Departmental Computer Facilities.
The Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering has three computer labs available at all
times to students studying electrical and computer engineering. The EE103/EE105 computer labs have 51
PC's with two printers. Each
PC has both Windows 7 and Linux operating systems. The EE219 VLSI computer lab is also open to all
students at all times. The
software installed on each computer includes PSpice for circuit design and
simulation, Matlab for mathematical programming, Visual Studio for programming
languages including C, C++ and Java. Microsoft Office is available for writing lab reports,
homework and research papers. VLSI design software from both Cadence and Synopsys is available on each
computer for designing integrated circuits. The Eclipse software workbench with
the Android software development kit is available for programming mobile apps
on cellphones. National
Instruments LabView with the modulation toolkit is installed for communications
students to program software programmable radios. More
specialized instructional labs associated with the digital signal processing
(DSP), virtual reality, and VLSI design classes also have dedicated computer
lab rooms.
Communication Systems Laboratory. This
laboratory contains equipment for the study of analog, pulse, and
digital modulation methods. Facilities include multimeters, wideband
signal generators, oscilloscopes, and spectrum analyzers. The range of
topics involve communication circuit and system design, using
breadboarded components through the sophisticated subsystem module
interconnection. In addition, computer simulation methods are used to
verify system performance. A graphics-based communication systems
simulator software package is available. System performance can be investigated for amplitude, phase, and frequency modulation techniques,
including pulse position, width, and amplitude data transmission
schemes; binary and M-ary digital modulation and receiver structures; and spectral occupancy versus power constraints.
Computer Architecture Laboratory. This
laboratory consists of experimental stations that provide students with
opportunities to gain experience with the internal workings of a
microcomputer, learn assembly programming for a standard commercial
microprocessor, and learn how to interface input/output memory, serial
I/O, and parallel I/O chips to a standard microprocessor.
Cyber-Physical
and Embedded Systems Laboratory. The
laboratory contains hardware equipment and software tools to conduct research
in the design and validation of trustworthy and secure systems for
smartphone, embedded and cyber-physical
infrastructures. Facilities include programmable logic controllers from
Rockwell Allen Bradley,
Siemens and Bachmann, smartphones and tablet
devices, IDA Pro, OllyDbg and other binary malware and executable
analysis tools,
embedded monitoring and controller boards, S2E
symbolic executor, PowerWorld power systems simulator, signal generators, oscilloscopes,
computing nodes, etc.
Digital Logic Design Laboratory. This
laboratory provides practical experience with the design and hardware
implementation of digital circuits for sophomore students. The laboratory is based on the understanding of
basic waveforms
to simulate and debug
a circuit that is then implemented in hardware using SSI and MSI ICs.
The experiments cover all the relevant topics about combinational and
sequential logic with circuits of increasing complexity.
Digital Signal Processing Laboratory. This
laboratory is available for undergraduate instruction and special
projects. Microprocessor-based workstations provide flexibility in the
design and analysis of various real-time digital filtering operations.
Experiments in speech and audio signal processing demonstrate digital
methods used in processing analog signals. Other facilities include a
digital image-processing laboratory and a variety of special-purpose
signal processors.
Electronics Laboratory. This
laboratory contains equipment for the study of solid-state devices and
circuits. Experiments involve studies of biasing and low-frequency
operations of discrete solid-state devices, frequency response, and the
effect of feedback on single- and multistage BJT and MOSFET amplifiers.
Further studies include OP-AMP parameters, frequency response, and
OP-AMP linear and nonlinear circuits and systems. The laboratory is
well equipped for a range of student projects in electronic circuit
designs.
Embedded
System (FPGA).
The Embedded System laboratory provides
opportunities for the students to gain hands on exercises in building embedded
systems. The laboratory is equipped with Altera DE2-115 FPGA boards and Sun and
Hewlett-Packard computer work stations to train students with skills required
for modeling and implementing embedded systems.
Human-Computer
Interaction Laboratory. This laboratory focuses on world-class graduate
and undergraduate research and education at the interface of security
engineering, mobile computing and human-computer interaction. Research
approaches include mobile app prototyping, user studies, interaction design,
machine learning, secure protocol design, and signal processing, among others.
The laboratory is active contributor in terms of scientific publications, and
has enjoyed substantial attention from media around the world.
Integrated Circuits Laboratory. The Integrated Circuits Laboratory is equipped with computer workstations, software (Cadence Virtuoso) and several design kits (CMOS, SiGe BiCMOS) for designing and simulating highly integrated circuits (ICs). Students will gain experience with the procedures required for designing and simulating high-performance ICs.
Microelectronics Research Laboratory (MERL). MERL
provides students an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the
integrated circuit fabrication and semiconductor device processing
techniques in a modern, clean-room environment. Students become
familiar with the photolithography, oxidation, and diffusion processes,
ion implantation, metallization, plasma etching, silicon
micromachining, interconnects, and fabrication of different devices. In
addition, a well-equipped simulation laboratory is used for the
modeling of circuits, devices, and processes related to the
experimental and theoretical aspects of semiconductor technology.
NeuroImaging
Laboratory.
The NeuroImaging Laboratory accommodates
single-subject and hyperscanning functional neuroimaging experiments using EEG.
The laboratory is equipped with computer stations for stimuli presentation and
recording behavioral responses, E-prime 2.0 professional software for designing
cognitive tasks and stimuli presentations, and high-end EEG recording systems.
Students will gain experience in designing functional neuroimaging experiments,
collecting data and processing the signals.
Power Electronics Laboratory. This laboratory provides opportunities for students to gain hands-on experiences with devices and circuits used in power electronics applications. Students become familiar with the practical aspect of various topics including modern power semiconductor devices, power inductor design, thermal management methods, power rectification, and DC/DC converter design.
Software Defined Radio Instructional Laboratory. This laboratory is available for undergraduate and graduate instruction and special projects. National Instruments funded software defined radio stations operating Universal Software Radio Peripherals and LabView programming software provide flexibility in the design and analysis of various real-time end-to-end algorithms. Experiments in digital communications introduce students to design and testing of the basics as well as radio frequency phenomena. The setup also provides opportunities for advanced Capstone Project Designs also involving analog filtering (National Instrument's my-DAQs) as well as human-computer interfaces (Microsoft Kinect). Solid-State Electronics Laboratory. In
addition to the facilities provided by the microelectronics research
laboratory (MERL), facilities exist for the study of microwave devices;
high-current switching devices; electro-optical modulation;
heterojunction lasers; and electrical characterization of materials, as
well as their use in communications, different solar cells, and related
devices.
The Applied Software Systems Laboratory (TASSL). The primary focus of the
research and education program at TASSL is the development of conceptual and
implementation models based on the theoretical foundations of high-performance (parallel) computing, distributed systems, and networking for
solving real-world problems in science and engineering on very large
distributed systems (e.g., pervasive information and computational grid).
Research includes the design, development, and deployment of data-structures,
algorithms, programming systems, runtime environments, and software
infrastructures. Broad research areas include pervasive computational ecosystems and information/data-driven science, autonomic grid computing, decentralized content-based middleware, adaptive/asynchronous computation engines, interactive computational collaboratories, proactive and reactive runtime systems, and software engineering for computational infrastructures
and scientific computing. A number of applications
domains include subsurface and seismic modeling, computational fluid
dynamics, numerical relativity, fusion, plasma physics, structural biology,
bio- and medical informatics, and computational finance.
Virtual Reality Laboratory. This
laboratory provides facilities for students to gain hands-on experience
with several virtual reality (VR) specific interfaces, such as stereo
glasses, 3-D trackers, force feedback joysticks, and sensing gloves. It
also trains students in the intricacies of 3-D
graphics and authoring real-time simulation programming.
VLSI Design Laboratory. This
laboratory consists of Sun and Hewlett-Packard engineering workstations, a color
plotter, automatic test equipment for VLSI chip testing, and a laser
printer. Students are able to design integrated circuits and in some
cases may be able to have them fabricated and tested. The laboratory
has the Generator Development Tool industrial chip design software that
supports silicon compilation mixed-level circuit simulation (including
SPICE), automatic chip layout generation from circuit schematics, and
the VHDL hardware description language.
In addition to the
above-mentioned laboratories, students interested in special projects
in electrical and computer engineering may take advantage of the many well-equipped,
faculty-supervised research laboratories, available in such specialties
as robotics, computer graphics, computer database design, speech
processing, image processing, machine vision, and software engineering.
Wireless Information Network Laboratory (WINLAB). WINLAB is an industry-university collaborative research center that provides facilities for undergraduate and graduate research in the area of wireless communications and networking. Experimental resources at WINLAB include the Software Radio Development Platform, Next-Generation Wireless Networking Testbed, and Mobile Systems Lab, covering a range of hardware and software design/prototyping. Current lab equipment includes radio propagation measurement tools, a DSP/FPGA software radio setup, and the NSF-sponsored open architecture wireless network testbed (ORBIT). WINLAB' also operates an experimental campus network with both cellular and WiFi coverage and connectivity to the Internet2 and GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovation) backbones. The center supports undergraduate research on topics such as radio propagation studies, modem signal processing, mobile networks, future Internet, and mobile computing applications.