Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

[ undergraduate program | courses | faculty ]

OFFICES:
Undergraduate Affairs, Room 2705
Graduate Affairs, Room 2718
Engineering Building Unit 1, Warren College
http://www.ece.ucsd.edu/

The Graduate Programs

Five-Year B.S./Master’s Program

Undergraduates in the ECE department who have maintained a good academic record in both departmental and overall course work are encouraged to participate in the five-year B.S./master’s program offered by the department. Participation in the program will permit students to complete the requirements for the M.S. or M.Eng. degree within one year following receipt of the B.S. degree. Complete details regarding admission to and participation in the program are available from the ECE Undergraduate Affairs office.

Admission to the Program

Students should submit an application for the B.S./master’s program, including three letters of recommendation, by the program deadline during the spring quarter of their junior year. Applications are available from the ECE Undergraduate Affairs office. No GRE’s are required for application to the B.S./master’s program. A GPA of at least 3.0 both overall and in the major and strong letters of recommendation are required to be considered for program admission. Students should indicate at that time whether they wish to be considered for the M.S. degree program.

In the winter quarter of the senior year, applications of students admitted to the program will be forwarded by the department to the UC San Diego Office of Graduate Studies. Each student must submit the regular graduate application fee prior to the application deadline for their application to be processed. Students who have been accepted into the B.S./master’s program will automatically be admitted for graduate study beginning the following fall provided they maintain an overall GPA through the winter quarter of the senior year of at least 3.0. Upper-division (up to twelve units) or graduate courses taken during the senior year that are not used to satisfy undergraduate course requirements may be counted towards the forty-eight units required for the M.S. degree.

Continuation in the Program

Once admitted to the B.S./master’s program, students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA in all courses through the winter quarter of the senior year and in addition must at all times maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA in their graduate course work. Students not satisfying these requirements may be re-evaluated for continuation in the program.

Admission for graduate study through the B.S./master’s program will be for the M.S. or M.Eng. degree only. Undergraduate students wishing to continue toward the Ph.D. degree must apply and be evaluated according to the usual procedures and criteria for admission to the Ph.D. program.

Curriculum

Students in the five-year B.S./master’s program must complete the same requirements as those in the regular M.S. program. Completion of the M.S. degree requirements within one year following receipt of the B.S. degree will generally require that students begin graduate course work in their senior year. All requirements for the B.S. degree should be completed by the end of the senior (fourth) year, and the B.S. degree awarded prior to the start of the fifth year. Courses taken in the senior year may be counted toward the B.S. degree requirements or the M.S. degree requirements, but not both. Students must have received their B.S. degree before they will be eligible to enroll as graduate students in the department.

The department offers graduate programs leading to the M.Eng., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering. Students can be admitted into ECE graduate studies through either the M.Eng, M.S. or Ph.D. programs.

The Ph.D. program is strongly research oriented and is for students whose final degree objective is the Ph.D. If a student with a B.S. is admitted to this program, he or she will be expected to complete the requirements for the M.S. degree (outlined below) before beginning doctoral research. The M.S. is a technically intensive, research-oriented degree intended as preparation for advanced technical work in the engineering profession, or subsequent pursuit of a Ph.D. By contrast, the M. Eng. is intended to be a terminal professional degree, for those not planning to pursue the Ph.D. The M. Eng. has only a course work requirement.

In addition, the department offers M.S. and Ph.D. programs in computer engineering jointly with CSE, and a Ph.D. program in applied ocean science jointly with MAE and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Admission to an ECE graduate program is in accordance with the general requirements of the UCSD graduate division, and requires at least a B.S. Degree in engineering, physical sciences, or mathematics with a minimum upper division GPA of 3.0. Applicants must provide three letters of recommendation and recent GRE General Test scores. TOEFL or IELTS scores are required from international applicants whose native language is not English. Applicants should be aware that the University does not permit duplication of degrees.

Support: The department makes every effort to provide financial support for Ph.D. students who are making satisfactory progress. Support may take the form of a fellowship, teaching assistantship, research assistantship, or some combination thereof. International students will not be admitted unless there is reasonable assurance that support can be provided for the duration of their Ph.D. Program Students in the M.Eng. and M.S. programs may also obtain support through teaching or research assistantships, but this is less certain.

Advising: Students should seek advice on requirements and procedures from the departmental graduate office and/or the departmental Web site http://www.ece.ucsd.edu. All students will be assigned a faculty academic advisor upon admission and are strongly encouraged to discuss their academic program with their advisor immediately upon arrival and subsequently at least once per academic year.

Master of Engineering

The Master of Engineering (M. Eng.) program is intended primarily for engineers who desire master’s-level work but do not intend to continue with Ph.D.-level research. It differs from the M.S. program in that it is a terminal professional degree, whereas the M.S. may serve as an entry to a Ph.D. program. Salient features of the M. Eng. program include the following: It can be completed in four quarters at full-time or eight quarters at half time; it does not require a thesis, a research project, or a comprehensive exam; and it has an option of three courses in business, management, and finance.

Course Requirements

The total course requirements are forty-eight units (twelve quarter courses). At least thirty-six units must be at the graduate level. The choice of courses is subject to general focus and breadth requirements. Students will be assigned a faculty advisor who will help select courses.

  1. The Focus Requirement: (five courses) The M.Eng. program should reflect, among other things, a continuity and focus in one subject area. The course selection must therefore include at least twenty units (five quarter courses) in closely related courses leading to the state of the art in that area. The requirement may be met by selecting five courses from within one of the focus areas listed below. In some cases it may be appropriate to select five closely related courses from two of the areas listed below. Such cases must be approved by a faculty advisor and the ECE Graduate Affairs Committee.
  2. The Breadth Requirement: (two courses) A graduate student often cannot be certain of his or her future professional career activities and may benefit from exposure to interesting opportunities in other subject areas. The breadth requirement is intended to provide protection against technical obsolescence, open up new areas of interest, and provide for future self-education and interaction with people from related and sometime disparate disciplines. The minimum breadth requirement is eight units (two quarter courses) of ECE/CSE graduate courses selected from among the courses listed below, in an area distinctly different from that of the focus requirement.
  3. Technical Electives: (two courses) Two technical electives may be any graduate courses in ECE, CSE, Physics, or Mathematics. Other technical courses may be selected with the approval of the faculty advisor and the ECE Graduate Affairs Committee. Technical electives may include a maximum of four units of ECE 298 (Independent Study), or ECE 299 (Research).
  4. Professional Electives: (three courses) The three professional electives may be used in several ways: for the IP/Core 401, 420, 421 series in business, management, and finance; for upper-division undergraduate technical courses specified as prerequisites for graduate-level focus, breadth, or technical elective courses taken to satisfy the M.Eng. Degree requirements; or for additional graduate technical electives. Use of other courses to satisfy the Professional Elective requirement must be approved by the faculty advisor.

Scholarship Requirement: The forty-eight units of required course work must be taken for a letter grade (A–F), except for ECE 298 or 299, for which only S/U grades are allowed. Courses for which a D or F is received may not be counted. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 overall.

Master of Engineering Program Focus Courses

Please consult the ECE graduate office or the ECE Web site http://www.ece.ucsd.edu for the current list of focus areas and courses.

1. Applied Physics

Allied Ph.D. research areas: Applied Physics—Applied Optics, Applied Physics—Electronic Devices and Materials, Photonics, Radio Space Science, and Magnetic Recording.

ECE 222A-B-C. Electromagnetic Theory

ECE 230A-B-C. Solid State Electronics

ECE 236A-B-C-D. Semiconductors

ECE 238A-B. Materials Science

MS 201A-B-C. Materials Science

ECE 240A-B-C. Optics

ECE 241A-B-C. Optics

2. Communications and Signal Analysis

Allied Ph.D. Research areas: Communication Theory and Systems, Intelligent Systems, Robotics, and Control, Magnetic Recording, Signal and Image Processing.

ECE 250. Random Processes

ECE 251AN-BN-CN-DN. Digital Signal Processing

ECE 252A-B. Speech Compression and Recognition

ECE 253A-B. Digital Image Analysis

ECE 254. Detection Theory

ECE 255AN. Information Theory

ECE 255BN-CN. Source Coding

ECE 256A-B. Time Series Analysis

ECE 257A-B. Wireless Communications

ECE 258A-B. Digital Communications

ECE 259AN-BN-CN. Channel Coding

ECE 275A-B. Statistical Parameter Estimation

ECE 285. Special Topic: Computer Vision; Pattern Recognition (offerings vary annually)

3. Electronic Circuits and Systems

Allied Ph.D. Research areas: Computer Engineering, Electronic Circuits and Systems.

ECE 222A-B-C. Applied Electromagnetic Theory

ECE 230A-B-C. Solid State Electronics

ECE 236A-B-C. Semiconductor Hetero-structure Materials

ECE 250. Random Processes

ECE 260A-B-C. VLSI Circuits

ECE 264A-B-C-D. Analog IC Design

ECE 265A-B. Wireless Circuit Design

CSE 240A, 240B. Computer Architecture

CSE 242A, 243A. Computer Aided Design

ECE 251AN-BN-CN-DN. Digital Signal Processing

Transferring to the Ph.D. Program

Although the M. Eng. is intended as a terminal degree, the department recognizes that degree goals can change, including the possibility that a student admitted to the M. Eng. may wish to pursue a Ph.D. To this end, we outline below the procedure that must be followed to effect such a change. At the outset, however, we stress that this option should not be used in an attempt to circumvent the normal Ph.D. admissions process. Students who fail to meet the standards for the Ph.D. program at the time of admission have little chance of being allowed into the Ph.D. program at a later date.

Students in the M.Eng. program wishing to be considered for admission to the Ph.D. program should consult their academic advisor as soon as possible. Transfer from M. Eng. to the Ph.D. program is possible provided that the student

A student who has fulfilled all of the above requirements should, after passing the departmental comprehensive exam, submit a petition to change their degree objective from M.Eng. to Ph.D.

Master of Science

The ECE department offers M.S. programs in electrical and computer engineering. The M.S. program in computer engineering is jointly administered with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. The M.S. programs are research oriented, are intended to provide the intensive technical preparation necessary for advanced technical work in the engineering profession or subsequent pursuit of a Ph.D. The M.S. degree may be earned either with a thesis (Plan 1) or with a research project followed by a comprehensive examination (Plan 2). However, continuation in the Ph.D. program requires a comprehensive examination so most students opt for Plan 2.

Course Requirements: The total course requirements for the master of science degrees in electrical engineering and in computer engineering are forty-eight units (twelve quarter courses) and forty-nine units, respectively, of which at least thirty-six units must be in graduate courses. Note that this is greater than the minimum requirements of the university. The department maintains a list of core courses for each disciplinary area from which the thirty-six graduate course units must be selected. The current list may be obtained from the department graduate office or the official Web site of the department. Students in interdisciplinary programs may select other core courses with the approval of their academic advisor. The course requirements must be completed within two years of full-time study. Students will be assigned a faculty advisor who will help select courses and approve their overall academic curriculum.

Scholarship Requirement: The forty-eight units of required course work must be taken for a letter grade (AF), except for graduate research (e.g. ECE 298, 299) for which only S/U grades are allowed. Courses for which a D or F is received may not be counted. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 overall.

Thesis and Comprehensive Requirements: The department offers both M.S. Plan 1 (thesis) and M.S. Plan 2 (written comprehensive exam). Students in the M.S. program may elect either Plan 1 or Plan 2 any time. Students in the M.S. Plan 1 (thesis) must take twelve units of ECE 299 (Research) and must submit a thesis as described in the general requirements of the university. Students in the M.S. Plan 2 (written comprehensive exam) may count four units of ECE 299 (Research) toward the thirty-six graduate units required and must pass the departmental written comprehensive examination not later than the end of the fall quarter of their second year of study. Students who pass the written examination at the MS level will receive a terminal masters degree, if they do not already have one.

Students in the computer engineering discipline may elect to take examinations in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, in accordance with the CSE guidelines, in place of the written comprehensive examination in ECE.

Transfer to the Ph.D. Program: Students in the M.S. program wishing to be considered for admission to the Ph.D. program should consult their academic advisor as soon as possible. Transfer from the M.S. to the Ph.D. program is possible provided that the student

A student who has fulfilled all of the above requirements should, after passing the departmental comprehensive exam, submit a petition to change his or her degree objective from M.S. to Ph.D.

The Doctoral Programs

The ECE department offers graduate programs leading to the Ph.D. degree in ten disciplines within electrical and computer engineering, as described in detail below. The Ph.D. is a research degree requiring completion of the Ph.D. Program course requirements, satisfactory performance on the comprehensive (Ph.D. Preliminary) examination and university Qualifying Examination, and submission and defense of a doctoral thesis (as described under the “Graduate Studies” section of this catalog). Students in the Ph.D. Program must pass the comprehensive exam (Ph.D. Preliminary) before the beginning of the winter quarter of the second year of graduate study. To ensure timely progress in their research, students are strongly encouraged to identify a faculty member willing to supervise their doctoral research by the end of their first year of study.

Students should begin defining and preparing for their thesis research as soon as they have passed the comprehensive exam (Ph.D. Preliminary). They should plan on taking the university Qualifying Examination about one year later. The university does not permit students to continue in graduate study for more than four years without passing this examination. At the Qualifying Examination the student will give an oral presentation on research accomplishments to date and the thesis proposal to a campus-wide committee. The committee will decide if the work and proposal has adequate content and reasonable chance for success. They may require that the student modify the proposal and may require a further review.

The final Ph.D. requirements are the submission of a dissertation and the dissertation defense (as described under the “Graduate Studies” section of this catalog).

Course Requirements: The total course requirements for the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering are essentially the same as the M.S. degree and consists of forty-eight units (twelve quarter courses), of which at least thirty-six units must be in graduate courses. Note that this is greater than the minimum requirements of the university. The department maintains a list of core courses for each disciplinary area from which the thirty-six graduate course units must be selected. The current list may be obtained from the ECE department graduate office or the official Web site of the department. Students in the interdisciplinary programs may select other core courses with the approval of their academic advisor. The course requirements must be completed within two years of full-time study.

Students in the Ph.D. programs may count no more than eight units of ECE 299 towards their course requirements.

Students who already hold an M.S. degree in electrical engineering must nevertheless satisfy the requirements for the core courses. However, graduate courses taken elsewhere can be substituted for specific courses with the approval of the academic advisor.

Scholarship Requirement: The forty-eight units of required courses must be taken for a letter grade (AF), except for ECE 299 (Research) for which only S/U grades are allowed. Courses for which a D or F is received may not be counted. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 overall. In addition, a GPA of 3.4 in the core graduate courses is generally expected.

Comprehensive Exam (Ph.D. Preliminary): Ph.D. students must find a faculty member who will agree to supervise their thesis research. This should be done before the start of the second year of study. They should then devote at least half their time to research and must pass the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination by the end of their second year of study. This is an oral exam in which the student presents his or her research to a committee of three ECE faculty members, and is examined orally for proficiency in his or her area of specialization. The outcome of the exam is based on the student’s research presentation, proficiency demonstrated in the student’s area of specialization and overall academic record and performance in the graduate program. Successful completion of the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination will also satisfy the M.S. Plan 2 comprehensive exam requirement.

*Students in the computer engineering discipline may elect to take examinations in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, in accordance with the CSE guidelines, in place of the ECE comprehensive examination as described above.

University Qualifying Exam: Students who have passed the comprehensive exam (Ph.D. Preliminary) should plan to take the university Qualifying Examination approximately a year after passing the comprehensive exam (Ph.D. Preliminary). The university does not permit students to continue in graduate study for more than four years without passing this examination. The university Qualifying Examination is an oral exam in which the student presents his or her thesis proposal to a universitywide committee. After passing this exam the student is “advanced to candidacy.”

Dissertation Defense: The final Ph.D. requirements are the submission of a dissertation, and the dissertation defense (as described under the “Graduate Studies” section of this catalog). Students who are advanced to candidacy may register for any ECE course on an S/U basis.

Departmental Time Limits: Students who enter the Ph.D. Program with an M.S. degree from another institution are expected to complete their Ph.D. requirements a year earlier than B.S. entrants. They must discuss their program with an academic advisor in their first quarter of residence. If their Ph.D. Program overlaps significantly with their earlier M.S. work, the time limits for the comprehensive and qualifying exams will also be reduced by one year. Specific time limits for the Ph.D. Program, assuming entry with a B.S. degree, are as follows:

  1. The Comprehensive Exam (Ph.D. Preliminary) must be completed before the start of the winter quarter of the second year of full-time study.
  2. The University Qualifying Exam must be completed before the start of the fifth year of full-time study.
  3. Support Limit: Students may not receive financial support through the university for more than seven years of full-time study (six years with an M.S. degree).
  4. Registered Time Limit: Students may not register as graduate students for more than eight years of full-time study (seven years with an M.S. degree).

Half-Time Study: Time limits are extended by one quarter for every two quarters of approved half-time status. Students on half-time status may not take more than six units each quarter.

Ph.D. Research Programs

  1. Applied Ocean Sciences: This program in applied science related to the oceans is interdepartmental with the Graduate Department of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE). It is administered by SIO. All aspects of man’s purposeful and unusual intervention into the sea are included.
  2. Applied Physics—Applied Optics and Photonics: These programs encompass a broad range of interdisciplinary activities involving optical science and engineering, optical and optoelectronic materials and device technology, communications, computer engineering, and photonic systems engineering. Specific topics of interest include ultrafast optical processes, nonlinear optics, quantum cryptography and communications, optical image science, multidimensional optoelectronic I/O devices, spatial light modulators and photodetectors, artificial dielectrics, multifunctional diffractive and micro-optics, volume and computer-generated holography, optoelectronic and micromechanical devices and packaging, wave modulators and detectors, semiconductor-based optoelectronics, injection lasers, and photodetectors. Current research projects are focused on applications such as optical interconnects in high-speed digital systems, optical multidimensional signal and image processing, ultrahigh-speed optical networks, 3D optical memories and memory interfaces, 3D imaging and displays, and biophotonic systems. Facilities available for research in these areas include electron-beam and optical lithography, material growth, microfabrication, assembly, and packaging facilities, cw and femtosecond pulse laser systems, detection systems, optical and electro-optic components and devices, and electronic and optical characterization and testing equipment.
  3. Communication Theory and Systems: Communications theory and systems concerns the transmission, processing, and storage of information. Topics covered by the group include wireless and wireline communications, spread-spectrum communication, multi-user communication, network protocols, error-correcting codes for transmission and magnetic recording, data compression, time-series analysis, and image and voice processing.
  4. Computer Engineering consists of balanced programs of studies in both hardware and software, the premise being that knowledge and skill in both areas are essential both for the modern-day computer engineer to make the proper unbiased tradeoffs in design, and for researchers to consider all paths towards the solution of research questions and problems. Toward these ends, the programs emphasize studies (course work) and competency (comprehensive examinations, and dissertations or projects) in the areas of VLSI and logic design, and reliable computer and communication systems. Specific research areas include computer systems, signal processing systems, multiprocessing and parallel and distributed computing, computer communications and networks, computer architecture, computer-aided design, fault-tolerance and reliability, and neurocomputing. The faculty is composed of interested members of the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), and related areas. The specialization is administered by both departments; the requirements are similar in both departments, with students taking the comprehensive exam, if necessary, given by the student’s respective department.
  5. Electronic Circuits and Systems: This program involves the study and design of analog, mixed-signal (combined analog and digital), and digital electronic circuits and systems. Emphasis is on the development, analysis, and implementation of integrated circuits that perform analog and digital signal processing for applications such as wireless and wireline communication systems, test and measurement systems, and interfaces between computers and sensors. Particular areas of study currently include radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers, RF low noise amplifiers, RF mixers, fractional-N phase-locked loops (PLLs) for modulated and continuous-wave frequency synthesis, pipelined analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), delta-sigma ADCs and digital-to-analog converters (DACs), PLLs for clock recovery, adaptive and fixed continuous-time, switched-capacitor, and digital filters, echo cancellation circuits, adaptive equalization circuits, wireless receiver and transmitter linearization circuits, mixed-signal baseband processing circuits for wireless transmitters and receivers, high-speed digital circuits, and high-speed clock distribution circuits.
  6. Applied Physics—Electronic Devices and Materials: This program addresses the synthesis and characterization of advanced electronic materials, including semiconductors, metals, and dielectrics, and their application in novel electronic, optoelectronic, and photonic devices. Emphasis is placed on exploration of techniques for high-quality epitaxial growth of semiconductors, including both molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD); fabrication and characterization of materials and devices at the nanoscale; development of novel materials processing and integration techniques; and high-performance electronic devices based on both Group IV (Si/SiGe) and III-V compound semiconductor materials. Areas of current interest include novel materials and high-speed devices for wireless communications; electronic and optoelectronic devices for high-speed optical networks; high-power microwave-frequency devices; nanoscale CMOS devices and circuits; heterogeneous materials integration; novel device structures for biological and chemical sensing; advanced tools for nanoscale characterization and metrology; and novel nanoscale electronic, optoelectronic, and photonic devices. Extensive facilities are available for research in this area, including several MBE and MOCVD systems; a complete microfabrication facility; electron-beam lithography and associated process tools for nanoscale fabrication; a Rutherford backscattering system; x-ray diffractometers; electron microscopy facilities; extensive scanning-probe instrumentation; cryogenic systems; and comprehensive facilities for DC to RF electrical device characterization and optical characterization of materials and devices.

  7. Intelligent Systems, Robotics, and Control: This information sciences-based field is concerned with the design of human-interactive intelligent systems that can sense the world (defined as some specified domain of interest); represent or model the world; detect and identify states and events in the world; reason about and make decisions about the world; and/or act on the world, perhaps all in real-time. A sense of the type of systems and applications encountered in this discipline can be obtained by viewing the projects shown at the Web site http://www.ece.ucsd.edu/grad/curricula/MS-PhD/ISRC/index.php.

    The development of such sophisticated systems is necessarily an interdisciplinary activity. To sense and succinctly represent events in the world requires knowledge of signal processing, computer vision, information theory, coding theory, and data-basing; to detect and reason about states of the world utilizes concepts from statistical detection theory, hypothesis testing, pattern recognition, time series analysis, and artificial intelligence; to make good decisions about highly complex systems requires knowledge of traditional mathematical optimization theory and contemporary near-optimal approaches such as evolutionary computation; and to act upon the world requires familiarity with concepts of control theory and robotics. Very often learning and adaptation are required as either critical aspects of the world are poorly known at the outset, and must be refined online, or the world is non-stationary and our system must constantly adapt to it as it evolves. In addition to the theoretical information and computer science aspects, many important hardware and software issues must be addressed in order to obtain an effective fusion of a complicated suite of sensors, computers, and problem dynamics into one integrated system.

    Faculty affiliated with the ISRC subarea are involved in virtually all aspects of the field, including applications to intelligent communications systems; advanced human-computer interfacing; statistical signal- and image-processing; intelligent tracking and guidance systems; biomedical system identification and control; and control of teleoperated and autonomous multiagent robotic systems.

  8. Magnetic Recording is an interdisciplinary field involving physics, material science, communications, and mechanical engineering. The physics of magnetic recording involves studying magnetic heads, recording media, and the process of transferring information between the heads and the medium. General areas of investigation include: nonlinear behavior of magnetic heads, very high frequency loss mechanisms in head materials, characterization of recording media by micromagnetic and many body interaction analysis, response of the medium to the application of spatially varying vectorial head fields, fundamental analysis of medium nonuniformities leading to media noise, and experimental studies of the channel transfer function emphasizing non-linearities, interferences, and noise. Current projects include numerical simulations of high density digital recording in metallic thin films, micromagnetic analysis of magnetic reversal in individual magnetic particles, theory of recorded transition phase noise and magnetization induced nonlinear bit shift in thin metallic films, and analysis of the thermal-temporal stability of interacting fine particles.

    Research laboratories are housed in the Center for Magnetic Recording Research, a national center devoted to multidisciplinary teaching and research in the field.

  9. Applied Physics—Radio and Space Science: The Radio Science Program focuses on the study of radio waves propagating through turbulent media. The primary objectives are probing of otherwise inaccessible media such as the solar wind and interstellar plasma. Techniques for removing the effects of the turbulent medium to restore the intrinsic signals are also studied.

    The Space Science Program is concerned with the nature of the sun, its ionized and supersonic outer atmosphere (the solar wind), and the interaction of the solar wind with various bodies in the solar system. Theoretical studies include: the interaction of the solar wind with the earth, planets, and comets; cosmic dusty-plasmas; waves in the ionosphere; and the physics of shocks. A major theoretical effort involves the use of supercomputers for modeling and simulation studies of both fluid and kinetic processes in space plasmas.

    Students in radio science will take measurements at various radio observatories in the U.S. And elsewhere. This work involves a great deal of digital signal processing and statistical analysis. All students will need to become familiar with electromagnetic theory, plasma physics, and numerical analysis.
  10. Signal and Image Processing: This program explores engineering issues related to the modeling of signals starting from the physics of the problem, developing and evaluating algorithms for extracting the necessary information from the signal, and the implementation of these algorithms on electronic and opto-electronic systems. Examples of research areas include filter design, fast transforms, adaptive filters, spectrum estimation and modeling, sensor array processing, image processing, image restoration, video processing, pattern recognition, and the implementation of signal processing algorithms using appropriate technologies. Signal and image processing techniques have found application in a number of areas such as sonar, radar, speech, geophysics, medical imaging, robotic vision, digital communications, and multimedia systems among others.
  11. Nanoscale Devices and Systems: This program area will address the science and engineering of materials and device structures at length scales of ~100nm and below, at which phenomena such as quantum confinement and single-electron effects in electronics, near-field behavior in optics and electromagnetics, single-domain effects in magnetics, and a host of other effects in mechanical, fluidic, and biological systems emerge and become dominant. Engineering activities such as scaling of transistors and other circuit elements in microelectronics, design of new, artificial materials with engineered optical properties and of photonic components and systems based on these materials, engineering of high-density magnetic storage media and systems, development of new technologies for renewable energy conversion and storage, advancement of sensor technology, and others now depend upon engineering both solid-state and “soft” materials and device structures at the nanoscale. Furthermore, the integration of such technologies into complex systems, as well as consideration of system drivers and constraints as guides for the development of new materials and devices, is emerging as a critical aspect of nanotechnology.

Research Facilities

Most of the research laboratories of the department are associated with individual faculty members or small informal groups of faculty. Larger instruments and facilities, such as those for electron microscopy and e-beam lithography are operated jointly. In addition the department operates several research centers and participates in various university wide organized research units.

The department-operated research centers are the Center for Wireless Communications which is a university-industry partnership; the Institute for Neural Computation, and the Center for Information Theory and Application in conjunction with Calit2.

Department research is also associated with the Center for Astronomy and Space Science, the Center for Magnetic Recording Research, the California Space Institute, the Institute for Nonlinear Science, and Calit2 (http://www.calit2.net). Departmental researchers also use various national and international laboratories, such as the National Nanofabrication Facility, the National Radio Astronomy Laboratory, and the Center for Networked Systems (CSE).

The department emphasizes computational capability and maintains numerous computer laboratories for instruction and research. One of the NSF national supercomputer centers is located on the campus. This is particularly useful for those whose work requires high data bandwidths.