The major objective of the department is to provide educational services, research, development and consultancy in the fundamental hardware and software technology of the computer industry, and in a number of key applications of such technology.
The technological focus of the department covers a number of areas:
(a) the digital and analogue circuitry of computer components and devices, including varying levels of circuit integration up to custom ASIC/VLSI. A particular emphasis is placed on `embedded systems', ie the skills and techniques associated with the design and development of customised processor controlled systems;
(b) the internal controlling software, particularly as it operates at the device level. Again particular emphasis is placed on the close and effective integration of hardware and software;
(c) a selected set of application areas, in particular:
The program of the department is represented by a number of courses:
The research activity of the department is focussed on a number of key areas in the application of digital systems techniques. Most projects involve the design and development of innovative hardware and software. Each project has several staff actively involved, as well as a number of graduate students.
Advanced digital design
The work in this area has two aspects: investigation of algorithms suitable for hardware implementation - the algorithms include artificial neural networks, and fuzzy logic; advanced implementation systems such as full custom VLSI systems, programmable devices as FPGAs and EPLDs.
Specific projects and topics include theory of artificial neural networks, unsupervised learning algorithms, feature map formation, stochastic neural networks, biologically motivated structures; application of ANN in the control of nonlinear dynamic systems, early vision algorithms, image coding and processing; hardware implementation of neural networks; analog, digital and hybrid VLSI systems.
Research in this area in concentrated on aspects of fast packet switching which is at the heart of broadband ISDN studies using ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) techniques.
Current work includes the development of an experimental medium speed (2-20Mb/s) local area ATM network for voice and data, including the switching hardware, the routing and management protocols and software, the adaptation layers to carry other protocols such as TCP/IP, and the interface to other devices and networks; the analysis of the performance of ATM protocols, and the interaction of higher-layer protocols in ATM networks; the handling and performance of compressed video and audio streams over ATM networks; attachment and management of small- and large-scale cellular radio to ATM networks; the security of networks, in particular the implementation and management of encryption systems over inter-networked systems.
The research in this area currently covers three main aspects: digital audio, image and video signal processing; computer/robotic vision; and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications.
Digital audio, image and video signal processing includes fast algorithms, coding and compression, coding distortion analysis, adaptive quantisation algorithms, filtering, digital signal quality metrics, finite word length computation effects, and computational complexity analysis.
Computer/robotic vision includes active vision algorithms, pattern recognition, neural fuzzy pattern recognition, and motion tracking algorithms.
DSP applications cover active noise cancellation, on-line image processing for industrial processes, noise cancellation for mobile communications, electrical impedance tomography, geophysical data acquisition and processing, implementation of audio and video codecs for multimedia computing, ATM network communications and information processing/retrieval systems, and advanced digital signal processing systems.
In this area, the emphasis is on knowledge-based robot control. Some of the facets of this research include sensor-fusion - establishing knowledge-based and algorithmic strategies for combining multiple sensor signals so that meaningful trajectory commands can be sent to the controlled robot; application of fuzzy-logic control to industrial processes; application of neural networks to robot control; application of robot vision systems to assembly processes; knowledge-based methods for the determination of feasible assembly sequences.
The community service program of the department involves the provision of consultancy and tailored in-service education to local high-technology companies. In addition the department works with companies on the commercial exploitation of hardware and software technologies.
The Bachelor in Digital Systems is the department's principal undergraduate offering. The electronics and hardware subjects are also available to students in a range of other courses such as the Bachelor of Computing (Computer Science) as a major in digital systems.
The aim of the program is to provide an integrated and practical study of computer hardware and software, with a particular emphasis on `embedded systems', ie processor or microprocessor controlled systems with special-purpose software. It is possible to characterise the course as being a synthesis of elements found in both traditional electronic engineering and computer science courses, but with a particular emphasis on the design and development of digital hardware and related controlling software.
Students completing this course will have knowledge of:
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