embedded Systems with Arduino” Young Researcher Award. ALUMNI Over the last six months, we have also welcomed a number of new colleagues to the ECE family. Among 17 ECE Alumni Family Day 2013 these are Distinguished Professor Antonio Helio Castro- ANNOUNCEMENT Neto, Director of the NUS Graphene Research Centre, 18 7th ECE Alumni Family Day who now holds a courtesy joint appointment with ECE, Adjunct Professor Quek Gim Pew, Chief Executive Officer NUS Engineering Charity Golf 2014 of DSO National Laboratories, and Professor Krishna V. Palem of Rice University who is now Visiting Professor to ECE funded through the GlobalFoundries Singapore Pte. Editorial Team Assoc Prof Dipti Srinivasan Ltd. Professorship in Engineering. Assoc Prof Xiang Cheng Assoc Prof Marc Andre Armand Assoc Prof Ng Chun Sum Ms Eunice Wong

Photography Mr Abdul Jalil Bin Din

Advisors Prof Chua Kee Chaing Assoc Prof Tham Chen Khong I haveastrong passioninsports.Insecondaryschool Marcus remember tolookbeyondourselves. to supportoneanother. Lifehassomuchtooffer ifwe are allinthisworldtogether andweneedtoremember about myself.Inservingothers,Iamreminded thatwe moreindividuals, collaborationandsympathywhileIlearn constantly teachesmesomethingdifferent about my existenceandtakesmebeyondmyself.Forme,it small difference tothelivesofothersgivesmeaning I dovolunteerworkbecausebeingabletomakeevena author’s words basedonmyownexperiencesandreasoning. the process ofevolvingmy ownimagesandviewsfrom an stems from thefreedom itgivesmyimagination.Ienjoy and theChildren’s Cancerfoundation.Myloveofbooks In myfree time,Iread booksandvolunteerwithSINDA positive difference inthisfield. and Iwouldbeimmenselygladtocontribute,makea when weneedmore electrical engineersthaneverbefore and increasingly hecticgenerations. There mightbeatime Electricty hastransformedallofhumanityinafewshort bulbs, allthesehavebeenmadepossiblebyelectricity. and sights,eventhelightingupofacitybymillions continents, man’s abilitytoreplicate andre-live sounds wonders likereal timeradiocommunicationsacross I marvelathowmuchelectricityhasachieved.Small Chandini alumni andcorporatepartners.Letusmeetournewscholars. scholarship waslaunchedinAugust2012andismadepossiblebygenerous donationsfrom staff, academically. Theaward isbond-free andeachrecipient receives $10,000perannum.TheECE ECE Scholarshipswere awarded tothree outstandinglocalstudentswhohaveperformedwell AWARD OFECESCHOLARSHIPS and juniorcollege, Iwaspartoftheschooltennis team. Tay Manoharan HockBoon(EEE1) (EEE1) which Ithoroughly enjoyed. building aFMradiofrom scratch in courses,oneofwhichinvolved interest byallowingmetoenrol the opportunitytofurthermy physics. Schoolalsogaveme I discovered myinterest in in Raffles institutionwhere coming toNUS,Istudied Hello! I’mMarcus Tay. Before than computerchips. of electricitymuchmore stunning wonder. Infact,Ifindthevirtues electricity istoday’s defining interests mebecause,tome, Programme. ElectricalEngineering the NUSElectricalEngineering am proud tobeacceptedinto Anderson JuniorCollegeandI Hello! IamChandini.I’mfrom

school. Jammingtosongsandlisteningmusicallows some drums,havingattendedacrashcourseinsecondary would meetupoccasionallyforajamsession.Ialsoplay my free time.I’mpartofa band outsideofschoolandwe Beyond sportsandacademics,Ienjoyplayingtheguitarin in thesportingarena, butalsoinmystudieshere inNUS. other things.Thistraininghasproven tobeuseful,notonly me tofocusonthetaskathandandnotbedistractedby mentally strong whenthegoinggetstough.Italsotaught daily lives,instudiesorwork.Sportstaughtmetoremain that thelessonsgainedfrom sportscanbeappliedtoour Marathon. Sportsrelaxes mymindandIstrongly believe the Standard Chartered MarathonandtheSundown Half run, andhavetakenpartinanumberofraces,suchas and squash.Outsideofschool,Ilovetoswim,bike represented thehallinInter-Hall Gamesforbothtennis I’m alsocurrently aresident inTemasek Hallandhave Apart from tennis,Iplaymanyothersportsforleisure. keep ourbrain active toprevent itfrom degenerating! referring to YouTube tutorials.Ithink weshouldconstantly On rare toplaythepianoby occasions,Itrytolearn Android application,Ienjoycyclingandwatchingmovies. When Iamnottinkeringwith Arduino orbuildingmynext of gainingknowledge. hardware andsoftware, duringmyweekendsin the spirit For thatreason, Ialsoliketotakeonmini-projects, both memory thanwords read from lecture notes ortextbooks. a hands-onapproach. Ithinkactionscommitbetterto throughIn myopinion,itiseasiertounderstandandlearn practical lab-timeformetogetmyhands‘dirty’. Engineering modulesIamtaking,especiallytheoneswith in NUShasbeenafunexperience.IlovetheElectrical my applicationhadbeenaccepted!Sofar, myjourney programme. Iwasveryexcitedwhenfoundoutthat Hence, Ienrolled myselfinNUS’ComputerEngineering close tononewhenitcomeshardware knowledge. While Ihaveadequatesoftware knowledge,Ihave Mohamed FaruqBin me tore-energise afteralong, challengingday. Mohamed Rasid the worldabetterplace. invent somethingthatcanmake world. Itismylifelonggoalto technology hastochangethe especially bythepotential technology sinceIwasyoung, always beenfascinatedby Information Technology. Ihave Polytechnic withaDiplomain graduated from Republic Hello! IamFaruqRasid. (CEG2)

01 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 DEPARTMENT

is currently the Director of the Nano of the Nano the Director is currently has been appointed Visiting Professor in the ECE in the ECE has been appointed Visiting Professor

Venkatesan Palem citations (more than 24,000 with a Hirsch Index of 82) and is the highest cited Physicistcitations (more than 33 Ph.D. students and 50 undergraduates.of Indian origin. He has graduated more is also the founder and Chairman of Neocera, a company specialising Venkatesan Prof researchers of PLD and magnetic field imaging systems. Close to 10 of the in the area under his supervision have become(Ph.D. students and post doctoral fellows) enterprises. commercial than 17 different starting more entrepreneurs is a Venkatesan Society (APS), Prof Besides being a Fellow of the American Physical As the inventor of the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process, he has produced over 550 he has produced (PLD) process, As the inventor of the pulsed laser deposition of science and application of oxide thin films. He ispapers and 30 patents in the area (ranked globally at 65 in 2000) in terms ofamong the top 100 physicists in the world Prof. T. T. Prof. where (NUSNNI) University of Singapore Institute at the National joining NUS, he and Physics. Before of ECE he is a Professor about 17 for at Bell Labs and Bellcore held various appointments Maryland at the University of a Professor becoming years before 17 years. (UMD) for another Professor Krishna V. Krishna V. Professor Pte Ltd Professorship Department under the GlobalFoundries Singapore in Engineering. Palem will work with ECE faculty members during his 1-year appointment to identify a research Professor the theme of inexact computing that around challenge of potential high impact. This challenge centres out in ECE. It is hoped that the being carried currently leverages on the potential synergy of existing research for external funding. proposal can be developed into a research challenge research and aspirations.

who can be a professor, who can be a professor, both in terms of their skills as a practising professional as a practising professional years from now. I try to help now. years from scientist, an entrepreneur or scientist, an entrepreneur a business executive several them reach their full potential them reach

I see a researcher in my group in my group I see a researcher (IEEE). He was conferred the 2008 W. Wallace McDowell Award, IEEE Computer Society’s highest technical award and one of highest technical award IEEE Computer Society’s McDowell Award, Wallace the 2008 W. (IEEE). He was conferred individual honours. most prestigious computing’s The efforts of the ReaCT-ILP laboratory were recognised with awards for excellence from Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Panasonic. Hewlett-Packard, for excellence from with awards recognised laboratory were of the ReaCT-ILP The efforts Engineers Palem is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Professor (NYU), where Prof Palem was a tenured faculty member. This laboratory had significant impact within the context of enabling compilers faculty member. Palem was a tenured Prof (NYU), where led to the widely-used TRIMARANpursued there in optimising the design and eventual deployment of embedded systems. The work of the University of Illinois. of HP Labs and the Impact project system, co-developed with the CAR group A leader in the area of Embedded Systems research, Prof Palem is known for founding in 1994 one of the earliest laboratories for Palem is known for founding in 1994 one of the earliest laboratories Prof of Embedded Systems research, A leader in the area Technologies known as the Real-time Compilation dedicated to the field of Embedded Systems. The laboratory, in academia research University laboratory is at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York and Instruction Level Parallelism (ReaCT-ILP) NTU-Rice Institute of Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID). He holds appointments in both Computer Science and ElectricalNTU-Rice Institute of Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID). He holds appointments of and was the founding director at Georgia Institute of Technology a professor and Computer Engineering at ISAID. He was previously (CREST). in Embedded Systems and Technology the Center for Research Prof Palem is the Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing at Rice University where he is the director and founder of the he is the director Rice University where of Computing at Kennedy Professor Palem is the Ken and Audrey Prof KRISHNA V. PALEM KRISHNA V. Fellow of the World Innovation Forum. He was also a member of the Physics Policy Committee (Washington DC), on the Board of DC), on the Board (Washington Innovation Forum. He was also a member of the Physics Policy Committee Fellow of the World Visitors of Physics. at UMD and the Chairman of the APS Forum of Industry and Applications PROFESSOR INTRODUCING Professor T. Venky Venkatesan Venky T. Professor Engineering of Electrical & Computer Department CHAIR PROFESSOR CHAIR APPOINTMENT OF PROVOST APPOINTMENT

DEPARTMENT ONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8

E.C 02 super-resolution nanoscope. Scientist Award bythe Singapore NationalAcademy ofSciencein2013.DrQiuholdstwopatentslightpath re-routing and 2008, NUSYoung InvestigatorAward in2011,MITTechnology ReviewTR35@Singapore Award in2012,andtheYoung Department ofElectrical&ComputerEngineering Assistant Professor QiuChengWei YOUNG FACULTY RESEARCHAWARD Department ofElectrical&ComputerEngineering Associate Professor Aaron Danner ENGINEERING EDUCATOR AWARD especially criticalfeedbackfrom a professional educator, whichthey collaborative effort. Oneinwhich students benefitfrom on-the- Enjoy every bit of excitement Enjoy everybitofexcitement spot performancefeedback, can thenusetoimmediately research, whichmightneed can bestbeachievedasa I feelthattheclassroom is a placewhere education and fulfillmentfrom the painful butmeaningful to gothrough along, precious treasures. learn andimprove.learn path tofindthose

build aradiotransmitterusingonlylargebatteryandlengthofwire. Their One suchexampleisarecent classwhere Prof Dannerannouncedthathewould imaginations totakeflight. only helptocapture theattentionofstudents,theyhelptheir knowledge. Creative demonstrationsintheclassroom not demonstrations inhiselectricalengineeringclassestoimpart Associate Professor Aaron try. Iseegreat results from thosewhodo.” students outonbothfronts duringmyclasses,itisuptotheindividualstudents interested inasubjectand topayattentioninclass.WhileIdomybesthelp Says Prof Danner, istobe “Ifirmlybelievethatthebestwayforastudenttolearn and prideinbeinganengineertohisundergraduatestudents. professional expectationsofengineersandsohetriestoimpartprofessionalism with electricity, mistakesshouldnotbetolerated.Hefeelsthatsocietyhashigh Prof Dannercanalsobeastrictlecturer becausehe believesthatwhenworking physical conceptsnecessarytounderstandhisdemonstration,andthelesson. result wasthestudentspaidcloseattentionwhileProf Dannerdescribedvarious curiosity piqued,thestudentsbegantowonder:“Howishegoingdothat?”The The awards thatDrQiuhasreceived includetheURSIYoung ScientistAward in Lianhe Zaobao, PhysicsWorld, etc. the StraitsTimes, Engineering &Technology, andinpublicationssuchas Environmental Science Review Letters including papers injournals toward lightsources. SincejoiningECEin2009,hehaspublishedover60 Dr Qiuisapioneerinthediscoveryofopticaltractorbeam that reels inparticles momentum transfertomanipulatemicro-particles,” DrQiuexplained. resolution imaging,customise focusingtrajectory, andeffect anunprecedented theestablishedroadmaps, weare“With abletoempowernon-invasivesuper- assemble functionalartificialmaterials. macroscale roadmaps tostructure complexopticallightbeamsand and light-matterinteractions.Hehasestablishednanoscale Dr Qiu ’s research focusisoncomplexelectromagnetic systems , Advanced Materials

, etc.DrQiuhasalsobeenfeatured bytheInstitutionof Nature Photonics Danner , Advanced FunctionalMaterials enjoysusinglive , Nature Communications Science , SPIENewsroom, , Energy & , Physical 03 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 DEPARTMENT

Lab Technologist (Grade 2) Lab Technologist Lab Technologist (Grade 3) Lab Technologist Lab Technologist (Grade 2) Lab Technologist – Lab Technologist (Grade 3) Lab Technologist – CHANDRA LINN KAH SEOK – HAN KIANG – GOH TANG MR MUKAYA MR MUKAYA MDM LINN MR MDM    

joined ECE Department on courtesy joint appointment with the Department of Physics, NUS on joined ECE Department on courtesy joint appointment

joined ECE Department as an Assistant Professor on 18 November 2013 on secondment under joined ECE Department as an Assistant Professor joined ECE Department as a Laboratory Executive (Nanotechnology Fabrication Facility) on 7 promotion to Associate Professor on 1 January 2014 on to Associate Professor promotion Assistant Manager – Lab Technologist (Grade 2) Lab Technologist joined ECE Department as an Adjunct Associate Professor on 7 Nov 2013. Dr Gu is currently the Director the Director on 7 Nov 2013. Dr Gu is currently joined ECE Department as an Adjunct Associate Professor promotion to Instructor on 1 January 2014 to Instructor on 1 January promotion promotion to Associate Professor on 1 January 2014 on to Associate Professor promotion – promotion to Associate Professor on 1 January 2014 on to Associate Professor promotion promotion to Full Professor on 1 January 2014 on 1 January to Full Professor promotion CASTRO-NETO VIMAL RANI CHOR KEUNG joined ECE Department as an Adjunct Associate Professor on 2 January 2014. He is currently Head on 2 January 2014. He is currently CHOR KEUNG joined ECE Department as an Adjunct Associate Professor MOUTHAAN MUI CHING – CHAKRABORTY LAM SASIDHAR TAN GIM PEW, joined ECE Department as an Adjunct Professor on 1 Nov 2013. Mr Quek is currently the Chief Executive on 1 Nov 2013. Mr Quek is currently joined ECE Department as an Adjunct Professor GIM PEW, HYUNSOO – THIAM PHENG – BOON THYE THOMAS YAN FU VINCENT joined ECE Department as an Assistant Professor on 1 January 2014 on secondment under the A*STAR on 1 January 2014 on secondment under the A*STAR ECE Department as an Assistant Professor FU VINCENT joined YAN WEE SENG –

YEE CHIA –

YUANDONG, ALEX POH POH, VERONICA joined ECE Department as a Management Assistant Officer (Graduate Admissions) on 28 October 2013. (Graduate Admissions) POH POH, VERONICA joined ECE Department as a Management Assistant Officer RAJENDRAN QUEK GOH AU GU TAN TAN YEO YANG YEO SOH

Management Assistant Officer (Grade 3) Management Assistant Officer MS DR SANDIPAN October 2013. of Department & Vice President at GlobalFoundries Singapore Pte Ltd (formerly known as Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing). Pte Ltd (formerly known as Chartered at GlobalFoundries Singapore of Department & Vice President With 30 years, Mr Lam had held various positions in the extensive experience in semiconductor manufacturing industries spanning over holds a Mr Lam engineering, and testing and diagnosis of integrated circuits. analysis, design engineering, product/yield of failure areas the University of California, Davis from and 2 M.Sc. degrees USA the University of California,B.Sc. (Chemical Engineering) from Berkeley, and University of Santa Clara, USA, respectively. the Naval Postgraduate School, USA. DR at the Program and Miniaturized Medical Devices (MMD) Program (SAM) for Sensors, Actuator and Microsystems of Technology Systems (MEMS) and prior to joining IME, Dr Gu is an expert in Micro-Electro-Mechanical (IME), A*STAR. Institute of Microelectronics in Electrical Manager at Honeywell International Inc, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Dr Gu holds a Masters degree he was a Program the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA. Engineering and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from Technology (MIT), USA in 2010. Dr Tan’s research interests include learning and inference in graphical models and information theory. include learning inference and interests research (MIT), USA in 2010. Dr Tan’s Technology MR Office such as Special Project of DSO National Laboratories. Mr Quek had also held various positions in defence organisations Officer and the building up for the master-planning and has been responsible Agency (DSTA) (Mindef), and Defence Science and Technology Prize (Individual) and the Public Administration Technology of the Defence defence R&D capabilities. He is a recipient of Singapore’s from (EE) (Distinction) degree NUS and a M.Sc. from Mr Quek holds a B.Eng. (EE) (1st Class Hons) degree Medals (Silver and Bronze). in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA in 2010. His research interests interests (MIT), USA in 2010. His research Massachusetts Institute of Technology from in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science of machine learning which involve the development of biomedical image analysis and computational neuroscience in the area are analysis of high-dimensional brain imaging data. algorithms and statistical models for the large-scale DR in ECE Department, and a was an Adjunct Assistant Professor Dr Tan NSS Scholars. Prior to this, Academia Pathways for A*STAR his B.A. and M. Eng. received Dr Tan A*STAR. (I2R), Institute of Infocomm Research Scientist in the Data Mining Department at the Massachusetts Institute of UK in 2005 and Ph.D. from Cambridge University, in Electrical and Information Sciences from degrees of the Graphene Research Centre in NUS. Prior to joining NUS, he was Professor of Physics at Boston University, USA. Dr Castro- of Physics at Boston University, NUS, he was Professor in NUS. Prior to joining Centre of the Graphene Research of graphene, in all aspects are areas the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1994. His research Neto obtained his Ph.D. from and disordered systems which include spin and charge density wave, quantum magnetism, superconductivity, correlated strongly magnetic systems. DR University and at Harvard Fellow was a Research Yeo NSS Scholars. Prior to this, Dr Pathways for A*STAR Academia the A*STAR USA in 2002 and Ph.D. University, Stanford from his B.S. and M.S. degrees received Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. Dr Yeo – DR ANTONIO HELIO of Science, and Director in the Department of Physics, Faculty Professor a Distinguished is currently 1 January 2014. Dr Castro-Neto MR JEFFREY DR SANGIT MS OLIVIA DR KOENRAAD

MR DR MDM DR

DR EXECUTIVE AND NON-ACADEMIC NEW APPOINTMENTS EXECUTIVE AND NON-ACADEMIC NEW         APPOINTMENTS / ACADEMIC NEW FACULTY    PROMOTIONS AND NON-ACADEMIC EXECUTIVE   FACULTY / ACADEMIC PROMOTIONS / ACADEMIC FACULTY   

PROMOTIONS NEW APPOINTMENTS AND AND APPOINTMENTS NEW

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E.C 04 perspectives and exposure tovariousresearch styles. Singapore, SONDRAgavehimtheopportunitytoworkwith researchers from different partsoftheglobe,offering himdifferent test prototypes. HeisnowworkingatSONDRAasanAssistant Professor. Thankstotheexchange betweenFranceand He workedonthedesignoflow profile, widebandantenna arrays,collaboratingwithNUS’ Temasek Labtobuildand his Master’s Laterhepursuedthe SupélecPh.D.programme internship. underthementorshipofAssocProf Guinvarc’h. Israel Hinostroza residential suburbsofParisandtripshemadetoothercitiesinFrancewere additionalperksthatheenjoyedduringhis stay. cultural immersionandtheconnectionsestablishedthrough thecollaborationacross borders. Therelaxed paceoflifeinthe Koen Mouthaanfrom NUS.Apartfrom thevaluableresearch experiencesthathehasgained,Ramanancherishesthe Ray establish valuablerelationships withtheresearchers andlocalsinFrance. a globalscalewasaneye-openingexperiencethathaswidenedhisperspectives.Inaddition,itgaveRaytheopportunity to experience abroad, theimmersion intotheFrench culture andlanguage,plusthe chanceofcollaboratingwithresearchers on For Ray, thejoint Ph.D.program wasattractivebecauseitoffered a1to1.5-yearstintatSONDRA.Asidefrom the research Koen in thisfield.Hence,hechosetopursuetheNUS/SupélecjointPh.D.programme underthementorshipofAssocProf After workingonmicrowave circuits andsystemsforafewyears,Raywantedtodevelopdeeperresearch andanalyticalskills Prof Marc anniversary thisyear. We findoutmore aboutSONDRAinthisissueofE-ConnEct. SONDRA, theSupélecONERANUSDSOResearch Alliance,celebratesits10th 10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATING SONDRA’S Fang Mouthaan (left)withtheSONDRAteamatSupélec Lesturgie . Saenz movedfrom PerutoFrancecontinuewithhisgraduate studies.In2009,hejoinedSONDRAfor wideband, multi-polarisationantennasforradarapplications. ECE studentsattachedtoSONDRA.Theyare collaboratingwithFrench researchers on PhD studentRay and capture theinvisible!” Our mottoatSONDRAis:“Beyondreceivedthephysics,inventsystems wisdom,harness and DSONationalLabinSingapore tomakethetransitionfrom sciencetodemonstration. Singapore! SONDRAhasbeenworkingwithourpartners,ONERAinFrance,andNUS/ECE the largestjumboaircraft camefrom theoldEurope, itsfirsttestingground isinyoung accepted ideasandconvincingustotrytheimpossible.Itishardly surprisingthatwhile Singapore isthewaySingapore generally isabletokeepchallenging usbyoverturning between SONDRAandSingapore. Hesaid:“WhatIfind remarkable aftermy54thvisitto French Aerospace lab)andDirector ofSONDRAsince2006isproud ofthecollaboration Professor Marc Lesturgie Fang HongzhaoandMEngstudentRamanan , DeputyDirector oftheEM&RadarDepartmentinONERA(the from SupélecandAssocProf by AssocProf Régis based programme wassupervised master’s programme. Hisresearch- was oneofthehighlightshis the six-monthstayatSONDRA attachment toSONDRA.Forhim, Ramanan embarkedonhis Following Ray’s returntoSingapore, inresearch.”the enrichingjourney two supervisorstoguidemethrough programme, Iwasfortunate tohave direction. Inthisjoint right the in tosteertheirresearchand tolearn expected tobemore independent Said Ray:“Ph.D.studentsthere were

Balakrishnan Guinvarc’h are two

05 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 DEPARTMENT (right) (right) Saenz (left) and Israel Hinostroza (left) and Israel Hinostroza Formont University Paris-Saclay within the “French Silicon Valley” Silicon Valley” University Paris-Saclay within the “French Paris. not far from its ties with the ECE SONDRA continues to strengthen student collaborative Ph.D. projects, Department through exchanges, seminars, and exchange visits by researchers. Pierre Pierre at SONDRA a theorist or an of a seaside village. “Whether you are with some aspect of radar is bound to overlap engineer, such an recommend and I’d strongly your interests, internship learning”, for self-directed to anyone with a flair said Yihui. in research mission is to conduct unclassified SONDRA’s radar and signal processing advanced electromagnetics, and scattering domains. It aims to cover propagation in complex media, new phased array antenna, signal and innovative concepts like MIMO or airborne processing working in the are About 18 researchers passive radar. of the Higher located in Supélec. One SONDRA laboratory, a Double Degree Education schools in France offering with NUS, Supélec is located in the middle of the Program

from Singapore Singapore from Quek characterising a novel estimator characterising a novel estimator for clutter covariance matrices, a her from marked departure Physics. major, Yihui Yihui interned at Supélec in the summer of 2013 after a very cold first year the warmth of the her, To at MIT. Parisian sun was nourishing, the language exotic and beautiful, and was research best of all, there to be done. She worked on obtained his Master of Engineering in obtained his Master of Engineering in Formont Quek rapid-fire exchange of ideas against the rustic backdrop exchange of ideas against the rustic backdrop rapid-fire the limitations of formal assessment and eventually the limitations of formal assessment and eventually contributing to the scientific community with a published SONDRA She also had the chance to attend the paper. she enjoyed the in the south of France where conference As SONDRA is a small but focused group, she enjoyed she enjoyed As SONDRA is a small but focused group, setting the pace for her own learning, up reading without voraciously on Linear Algebra and Probability Yihui Yihui Singapore is definitely the hawker centres with the cheap with the cheap is definitely the hawker centres Singapore fan’, ‘hor fun’ and tasty exotic food (especially the ‘mui and ‘lor mee’).” ideas and to apply his research. He is now working at the He is now working at the ideas and to apply his research. in high resolution SONDRA laboratory on change detection “The thing I miss most about SAR images. Said Pierre, while working at the SONDRA laboratory on classification on classification while working at the SONDRA laboratory He spent two months in DSO techniques for SAR imagery. in 2012 to exchange National Laboratories in Singapore Signal and Image Processing from the Grenoble Institute Institute the Grenoble from Signal and Image Processing in 2009. He then obtained his Ph.D. in of Technology the University of Rennes 1 in 2013 from Signal Processing Supélec in winter (photo taken by Ray Fang) Pierre

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E.C 06 Awards from NetworkforEngineeringEducation&Research theInternational (iNEER)forhisoutstandingcontributions to IEEE ComputationalIntelligence SocietyOutstandingEarlyCareer Awards. Healsoreceived the2008Recognition For hiscontributionstoevolutionary computationinmulti-objectiveoptimisation,Assoc Prof Tan wasawarded the2012 on componentandoperating conditions. methodologies likeintelligentmodelinganddecision-making tocapture theinteractions ofdifferent influencingparameters to developcomputationalintelligencetechnologiesforrobust prognostics applications.Suchapplicationsrequire better thantheexistingrulesadoptedbycompany. AssocProf Tan isalsoincollaboration withRolls-RoyceSingapore Tan’s proposed solutionsforgeneratingnewrules onhowtoassignjobsforoutsourcing havebeenshowntobeabout8% Singapore toproduce anefficient computationalsolutionforavehicle-capacityplanningsystem.Inaddition,AssocProf Assoc Prof Tan’s research hashadanimpactonindustrialapplications.Hecollaboratedwitha logisticscompanyin multi-objective optimisation Figure 1–Theconceptoftradeoff in techniques failtoachieve. capabilities ofsamplingmultiplecandidatesolutionseffectively andsimultaneously, anobjectivethatmostconventional uncertainties androbustness, etc.AsillustratedinFigure 2,theadvantageofsuchevolutionarymethodologiesistheir addressed variousoptimisationissues inthefield,suchasgoalandpriority, decision-making,scalability, dynamicfunction, Assoc Prof Tan hasdevelopedadvancedevolutionaryalgorithmsandtheoriesforsolvingmulti-objectiveproblems and objectives, asillustratedinFigure 1. solutionssimultaneously.be abletofindanumberofalternative Thusistheconceptoftradeoff amongvariousconflicting objective problems, where nosinglesolutionoptimaltoallobjectivescanbefound,thesearch algorithmsemployedmust ELEVATED TOIEEEFELLOW ASSOC PROFTAN KAY CHEN engineering education andresearch. For hiscontributionstoevolutionarymulti-objective optimisation, AssocProf difficult, ifnotimpossible,tosolveusingtraditionalsearch methods.Forsuchmulti- optimisation problems involvevariouscompetingobjectivesandconstraintsthatare scheduling, prognostics, designautomation,etc.Itisknownthatmanyreal-world and evolutionarymulti-objectiveoptimisationforengineeringapplicationssuchas Assoc Prof Tan activelypursuesresearch inthearea ofcomputationalintelligence career achievement. is recognised bythetechnicalcommunityasaprestigious honourandanimportant of thetotalvotingmembership.IEEEFellowishighestgrademembershipand The totalnumberselectedinanyoneyearcannotexceedone-tenthofone-percent with anoutstandingrecord ofaccomplishmentsinany the IEEEfieldsofinterest. The IEEEGradeofFellowisconferred bytheIEEEBoard ofDirectors uponaperson IEEE Fellow(Classof2014). Figure 2–Layoutofanevolutionarycomputationsoftware Tan KayChenhasbeenelevatedto 07 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 RESEARCH

on Khor Nature Photonics Groundbreaking research research Groundbreaking led by Dr Qiu in optical micro manipulation of particles: Here we see a single light beam pulling particles

Cheng Wei (Young Scientist Award) (Young Cheng Wei Qiu , Dr Qiu received , Dr Qiu received (President’s Science and Technology Medal), Dr Science and Technology (President’s Halliwell being able to amplify the ‘negative’ force so that it can pull bigger objects being able to amplify the ‘negative’ force hybridisation of of the myth the investigate and distances, longer over and electrodynamics.” hydrodynamics can sort out this new technological breakthrough importantly, More selectivity of based on the permittivity, of size and/or in terms particles, applied to biomolecular It can be readily momentum transfer. photon’s targeting, sorting and driving (over long distance). these fields achievements in For his together with his earlier groundbreaking beams published in on tractor research Physical Review Letters Hao (President’s Science Award) and Dr Science Award) Hao (President’s Cheng Wei’s work on optical micro manipulation of manipulation of on optical micro work Cheng Wei’s Yu Qiu was done Keng Yam (front row):(back row from left) Prof Barry Prof left) from row row):(back (front Keng Yam Nature Photonics

Tan

Scientist Award recognises young researchers aged 35 years and below who are actively engaged aged 35 years and below who are young researchers recognises Scientist Award in their fields potential to be world-class researchers and have shown great in R&D in Singapore of expertise. and Technology Awards (PSTA) ceremony held on 25 September 2013. held on 25 ceremony (PSTA) Awards and Technology the Young National Academy of Science and supported by A*STAR, Organised by the Singapore reported in reported Science at the President’s Keng Yam Tan Dr Tony President 2013 from Scientist Award the Young Dr Qiu with the optical setup on which the experiment Explaining how tractor beams work, Dr Qiu said, “A tractor beam can exert a ‘negative’ photonic force that drags the object in a photonic force Explaining how tractor beams work, Dr Qiu said, “A tractor beam can exert a ‘negative’ was Our breakthrough of light in contrast to the ‘positive’ push exerted by radiation pressure. opposite to the propagation direction Dr Tony Dr Tony Prof Scientist Award), Chiea Chuen (Young Winners at the Presidents’s Science and Technology Awards ceremony posing with the Guest-of-Honour, the President of Singapore the President posing with the Guest-of-Honour, ceremony Awards and Technology Science Winners at the Presidents’s shapes before they could be moved by a tractor beam. Dr Qiu’s new discovery was recently published in discovery was recently new by a tractor beam. Dr Qiu’s they could be moved shapes before of Physics, UK. of Institute by PhysicsWorld.com 11 August 2013, and was featured This new mechanism can pull objects over liquid surfaces even without the use of multiple beams or other exotic materials. without the use of multiple beams or can pull objects over liquid surfaces even This new mechanism specific including the need for objects to be of many conditions had to be met, scalable. Previously, Their model is also easily distances. They have proven that even objects visible to the naked eye can be moved by by to the naked eye can be moved that even objects visible have proven distances. They eye can discern. over distances that the human light beams and The award recognises Dr recognises The award employing developed a new mechanism and his collaborators have particles. Dr Qiu objects over macroscopic light beam to pull arbitrary unstructured a single natural YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD SCIENTIST YOUNG DR QIU CHENG WEI WINS THE SNAS THE WEI WINS QIU CHENG DR

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E.C 08 a year.” thin magneticlayercanonlyretain informationforabout probably more. Currently pursuedschemeswith avery have biggermemorywithnolossforatleast20yearsor is apowerfailure. Devicesandequipmentcannow ‘save’ buttonasfresh datawillstayintactevenifthere so enhancedthatthere isnoneedtoregularly hitthe boot up.Storagespacewillincrease. Memorywillbe no longerneedtowaitforourcomputersorlaptops Said DrYang: “From theconsumer’s standpoint,wewill management aswellhealthcare electronics. motor control androbotics, industrialpowerandenergy transportation, militaryandavionicssystems,industrial can alsobeusedinarangeofapplicationssuchas such aslaptopsandmobilephones.Thenewtechnology electronics aspersonalcomputers andmobiledevices potential toenhanceuserexperienceinsuchconsumer generation ofMRAMchip.Thetechnologyhasthe Their newtechnologywillpavethewayfornext his team. Spin torque chipdeveloped byDr US provisional patentfortheirtechnology. power failure. Theteamhasalready fileda that fresh datastaysintactevenduringa enhance memorywiththeassurance drastically increase storagespaceand systems. Theinnovativetechnologywill boost informationstorageinelectronic Memory (MRAM)technologythatwill new Magnetoresistive RandomAccess the ECEDepartmenthasdevelopeda A teamledbyDr ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND LONGERLASTINGMEMORY IN NEW INNOVATION ENABLESBIGGER Yang Hyunsoofrom Yang Hyunsooand

University ofScienceandTechnology inSaudiArabia, The NUSteam,incollaborationwiththeKingAbdullah or deviceisnotpowered up.” data canberetrieved evenwhentheelectronic equipment thing indatastorageasitisnon-volatile.Thismeansthat Dr Yang explained,“MRAMisemergingasthenextbig technology hasreceived strong interest from theindustry” research efforts inMRAMandourteam’s innovative such asSamsung,Intel,Toshiba andIBMare intensifying bringing downthecost.Majorsemiconductorplayers with manyfacilitiessuchasflashmemory, effectively making themmucheasiertomanufacture asitdoesaway is alsoexpectedtochangethearchitecture ofcomputers, them onaweeklybasis,”addedDrYang, “Theinnovation with ournewtechnology, wemayonlyneedtocharge days, weusuallyneedtochargethemdaily. However, theheavyreliance onourmobilephonesthese“With Kulothungasagaran Research FellowDr Dr Yang Hyunsoo(centre) holdingthechip,withhisteam, develop aspin-orbittorque-based MRAM. cells next.Theyare looking forindustrypartnersto The teamplanstoapplytheinventedstructure tomemory in minimum of20years.Theirfindingswere publishedonline innovation allowsforstoragewhichcanlasta the transmissionofelectronic dataandstorage.This nanometre, providing filmstructure analternative for uses magneticmultilayerstructures asthin20 Physical ReviewLetters Qiu Narayanapillai Xuepeng (left) and Ph.D. student Mr Xuepeng(left)andPh.D.student Mr inDecember2013. (right) 09 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 RESEARCH With support from NERI and the Tropical Marine Science Marine Science With NERI and the Tropical support from Institute (TMSI), the team developed NUSwan, a team of “swans” that can be used to monitor reservoirs robotic and other water bodies. Swans fit in well with the natural usually associated with clean waters. and are surroundings, swans have water quality sensors attached The robotic mostly on the water beneath them. As the swans are surface, they use existing communication technology (e.g. WiFi, The 3G cellular data) to transfer data in real-time. multiple swans may be used to drive from measurements models that adaptively guide the swans to locations where will be most valuable. The swans can further measurements for charging and maintenance. autonomously return to shore Teong Beng from Acoustic Research Laboratory Laboratory Acoustic Research from Beng Teong Koay and Choon Nam, director of the NUS Environment Research Institute (NERI), asked the team Institute (NERI), asked the team Research of the NUS Environment Choon Nam, director Chitre Ong

monitoring of our waters.” The swans have attracted interest from various organisations involved in water quality management and some public various organisations involved in water quality management and some public from The swans have attracted interest deploy and Pte Ltd, a local start-up keen to commercially been licensed to Subnero attention. The technology has recently consistent and hassle-free to the day when these swans provide look forward “We Said Dr Chitre: support the technology. any given time, and to collate the data in real-time to allow adaptive tracking of pollutant and nutrient plumes. to allow adaptive tracking of pollutant in real-time any given time, and to collate the data can spend most of its time on the surface and only occasionally dive or deploy sensors at depth. Hence, the team set and only occasionally dive or deploy sensors at depth. Hence, the team set can spend most of its time on the surface consistent could provide that robots AUVs into lower-cost the technology developed for the STARFISH out to repackage achieve good spatial coverage at to was to employ a team of cooperative robots monitoring for water bodies. The vision Why? Because most of the complexity of AUVs comes from the need to remain submerged for extended periods of time, submerged for extended periods of time, the need to remain of AUVs comes from Why? Because most of the complexity water quality monitoring for a robot unable to use radio communication or GPS. However, and while submerged, AUVs are A couple of years ago, Prof A couple of years ago, Prof to help achieve good spatiotemporal monitoring autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) would be able if their STARFISH the team felt that the AUV technology was perhaps Although the clear answer to this question was “Yes”, of water quality. at hand. for the problem too complex and expensive a solution space, at a manageable cost and in real-time. This would allow the ecosystems to be better understood, and pollution better understood, and pollution This would allow the ecosystems to be space, at a manageable cost and in real-time. appropriately. events to be detected early and managed methods of monitoring today include continuous automated monitoring at a few fixed locations, and periodic manual automated monitoring at a few fixed locations, and periodic manual methods of monitoring today include continuous days after it sparse dataset that is usually only analysed is an extremely locations. The end result sampling at a few more dataset in time and need is a way to obtain a denser really and managers was obtained. What water quality researchers dynamic ecosystems. The nutrients, pollutants, and other water quality parameters vary with space and time. water quality parameters vary with space The nutrients, pollutants, and other dynamic ecosystems. to get. Common we need spatiotemporal sampling that is hard understand and monitor water bodies, really to In order (ARL) at TMSI, has developed a tool for persistent monitoring of water bodies. monitoring of water has developed a tool for persistent (ARL) at TMSI, complex water bodies are quality in these places? Most of these to understand and monitor the water So what does it take from the oceans around us. Some of us enjoy spending time in lakes or on beaches. of us enjoy spending time in us. Some the oceans around from A team Mandar comprising Dr Our lives depend on having a clean, dependable water supply. Lakes and reservoirs contribute contribute Lakes and reservoirs water supply. on having a clean, dependable Our lives depend and the sea plants take in water from use on a daily basis. Desalination to the water we absorbs nutrients and toxins we use. Seafood that we eat water some of the fresh produce MONITORING OF WATER BODIES WATER OF MONITORING NUSWAN – A TOOL FOR PERSISTENT FOR A TOOL – NUSWAN

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E.C 10 Tong Yi issupervised byProf tunnelling mechanismtobetter understandtheeffect of SeandSonohmiccontactformation. aligned nickelstanogermanide (Ni(Ge1-xSnx))asthemetalliccontactonn-Ge1-xSnx.Tong Yi alsostudiedandanalysedthe metal/n-Ge1-xSnx interface.Ohmic behaviorwasachievedwiththisimplantandsegregation. Inaddition,heusedself- technology forn-Ge1-xSnxcontactsusingionimplantation ofselenium(Se)orsulfur(S)followedbytheirsegregation atthe Ge1-xSnx (n-Ge1-xSnx).Tong Yi reported theworld’s firstdemonstrationofanewelectron Schottkybarrierheight reduction Young Researcher Award Conference atInternational onSolidStateDevices&Materials2013 Abhra issupervisedbyAssocProf SanjibKumar product ofbenefittothe ocean environment. efficient oceantransportsystem. Abhraisconfidentthatthedevelopedsystemcanbesuccessfullydelivered asasustainable Moving forward, Abhraaims toalignandintegratehisresearch onbio-inspired propulsion techniquestodevelopanenergy- propulsion systemhasbeen showntobetime-effective, fuel-efficient, more agileandlessnoisywhileboastingstealthfeatures. feasibility ofareal-time flexible-bodied robotic fishunderwatervehicleusingthe proven Lighthillframework. The new kinematic parametersoftherobotic fishandthekinematicbehaviourofactualfish.Abhrawasabletodemonstrate produce abodywavealong therobot’s joints.Abhraalsocarriedoutacomprehensive comparativestudyofthedifferent To generatethrustforforward movements,Abhrausedabio-inspired algorithmbasedonLighthill’s slenderbodytheoryto The InstituteofElectricalandElectronics Engineers(IEEE)OceanicEngineeringSocietyScholarship GRADUATE STUDENTACHIEVEMENTS Yeo Yee Chiafrom theECEDepartment. semiconductor devices. Yi reported anovelohmiccontactformationtechniqueforgermanium-tin-based segregation”, wasselected from over100paperspresented attheconference. Tong ohmic contactonn-typegermanium-tinusingseleniumandsulphurimplant 24 September2013inJapan.Hiswinningpaper, “Nickelstanogermanide ConferenceInternational onSolidStateDevicesandMaterials(SSDM2013) Tong to Tong Yi’s research, there were noreports ofohmiccontactformationonn-type barrier heightare neededforthen+Ge1-xSnxsource anddrain.However, prior enhancement inelectron mobility, goodohmiccontactswithextremely lowSchottky n-MOSFETs duetoitshighelectron mobility. To takefulladvantage ofthe Germanium-tin (Ge1-xSnx)isanattractivechannelmaterial forhighperformance yellow-fin tuna. and twopectoralfins.Themodelforthe robot isbasedonkinematicstudiesofactual fluid environments. The robotic fishis propelled byasingleoscillatingn-jointcaudal fin model-based designandcontrol ofbio-inspired underwater vehiclepropulsion for behaviour ofbiologicalvertebratefish. To thisend,Abhrahasdevelopedanoptimal At thesametime,Abhrahopestouserobot modeltounderstandthekinematic sensing andcontrol mechanisms. like fish,bytranslatingthisbiologicalphenomenonintolocomotiondesign,actuation, Abhra’s research aimstoreplicate inarobot thelocomotionofvertebrateanimals engineering. ThescholarshipamountisUS$2,000. for theaward forhisacademicandindependentresearch achievementsinoceanic Oceanic EngineeringSocietyScholarshipinMassachusetts,USA.Hewasselected On 6July2013,AbhraRoy Yi, aPh.D.student,received theYoung Researcher Award at the2013 Panda from theECEDepartment. Chowdhury , aPh.D.student,wasawarded theIEEE

11 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 STUDENT

Xiao Shuchen Huang Hu Naijia is not in Naijia is not in Zheng

Zhuochun and Lingyi. Du Wang Zihao, Kaizhi and Wang Meng The creators of Metro IVLE. From left to right: IVLE. From of Metro The creators Geng, the photo The creative minds behind Chatty. From left to right: From minds behind Chatty. The creative Yawen, CREATE MOBILITY CREATE i

, a Ph.D. student, received the Second Prize in the Applications Prize in the Applications the Second received , a Ph.D. student, Sun Wang Geng, Geng, Yongxin from the ECE Department. His research focuses on wireless power power focuses on wireless the ECE Department. His research from Yongxin Huang Guo power range”, presented a novel rectifier with a considerably expanded operating input input with a considerably expanded operating rectifier a novel power range”, presented field-effect a depletion-mode metal-oxide-semiconductor power range. By utilising enlarged voltage can be significantly breakdown the diode’s transistor (MOSFET), the with traditional rectifiers, voltage. Compared the same threshold while preserving (PCE) for conversion efficiency has a high RF-to-dc power therefore rectifier proposed transmission power power range. As RF-to-dc PCEs of wireless a much wider input traditional operating input power range of by the narrow usually limited applications are solution. an effective offers work therefore Hucheng’s rectifiers, Hucheng International at the 2013 IEEE Innovation Competition and Student on Workshop 2013. China, in August in Hong Kong, (iWEM) Electromagnetics power transmission with a wide input for wireless rectifier “A novel His winning entry, Zhuochun, Lingyi, Yawen, finished second finished second Yawen, Du Wang Naijia won the first prize for Naijia won the first prize for Xiao Zheng Shuchen and

Hu Kaizhi and

fast, smooth and elegant experience for NUS students fast, smooth and elegant experience for NUS students available for It is currently to access IVLE resources. Windows download from Store. each team member, and a cash prize of $2,000 for the for the and a cash prize of $2,000 each team member, IVLE is a Windows team. Metro 8 app that fully utilises the functionality of Windows 8 platform to deliver a The CEG team comprising Meng IVLE”, under the Mobile Category. “Metro their entry, for a trophy Surface Pro, Their prize included a Microsoft information about planned activities. Students can also information about planned activities. Students can also to join the activities. their interest use the app to register member, and a cash prize of $1,000 for the team. Chatty Chatty and a cash prize of $1,000 for the team. member, a platform is a mobile messaging app that provides for students to connect with one another by posting Zihao, and “Chatty”, under the Mobile Category for their entry, for each team walked away with an iPad Mini, a trophy design new mobile or gesture-based apps that apps that design new mobile or gesture-based can enhance students’ experience on campus. The CEG team comprising and Centre for Instructional Technology, the the for Instructional Technology, and Centre to competition challenges NUS students students took home the top two prizes at prizes at students took home the top two Mobility Challenge 2013. Jointly the iCreate Centre Computer organised by the University’s Two NUS teams comprising third-year and and NUS teams comprising third-year Two (CEG) fourth-year Computer Engineering SECOND PRIZES AT AT SECOND PRIZES 2013 CHALLENGE CEG STUDENTS WIN FIRST AND CEG STUDENTS transmission and RF energy harvesting. Hucheng is supervised by Assoc Prof Hucheng is supervised by Assoc Prof Second Prize at 2013 IEEE International Workshop on Electromagnetics IEEE International Prize at 2013 Second Workshop

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E.C 12 useful inpreparing usfortheworkingworld.” understanding oftheproject. Gainingexperiencethrough workingwithpeoplefrom otherengineeringdisciplineshas been thatitisveryimportanttohaveopencommunication sothatallthemembershaveacommonchallenges. Ilearned Said Alfred: “Working with ateamfrom different departmentsandtechnicalbackgrounds posedsomeinteresting device isabletosenddataof thepatient’s progress totheirdoctors andphysiotherapists. performing activitiessuchaspressing downonabuttonorscrewing onacapthedevice.Whenlinkedtolaptop, the not inthephoto Engineering. Anotherteammember, (left), andteammateEric Electrical EngineeringstudentAlfred less daunting.” facilities. Ourclassmatesalsoguidedusthrough thedesignprocess. Thismadeventuringintoprototyping much we hadgreat supportfrom theEngineeringandDesignInnovationCentre which provided usfullaccessto3Dprinting prototype, notaneasyfeat sincenoneoftheteammembersare industrialdesignersormechanicalengineers.Luckily, Said Shambavi:“Themostchallengingaspectforuswasputtingtogetherourtechnologyintoafairlyminiaturised student Halberg Krishnamurthi Engineering studentsRahul Eric From judge left:CurtinUniversitylecturer andGLOBALTiC SOUTH KOREA VICTORIOUS INTAIWAN AND NUS DCPTEAMSEMERGE Clock Nguyen . Anotherteammember, ComputerEngineering withtheNUSteamcomprisingComputer andNUSMBAcandidate,Christian Vo Nhat,isnotinthephoto Chan Rajeev (right)from Mechanical andShambavi Chua Tan LeeChaw, is Yao Wei

watch calledezmon,measures vitalsignssuchasheartrate, demo, winninganotherUS$1,000.Theprototype, asmart also tooktheBestExhibitionAward fortheirprototype booth Category, taking homeacashaward ofUS$3,000.Theteam Shambavi’s teamemergedtopsfortheBiotechnology need forapricktoconductbloodglucosereading. able topotentiallydetectglucoselevelspainlessly, withoutthe body temperature, activity andbloodglucose.Theirdeviceis Taiwan, Japan,Thailand,Mexico,BrazilandColombia. theNUSDCPteamhadtocontendwithteamsfrom US,TiC, Besides competingwithfellowSingapore teamsatGLOBAL use oftheircompetitionexperiencetowinbigthistimeround. A finalistatthe14thStartup@Singapore, theteammadegood 19 to23August2013. heldinTaiwancompetition, GLOBALTiC, from entrepreneurshiptop prizesattheinternational Computer Engineeringstudent,tookhometwo led byShambavi An NUSDesign-CentricProgramme (DCP)team, Students’ Challenge2013,aswellthetopprizeof$15,000 Category) attheNationalAssistive&RehabilitationTechnology comes aftertheyhadwontheAward ofExcellence(Design 2013. Theprizewasacashaward ofUS$350.Thiswin i-CREATe), heldinSeoul,SouthKorea from 29to31August on RehabilitationEngineering&AssistiveTechnology (7th Conventionthe DesignCategoryat7thInternational 23 otherteamsfrom various countriestofinishsecondin students, Eric student Alfred Another NUSDCPteamcomprisingElectricalEngineering home. Thedeviceenablespatientstotracktheirprogress in perform dailytasksthrough interactivetask-basedtrainingat device thathelpsstroke patientsregain theirabilityto QikRehab isaportableuser-friendly upperlimbrehabilitation called QikRehab. at the14thStartup@Singapore fortheirnovelinvention Chan Chua and Krishnamurthi Yao Wei, andMechanicalEngineering Tan LeeChaw, competedagainst , afourth-year

13 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 STUDENT Some of the members of the winning team, “Baby You’re a a “Baby You’re Some of the members of the winning team, posing with their mini-satellite creation Firework”, The victorious team “Aion”

Chen

Er Kok Kok Siu Siu Mok Kwek Lih Wei, Reuben Lih Wei, Chee Kiang Justin, Chee Kiang Justin, Chia Pang Dao En Isaiah, Lim Sha. Luo Wenbin Reico Maynard. Their winning entry, entry, Their winning Reico Maynard. Wenbin Yong Liang, Yong Gan Siong Desmond,

Ng Goh Aw Bao Cun and Mechanical Engineering student

SSC is organised by the Singapore Space and Technology Association, with the twin objectives of promoting technical and technical and Association, with the twin objectives of promoting Space and Technology SSC is organised by the Singapore of students. and creativity in space and technology and to challenge the thinking processes industrial research synthetic aperture radar, will be hosted by seven low-earth orbiting satellites to provide real time surveillance over time surveillance over real will be hosted by seven low-earth orbiting satellites to provide radar, synthetic aperture and to Earth instantaneously for processing will be down-linked The images and data acquired of interest. the region transmission to end-users such as government agencies and geologists. In the wake of increasing interest in the creation of a satellite and space tourism industry in Singapore, the team came up came up the team space tourism industry in Singapore, of a satellite and in the creation interest In the wake of increasing of identifying and monitoring the occurrences with a satellite payload and supporting technologies capable of predicting, and an interferometric and earthquake-induced tsunamis. The payload, which consists of a spectroradiometer wildfires make frequent environmental or climatic observations over the vicinity of Singapore and Southeast Asia. We hope that the hope that the and Southeast Asia. We or climatic observations over the vicinity of Singapore environmental make frequent over our region.” observations would help to further the science of weather and climate prediction Department’s Dr Department’s a satellite payload that could be used to Said the team with the highly original name: “For us, the challenge was to design Phoa “Wildfire and under Category 3: Mini-Satellites. Their winning entry, Quan, the team took home the top prize Yong ECE Monitoring Satellite System”, won them a cash prize of $2,500 and a plaque. The team was supervised by Tsunami Another NUS team that did ECE proud at the SSC was Another NUS team that did ECE proud Consisting of ECE students a Firework”. “Baby You’re Shiyi, the radioisotope thermoelectric generator. The extracted The extracted the radioisotope thermoelectric generator. can then be sent back to Earth for historical ice cores and analysis of their origins. research to operate autonomously within the permanently dark dark to operate autonomously within the permanently its internal The miner is also able to regulate polar crater. of heat generated by the recycling through temperature of star tracking for self-navigation” said team Aion. team Aion. of star tracking for self-navigation” said With for communications and a its smart-skin antenna centre, deployed lander that also acts as a command enough and resilient the miner is designed to be robust “As strong evidence of ice within the polar craters of evidence of ice within the polar craters of “As strong found, our team came up with our moon was recently ice-coring miner that is capable a nuclear-powered bodies. Their design submission impressed the judges the judges bodies. Their design submission impressed with its innovative features. The team’s challenge under the category of Autonomous under the category of Autonomous challenge The team’s space miner that Systems was to design an autonomous on planetary resources could be used to mine precious Pan and Miner”, won the team a cash prize “Autonomous Space of $2,500 and a plaque. Led by ECE Department’s Dr Led by ECE Department’s of students, Raymond the team consisted Xuan, On 15 August 2013, NUS team “Aion” won the top prize at the Singapore Space Challenge (SSC) 2013 Space Challenge prize at the Singapore NUS team “Aion” won the top On 15 August 2013, Autonomous Systems. under Category 4: SPACE CHALLENGE 2013 CHALLENGE SPACE VICTORY AT THE SINGAPORE SINGAPORE THE AT VICTORY

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E.C 14 Open House2014. Students andtheirparents enjoyingthetalksatNUSECE and inspiring! The eventwaswell-received bythestudentsandtheirparents whofoundthetalksanddemonstrationsinteresting, informative, satellites, unmannedaerialvehicles(UAVs), micro-electric vehiclesandneuroprosthesis suchasnerveimplants. communications, wireless sensor networks,nano-electronics, robotic fish,smartgrid,electromagnetic (EM)testing,radar, nano- (SDR) technologyattheCommunicationandNetworksLab (middle) demonstratingtheversatilityofSoftware DefinedRadio Assoc Prof Mehul interfaces canbebuilt. Ohm’s Law, advancedbrain-computerandbrain-machine Prof Nitish programmes offered bytheDepartmentandhighlightedtheiruniqueaspects. whom willworkatthefrontiers oftechnology. Next,AssocProf in wearableelectronic devices,togetherwithotherdevelopments,willleadtoastrong demandforECEgraduates,manyof The HeadofDepartment,Prof Temasek JuniorCollege. PolytechnicandVictoria School, Raffles Institution,River Valley HighSchool,Singapore Polytechnic, Temasek JuniorCollege, Chong Institution,Jurong JuniorCollege,NationalNgeeAnnPolytechnic,NUSHigh such asAnglo-ChineseSchool(Independent),CatholicJuniorCollege,DunmanHighSchool,Hwa for pre-university studentsandtheirparents. Thestudentscamefrom variousschoolsandjuniorcolleges ofSaturdayOn theafternoon 18January2014,theECEDepartmentorganisedahalf-dayOpenHouse NUS ECEOPENHOUSE2014 Thakor Motani explaininghow, startingfrom thebasic (left)andstudent Chua KeeChaing,welcomedthestudentsandtheirparents andshared howthecurrent interest Tan Chong Min ChongMin talk aptlytitled“Ifyoudon’t know whatyouwanttobewhen start-up companymuveeTechnologies, presented anintriguing an ECEalumnus,Terence people suchastheparalysedandamputees.Afterteabreak, engineers havedevelopeddevicesthatimprove thelivesof and brain-machineinterfacesinwhichelectricalcomputer described thefascinatingfieldsofbrain-computerinterfaces Electrical EngineerMakesConnectiontoBrainandMind”.He Institute forNeurotechnology (SINAPSE),delivered atalkon“An NUS Provost ChairProfessor andDirector oftheSingapore This wasfollowedbytwointeresting talks.Prof Nitish as 3Dimagereconstruction, biomedicalsensors,wireless demonstrated theirleadingedgeresearch workinareas such these laboratories,ECEprofessors, researchers andstudents and Mechatronics andAutomation Lab,aswellSINAPSE.In Management andMicrogrid Lab, AntennasandScatteringLab, Reliability (CICFAR), ElectricalMachinesandDrivesLab,Energy Networks Lab,Centre forIntegrated Circuit Failure Analysisand Lab, VLSIandSignalProcessing Lab, Communications and andMachineLearning eight ECElaboratoriessuchastheVision parents formedseveralgroups andembarkedonguidedtoursof In thesecondpartofprogramme, the studentsandtheir society inpositiveandtangibleways. education provides, enableagraduate tomakeadifference to main pointwasthattheanalyticalandtechnicalskillsanECE grow up,getanengineering degree. Ifyoudo,thinkagain.”.His Loh AiPohgaveanintroduction totheundergraduatedegree the ElectricalMachines andDrivesLab went ontoswimgracefullyin a transparent watertankat Viswanathan The studentswere enthralledwhenresearch engineer Vinothkumar released Vinothkumar arobotic fishthat Swee , whoistheCEOofsuccessful Thakor ,

15 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 STUDENT

with their with their Ji Qi and fellow and fellow

Ying Hang and Hang and Ying and Kumar Annamalai Lim Seah Raffles Institution students Jeshua Raffles to Dr Akash describing their project workshop participants National Junior College students, Meenatchi Sundaram Muthu Selva the Best two-player laser tag game which was awarded at the workshop Project . The students then spent time familiarising themselves with . The students then spent time familiarising Panicker

(NUS (NUS Tang and Dr Rajesh Kumar (right, foreground) and (right, foreground) (River Valley High School) with High School) with (River Valley Ho Kumar (middle, standing) Panicker

three projects. three game which uses several LEDs to indicate the number of ‘lives’ a player has left in a game after being shot with a to the best awarded beam of light. Attractive prizes were display, and a snake game using LEDs and a PS3 controller PS3 controller and a snake game using LEDs and a display, included a memory input to a PC. Other creations to provide system displays a LED pattern game in which the Arduino and a two-player laser tag for the user to try to replicate, the number of times a person can type in a given time and game is displayed using an LED pattern, of the the progress a tetris game in which a matrix of 25 LEDs act as the Some workshop participants created games with cool Some workshop participants created is accessories such as a tapping game in which the score piano notes, a smart LED board which uses a linear LED piano notes, a smart LED board by a two-dimensional LED display board array to create adjusting the LED timing, and a music equaliser visualisation using LEDs of various colours. creatively in pairs on the design and implementation of creatively piano a was device such One Arduino. using devices various emulator which uses pulse width modulation to play different On the second day of the workshop, the students worked Workshop participants such as Blossom Workshop High School) and Dion instructors Dr Akash Dr Rajesh the Arduino kits and components to learn about their features under the guidance of Dr Kumar and Dr Panicker and several under the guidance of Dr Kumar and kits and components to learn their features about the Arduino graduate assistants. On the first day of the workshop, students were introduced to the Arduino hardware and development environment through through and development environment hardware Arduino to the introduced were On the first day of the workshop, students ECE faculty Dr Akash by lectures The workshop offered activities using Arduino, an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible and easy-to- platform based on flexible and prototyping electronics an open-source activities using Arduino, The workshop offered interactive in creating designers, hobbyists and anyone interested is intended for artists, Arduino and software. use hardware objects or environments. Temasek Junior College, Victoria Junior College and River Valley High School participated in High School participated Victoria Junior College, Junior College and River Valley Temasek the workshop. The ECE Department organised a two-day workshop on “Embedded Systems with Arduino” for senior for senior Arduino” on “Embedded Systems with organised a two-day workshop The ECE Department than 30 November 2013. More college students on 28 and 29 (IP) and junior Integrated Programme National Junior College, Institution, NUS High School, Institution, Hwa Chong Raffles students from “EMBEDDED SYSTEMS WITH ARDUINO” WITH SYSTEMS “EMBEDDED ECE OUTREACH WORKSHOP ON WORKSHOP OUTREACH ECE ON

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E.C 16 Alumni andtheirkidsmuchabsorbed bythemagicshow Ltd, thentooktothestageshare thecommittee’s future plans. be more involvedwiththeir almamater. MrMelvin by sponsoringabeerbust.Inhiswelcomeaddress, HeadofDepartment,Prof The Classof’86tooktheopportunitytoholdaminiclassreunion andcelebratethelong-timeserviceofProf Another exhibit,AugmentedReality, brought virtualdinosaurstolifeforsomeinteractivefun. was theMagicCloset.AnECEinvention,thissoftware allowsuserstotryoutdifferent lookswithjustawaveofthehand. Research exhibitswere onhandtoshowcasesomeofthelatestcutting-edgeresearch ledbyECEfaculty. Onesuch exhibit forkids. magic showandacolouringcorner The eventgotoff toacolourful startwithactivitiesrangingfrom umbrella art,balloon sculpting,facepainting,gamestalls,a ECE alumni,professors and familyatthehomecoming staff members. The eventattractedmore than240alumniandtheirfamilymembers,aswellpresent andpastECE The ECEDepartmentheldits6thAlumniFamilyDayatUTown of31August2013. onthelateafternoon ECE ALUMNIFAMILY DAY 2013 Low , ChairmanoftheNUSECEAlumniCommitteeandCEOEquvoPte umbrella art Alumni, facultymembersand families workingtogetheron Chua KeeChaing,encouragedECEalumnito Liew AhChoy 17 E.CONNECT  MARCH 2014  ISSUE 8 ALUMNI [email protected]. Some face painting fun for the kids Some face painting exhibit, Alumni trying out the research Magic Closet Aiming for a bowling strike! Aiming for a bowling (continued from page 17) from (continued

Orchid Country Club Orchid Block EA, Engineering Auditorium 20 May 2014 30 August 2014

ECE ALUMNI FAMILY DAY ECE ALUMNI FAMILY th Faculty. Do sign up for this worthy cause! For inquiries, please contact Mr Desmond Koey at [email protected] Do sign up for this worthy cause! For Faculty. Date: Venue: NUS ENGINEERING CHARITY GOLF 2014 come together to organise the Members of the NUS ECE Alumni Committee and Engineering Class of ’82 have Annual ECE Golf & Dinner originally inaugural NUS Engineering Charity Golf 2014. This event supersedes the 1st The objective of the charity golf and dinner is to raise funds planned by the NUS ECE Alumni Committee for this year. with one another and the for student bursaries and serve as a platform for engineering alumni to get reconnected Snapshots taken at a previous year’s homecoming year’s Snapshots taken at a previous Date: Venue: 7 Alumni Family Day – is only a few months flagship alumni homecoming event of the year – the ECE The Department’s and prizes to be packed with family activities be a fun-filled day, to it promises be held in August this year, To away. won. Admission is free!

If you have any comments on this issue or would like to contribute an article for subsequent ones, please e-mail to If you have any comments on this issue or would like to contribute an article for subsequent UPCOMING EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTUPCOMING bowling game too as it was such a challenge. I also found all the prizes interesting. I also found all the prizes interesting. bowling game too as it was such a challenge. event will be as fun as this one.” I hope next year’s Jasmine (an alumnus’s family member) had this to say: “I really enjoyed myself enjoyed myself “I really family member) had this to say: Jasmine (an alumnus’s and bowling the painting fun but I liked the umbrella today! All the games were painting. I enjoyed the for the umbrella most. I had so much fun doing the design The homecoming ended on a high note with a sumptuous buffet dinner, followed followed dinner, on a high note with a sumptuous buffet The homecoming ended a success. Alumni and their families had was a great All in all, it by a lucky draw. day with their alma mater. fruitful and engaging relaxed, The sumptuous buffet dinner The sumptuous buffet ECE Alumni Family Day 2013 Day 2013 Alumni Family ECE

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