Brief Description of Research Projects

· Project 1. National Science Foundation. “Algorithms to Improve the Efficiency of Data Compression and Caching on Wide-Area Networks”, IIS-9977336, Oct.1999- to Sep. 2002.

The goal of this research project is to develop new lossless text compression algorithms and software tools to incorporate compression in MIME/HTML standards. Infrastructure tools will be developed using dynamic caching of dictionaries to embed compression into MIME/HTML standards. The impact of the research on the future of information technology is to develop data delivery systems where communication bandwidth is at a premium and archival storage is an exponentially costly endeavor.

· Project 2 . Cirent Semiconductor,” Photoresist Shape Reconstruction from Scanning Electron Microscopy”,

(Co-PI: Dr. Erol Gelenbe), May 1999 to April 2001.

The shape and size of the photoresist (PR) at the sub micron level, is largely responsible for the dimensions of the resulting underlying metal strip, and is important in determining whether the chip can be ``accepted'' as being functionally satisfactory, or whether it needs to be discarded because it may be defective. Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM) produces two-dimensional intensity profiles from which one must determine the shape of the PR deposit. Neural network modeling and wavelet image analysis will be applied to determine the shape of the PR deposit.

· Project 3. Intel Corporation. "Wavelet Based Image Compression and Progressive Transmission",

Grant No. 11-28-821, May 1998 to August 2000.

The objective is to develop algorithms and architectures for real-time image compression/decompression systems using wavelet based methods. The design approach emphasizes flexibility, scalability, joint optimization of rate/distortion and system integration.

· Project 4. US Army STRICOM. “Behavior Continuity in Multi-fidelity and Multi-resolution Simulations”,

(Co-PI: R. Franceschini), Jan. 2000 to November 2001.

The objective of this project is to develop formal models and methodolologies that can be applied to the problem of interoperability of simulations that run at different fidelity levels.

· Project 5. National Science Foundation. "Laser-Aided Direct Rapid Prototyping (LADRP)",

(Co-PI: A. Kar, CREOL), MIP-9625752, July 1996 to August 2000 (no-cost extension to August, 2000).

The goal of the project was to develop a laser-aided rapid prototyping techniques and a digital interface between design and manufacturing. The project is in its last phase and will end by next summer.

· Project 6. Non-sponsored, ‘FPGA Architectures for Pattern Matching and Data Compression ‘

The objective is to create novel FPGA architectures for string matching, string computations on suffix arrays and special-purpose architectures for data compression.