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Events for February 02, 2011
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EE-Systems Seminar
Wed, Feb 02, 2011 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Valentino Crespi,
Talk Title: Trackability and Machine Learning of Processes
Abstract: The effective monitoring of complex environments is related to the ability of machine learning and tracking its constituent processes.
Examples of environments in this domain include networked computer systems, autonomic computing systems and distributed and dynamic information systems. In our approach an environment consists, in its most abstract form, of multiple processes or behaviors that we typically model as Finite State Machines such as Probabilistic and nonprobabilistic Finite State Automata (DFAs/PFAs), Probabilistic Deterministic Finite State Automata (PDFAs), Probabilistic Suffix Automata (PSAs), Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), etc.
In this talk we first introduce an original and rigorous concept of "trackability" of processes in a distributed sensing system. The purpose of this notion is to determine the "complexity" of estimating state trajectories of a target process based on a discrete-time sequence of noisy "observations". We then present our new algorithms to machine learn Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) from typical realizations of the associated stochastic process. The methods are based on the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) of higher order Markovian statistics and are structurally different from the classical Baum-Welch and associated approaches.
Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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Asymptotic Design for Cascade Robustness in Large Coupled Systems
Wed, Feb 02, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Franz Hover, MIT Mechanical Engineering
Talk Title: Asymptotic Design for Cascade Robustness in Large Coupled Systems
Abstract: Power networks and collaborating mobile robots are examples of large-scale interdependent systems that are subject to cascading failures. A recent asymptotic model of failure across two signal domains offers a random graph framework for studying such systems, and I use it to pose and solve a new robust design problem. A low-order nonlinear analysis uncovers the mechanisms by which optimized graphs can form star-like clusters, as encoded into a simple but specialized degree distribution; several other design rules can be found as well. Through examples on coupled systems of finite size, I show that degree independence in the asymptotic model can be somewhat relaxed, which is significant for the practical case of geometric connectivity. A heuristic rule that matches degrees across the domain boundary can offer further benefits in many cases.
Biography: Franz Hover received the BSME from Ohio Northern University and the MS and ScD degrees from the WHOI/MIT Joint Program in Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering. He was a consultant to industry and then a member of the research staff at MIT, where he worked in fluid mechanics, biomimetics, and ocean engineering. He is currently Finmeccanica Assistant Professor at the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering; his research focuses on design methods and robustness for marine systems.
Host: Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu and Gaurav Sukhatme, gaurav@usc.edu
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 406
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Microwave Transmissions Systems: Progress, Challenges and Future Direction
Wed, Feb 02, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Edward Au, Corporate Research, Huawei Technologies
Talk Title: Microwave Transmissions Systems: Progress, Challenges and Future Direction
Abstract: Users want seamlessly connected advanced services delivered on-demand wherever they may be, on any platform, over any available network. But as the user experience becomes richer, the underlying technologies and networks become more complex. Further, the rapid development of mobile broadband services has brought explosive growth of bandwidth requirements, which forces operators to continuously expand their networks.
As one of the key physical media for mobile backhaul networks, point-to-point microwave is rapidly evolving to support the increasing demand on bandwidth while allowing operators to reduce network operational costs. In this seminar, we overview some recent developments, challenges, and future direction in the microwave industry.
Biography: As a Principal Engineer of Huawei Technologies, Edward has worked on research and product development on 100 Gb/s-and-beyond optical long-haul communications. He is now leading a project on fixed wireless transmission system that has enabled a number of cutting-edge products. Edward has actively participated in standardization organizations and industry forums. He is the primary technical representative of Huawei for Wi-Fi Alliance and an active contributor of Optical Interconnecting Forum (OIF), where he is a co-editor of the channel coding project for 100Gb/s DWDM optical transmission systems, and a member of Speakers Bureau in representing OIF at industry and academic events. He was also a working group secretary of IEEE 802.22 â the first international standards on cognitive radio networks.
Edward is also staying active in research community. He is currently an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and a leading guest editor for the IEEE Communications Magazine Feature Topic on Advances in IEEE Standards and Testbeds for Cognitive Radio Networks. He is a founding member of Shenzhen Chapter, IEEE Communications Society.
Edward holds a Ph.D. degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
Host: Andreas Molisch, 04670, EEB 530, molisch@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Recent Results on Discrete Memoryless Broadcast Channels
Wed, Feb 02, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Chandra Nair, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Talk Title: Recent Results on Discrete Memoryless Broadcast Channels
Abstract: Broadcast channel refers to a commonly occurring communication scenario where a single sender wishes to send (possibly different) messages to multiple receivers. This is one of the fundamental problems in network information theory, a generalization of Shannon's point-to-point information theory.
In this talk, I will talk about a collection of recent results that have been obtained over the last couple of years that made significant progress, both from an intuitive perspective as well as a theoretical perspective, on long standing open problems in this area. The talk will be self-contained, and the emphasis will be on the bigger picture of the results than the specific details of establishing them.
Biography: Chandra Nair is an assistant professor with the information engineering department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include "random" problems in combinatorial optimization, networks, and information theory. Over the last couple of years his research has primarily focused on multiuser information theory, and in particular the broadcast channel.
Chandra Nair was a Stanford graduate fellow (00-04) and Microsoft graduate fellow (04-05) during his graduate studies at Stanford University. Subsequently, he became a post-doc (05-07) with the theory group at Microsoft research, Redmond. He joined the faculty of the information engineering department in the Chinese University of Hong Kong during Fall 2007.
Website: http://chandra.ie.cuhk.edu.hk
Host: Giuseppe Caire, caire@usc.edu, EEB 528, x04683
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
