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Events for March 29, 2007

  • Wireless propagation channels and their impact of system design

    Thu, Mar 29, 2007 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Andreas Molisch,
    Lund UniversityAbstract: This talk has the central premise that a good understanding of the wireless propagation channel is vital for system design and simulation. This premise is emphasized by means of several examples from the areas of multi-antenna systems, co-operative communications, and ultrawideband (UWB) systems. In the multi-antenna case, we first present a number of channel measurement and modeling techniques. We then discuss the impact of the channels on the efficiency of antenna subset selection, a technique that reduces the complexity of MIMO systems by using only a small number of RF up/downconversion chains and connecting them adaptively to the "best" antenna elements. Next, we turn our attention to co-operative communications, and show how the correlation between fading at different nodes influences the optimum cooperation strategies. Finally, we explore UWB communications. After an overview of the special properties of UWB channels and their impact on Rake receivers, we explore in detail a new modulation format that is especially useful in heterogeneous networks. The modulation format can be received by transmitted-reference as well as coherent receivers, and gives almost-optimum performance for each of those receiver types. We will discuss both mathematically and intuitively the performance of this scheme in different propagation channels.Biography: Andreas F. Molisch is Professor and Chairholder for Radio Systems at Lund University, Sweden, and Deputy Director of the SSF National Center of Excellence for High-Speed Wireless Communications. He is simultaneously Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs in Cambridge, MA, USA. Previously, he worked at the Technical University of Vienna, the Research Center for Telecommunications Vienna, and AT&T Bell Laboratories. His current research interests are measurement and modeling of wireless propagation channels, ultrawideband communications, MIMO systems, and cooperative communications. He has authored, co-authored, or edited four books (among them the recent textbook "Wireless Communications"), 11 book chapters, some 100 journal papers, and numerous conference contributions. He has been chairman of a number of international standardization groups, international conferences and symposia, and editor for IEEE journals. Dr. Molisch is a Fellow of the IEEE and recipient of several awards.Host: Robert Scholtz, scholtz@usc.edu

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos

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  • NSF Funding Opportunities and Writing Successful NSF Proposals

    Thu, Mar 29, 2007 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    NSF supports basic research and education projects to advance the discovery and application of scientific and engineering knowledge. This talk will give a brief overview of NSF organizational structure, highlight some of the relevant funding areas, present the proposal review process and provide general tips on how to write successful NSF proposals. Particular attention will be paid to funding opportunities in the Computer & Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Engineering (ENG) directorates.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526

    Audiences: Jr Faculty

    Contact: Jennifer Alvarado

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  • Bridging VLSI Design and Manufacturing

    Thu, Mar 29, 2007 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    "Bridging VLSI Design and Manufacturing"Puneet GuptaUniversity of California, San DiegoAbstract:The semiconductor industry is at an interesting-and scary-juncture. Design and manufacturing NRE (nonrecurring engineering) costs for a state-of-the-art chip can reach several tens of millions of dollars; this makes the transition to newer processes economically infeasible for low- to medium-volume IC products. Scaling of physical dimensions faster than the optical wavelengths or equipment tolerances used in the manufacturing line has led to increased process variability. This in turn has led to unpredictable design, unpredictable manufacturing, and low yields. As a result of the above trends, future power, performance and cost improvements cannot come from the manufacturing process alone; they depend significantly on design automation technology. Such "equivalent scaling" improvements - perhaps as much as one full technology generation - must come from new synergies between various "silos" of the design to manufacturing flow. Today, design for manufacturing ("DFM") is the new buzzword in design automation, manufacturing automation, semiconductor and semiconductor equipment industries alike. My work in this still-nascent research area has developed new bidirectional data flows and techniques that bridge design and manufacturing, and that address the challenges of (1) high cost of design, (2) high cost of manufacturing, (3) low manufacturing yield, and (4) disconnects between design and the manufacturing process. In this talk, I will first briefly sketch the design and manufacturing flows, then show how the challenges of low predictability and high variability in modern integrated circuits can be addressed by new design techniques that are explicitly aware of manufacturing limitations. I will give examples of how leakage power variability and timing variability can be mitigated by such manufacturing-aware design methods. I will also give examples of new design-aware manufacturing flows that better capture the designer's intent in silicon. The talk will conclude with several directions for future research.Bio:Puneet Gupta received the B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2000. He joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at University of California, San Diego in 2001 where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate. He has been at Blaze DFM Inc. since 2004 as co-founder and product architect. Puneet's research has focused on building high-value bridges between physical design and semiconductor manufacturing for lowered cost, increased yield and improved predictability of integrated circuits. He has authored over 40 papers and is a recipient of IBM Ph.D. fellowship. He holds one US patent and has 12 pending. He has given tutorial talks at ICCAD, WesCon, CMP-MIC, UC Santa Cruz and UC San Diego and is a short-course instructor at SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2007.Hosted by: Prof. Sandeep Gupta, sandeep@usc.edu

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Rosine Sarafian

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  • CS Colloquium Lecture: Rachid Alami

    Thu, Mar 29, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Title: A Robot That Aims to Serve Humans and Be Accepted By ThemProf. Rachid AlamiSenior Scientist at LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France. Abstract:We are conducting research toward the construction of a cognitive robots able to act in close interaction with humans and to serve as a companion in their daily life.
    I will present several results developed in COGNIRON, a collaborative research project funded by the European Commission in the framework of the 'Beyond Robotics' workprogramme.
    Cogniron research teams contribute to the study of the perceptual, representational, reasoning and learning capabilities of embodied robots in a human centred perspective.
    More particularly, I will focus on issues that involve decisional interaction between a human and a robot that acts and moves in his close vicinity.Bio sketch:Prof. Rachid ALAMI is Senior Scientist at LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France. He received an engineer diploma in Computer Science in 1978 from ENSEEIHT, and a Ph.D in Robotics in 1983 from the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France). He contributed and took important responsibilities in several national, European and international research and/or collaborative projects (EUREKA, ESPRIT, IST). His main research contributions fall in the fields of robot architectures, task and motion planning, manipulation, multi-robot cooperation and more generally robot decisional autonomy. He has also a substantial experience in robotics system integration and transfer operations.Host: Dr. Adriana Tapus

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Nancy Levien

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  • Qualcomm Information Session

    Thu, Mar 29, 2007 @ 05:30 PM - 07:30 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Join representatives of this company as they share general company information and available opportunities.

    Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106

    Audiences: Current Engineering Undergraduate/Graduate Students

    Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services

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  • Trends in the U.S. Healthcare System

    Thu, Mar 29, 2007 @ 06:30 PM - 08:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    Student Health Council Speaker SeriesJeffry Huffman, MD, MHAPresident and CEO of USC Care Medical GroupDate: Thursday, March 29Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Location: Taper Hall (THH) Room 114Please RSVP – Seating will be limitedIn addition to his role as CEO of the USC Care organization, Dr. Huffman serves as a Professor and Associate Senior Vice President for medical care at USC Keck Medical School . He is a respected speaker on healthcare management and has authored numerous research studies.Dr. Huffman received his Master of Health Administration from USC's School of Policy, Planning and Development and will speak on trends in the U.S. healthcare system and the role of healthcare leaders in administration and policy. Don't miss this chance to meet one of the most influential health professionals talk about his experience in the healthcare industry.Refreshments will be served.Please RSVP with your full name and email to eraff@usc.edu. Seating will be limited.

    Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 114

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • East Meets West: Exploring Cultures through Music

    Thu, Mar 29, 2007 @ 07:30 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Receptions & Special Events


    In three exciting collaborative performances, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the USC Thornton School of Music will transcend racial, cultural and political differences. Tonight's performance will be a collaborative concert in which mixed ensembles will be created from the Jerusalem Academy members and traditional classical and jazz ensembles from the Thornton School.For more information, please visit: http://www.usc.edu/webapps/events_calendar/custom/113/index.php?category=Item&item=0.861416&active_category=Day

    Location: Alfred Newman Recital Hall

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Daria Yudacufski

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