FALL SEMINAR 2007

(Organized Professor Raj)

September 3	“Distributions Mean More than Means: Simple Statistics in Benchmark Analysis”
	Dr. John Mashey
	Abstract:
	For decades, computer benchmarkers fought a War of Means, arguing over proper uses of different means, starting in the mid-1980s. One would think this basic issue of computer performance analysis would have been long resolved, but it has really only started to get fixed recently, as in Hennessy & Patterson's: Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 4thEdition, . This argument has persisted only because the argument was wrongly framed years ago, and people's mindsets long stayed within that framing, which tended to use algebra, but not statistics. It is common practice to say "Performance is not a single number," and then give a single number anyway. Long ago, we chose the Geometric Mean for the SPEC CPU benchmarks, correctly, but did not really understand the strongest reason for that choice. No matter how badly people want a single number for performance, it is better described by a statistical distribution than by a mean alone, and as usual, distributions yield more insight for computer architecture, as they do in other areas of science. This talk offers ideas for some better performance and power analysis techniques, by applying simple statistics, with emphasis on application of the lognormal distribution.
	Bio:
	Dr. Mashey is a consultant for venture capitalists and technology companies. He is "an ancient UNIX person," having started work on it at Bell Labs in 1973, and continuing to work there for 10 years. He has been in Silicon Valley since 1983 at Convergent Technologies, MIPS Computer Systems, and Silicon Graphics, ending as VP and Chief Scientist. He was one of the founders of the SPEC benchmarking group, and was Hot Chips Program Co-Chair, and has given more than 500 public talks about software engineering, RISC and systems architecture, and performance analysis. He is also a Trustee of the Computer History Museum.
October 5	“Microwave Applications of Metamaterial Structures”
	Professor Tatsuo Itoh, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
	Abstract:
	Metamaterials are artificial or man-made structures that have properties not found in naturally existing materials. The most unusual metamaterials are the Left-Handed ones, also called Double Negative or Negative Refractive Index materials, which are characterized by simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability. Many interesting EM propagation phenomena result from the negativeness of the constitutive parameters. For instance, the phase and the group velocities are anti-parallel in a Left-Handed substance. Fundamental theoretical research as well as research on possible revolutionary applications for microwave and RF circuits is underway at various organizations. Although the technology is still in its infancy, novel practical developments have already been proposed. The talk will contain a brief historical account, fundamental concepts, adaptation to microwave environment and emerging applications for antennas, passive components and active circuits with unique features at microwave frequencies.
	Bio:
	Tatsuo Itoh received the Ph.D. Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1969. From September 1966 to April 1976, he was with the Electrical Engineering Department, University of Illinois. From April 1976 to August 1977, he was a Senior Research Engineer in the Radio Physics Laboratory, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. From August 1977 to June 1978, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. In July 1978, he joined the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, where he became a Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1981 and Director of the Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory in 1984. During the summer of 1979, he was a guest researcher at AEG-Telefunken, Ulm, West Germany. In September 1983, he was selected to hold the Hayden Head Centennial Professorship of Engineering at The University of Texas. In September 1984, he was appointed Associate Chairman for Research and Planning of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at The University of Texas. In January 1991, he joined the University of California, Los Angeles as Professor of Electrical Engineering and holder of the TRW Endowed Chair in Microwave and Millimeter Wave Electronics (currently Northrop Grumman Endowed Chair). He was an Honorary Visiting Professor at Nanjing Institute of Technology, China and at Japan Defense Academy. In April 1994, he was appointed as Adjunct Research Officer for Communications Research Laboratory, Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, Japan. He currently holds Visiting Professorship at University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He received a number of awards including Shida Award from Japanese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in 1998, Japan Microwave Prize in 1998, IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000, and IEEE MTT Distinguished Educator Award in 2000. He was elected to a member of National Academy of Engineering in 2003. Dr. Itoh is a Fellow of the IEEE, a member of the Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers of Japan, and Commissions B and D of USNC/URSI. He served as the Editor of IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques for 1983-1985. He serves on the Administrative Committee of IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. He was Vice President of the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society in 1989 and President in 1990. He was the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters from 1991 through 1994. He was elected as an Honorary Life Member of MTT Society in 1994. He was the Chairman of USNC/URSI Commission D from 1988 to 1990, and Chairman of Commission D of the International URSI for 1993-1996. He was Chair of Long Range Planning Committee of URSI. He serves on advisory boards and committees of a number of organizations. He served as Distinguished Microwave Lecturer on Microwave Applications of Metamaterial Structures of IEEE MTT-S for 2004 - . He has 370 journal publications, 700 refereed conference presentations and has written 40 books/book chapters in the area of microwaves, millimeter-waves, antennas and numerical electromagnetics. He generated 68 Ph.D. students.
October 12	“Fall Engineering Career Fair....Grads Welcome!”
	Pam Swartwood , Intership and Career Center (ICC), University of California, Davis
	Abstract:
	The Internship and Career Center provides career advising services to all UC Davis graduate students and postdoctoral scholars for careers in academia, the public and private sectors. In addition, the ICC provides a variety of workshops & symposia on topics such as CV writing, applying and interviewing for faculty positions, career opportunities beyond academia, and transferable skills among other topics relevant to advanced degree holders.
	Bio:
	Pam Swartwood is the coordinator for the Engineering and Physical Sciences at the UC Davis Internship and Career Center.
October 19	“Trade 2.0 (Legal Issues for Internet Commerce)”
	Anupam Chander, Law School, University of California, Davis
	Abstract:
	Where the last century saw the dismantling of barriers to trade in goods, the new century will see the dismantling of barriers to trade in services. Once theorized as nontradable, services now join goods in the global marketplace because of advances in telecommunications technologies. This is the rapidly growing phenomenon of net-work-information services delivered remotely through electronic communications systems. Net-work encompasses not just the services outsourced to Accra, Bangalore or Manila, but also the online services supplied by Silicon Valley to the world. Apple, eBay, and Yahoo too are exporters of information services, revealing the Internet to be a global trading platform. Half of Google's earnings is now generated overseas. But trade law has lagged behind, lacking any theory for Trade 2.0. The WTO and regional arrangements such as the EU, CAFTA, and ASEAN all commit nations to liberalize barriers to trade in services, but these broad mandates have found little elaboration to date. This talk begins to develop a theory of trade for cyberspace.
	Bio:
	Anupam Chander is Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on the regulation of globalization and digitization. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, he clerked for Chief Judge Jon O. Newman of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge William A. Norris of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He practiced law in New York and Hong Kong with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, representing foreign sovereigns in international financial transactions. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford Law school and Cornell Law School. He began teaching at Arizona State University in 1999, before joining the UC Davis faculty in 2000.
October 26	“Location Estimation and Navigation Using TV Signals”
	Harvind Samra, Kestrel Signal Processing Inc., Fairfield, California
	Abstract:
	Location information is becoming increasingly essential for emergency services, security tracking, and a host of other applications. Quite simply, knowing where we are is important. The most popular and pervasive technology in the location industry is the Global Positioning System (GPS). Despite 25+ years of refinement and enhancement, GPS is significantly limited in indoor and urban environments where signal detection and multipath can become problematic. These are obviously environments where location information could benefit us greatly. In this seminar, we'll discuss GPS positioning and its drawbacks, and a recently developed positioning technology that uses unmodified broadcast TV signals for positioning where GPS often fails. The ultimate objective is to provide a basic understanding of positioning through a discussion of GPS and TV positioning solutions from a signal processing perspective.
	Bio:
	Harvind Samra is a partner in Kestrel Signal Processing, Inc., providing algorithm and system development, software/firmware and hardware design, and some technical management for several corporations in the Bay Area. He recently worked for the Rosum Corporation as a Senior Engineer, where he was responsible for the system, algorithm, and software development of location estimation technologies based upon television signals. He also served as a Research Engineer for Statistical Signal Processing, Inc., developing real-time communication and signal intelligence (COMINT, SIGINT) software packages that characterize co-channel GSM and IS-136 RF environments. He holds a Ph. D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis, where his research focused upon the development of novel signal processing algorithms for exploiting packet retransmissions. He also holds M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and B.S. degrees in both electrical and computer engineering from the University of Kansas. He has authored many IEEE conference and journal papers.
November 2	“Reinforcement Learning Solution to a Benchmark Time-Optimal Control Problem”
	Sanjay Joshi, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of California, Davis
	Abstract:
	Reinforcement learning methods originated with reward-punishment studies in psychology, and were then extended to machine learning algorithms. The advantage of reinforcement learning methods is that they do not require any knowledge of a system’s dynamics, and use experience gained from interaction with the actual system (or simulation thereof) to obtain control solutions. In this paper, we apply traditional RL to a well-known simply-posed minimum time optimal control problem using the Sarsa-Lambda reinforcement learning method. It is well-known by control researchers that the true analytic optimal solution is a “bang-bang” solution. In fact, analytical proof of optimality for Sarsa-Lambda has yet to be achieved for either discrete state or continuous state optimal control problems (though it is an active area of research). The current study showed that Sarsa-Lambda did produce nearly-optimal “bang-bang” results for the given benchmark problem-without any explicit a-priori knowledge of the system dynamics. However, generalization of the numerical solution from a single initial condition to other initial conditions was not immediate.
	Bio:
	Sanjay Joshi joined the Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Department at UC Davis in 2001. Currently, he directs the Robotics, Autonomous Systems, and Controls Laboratory (RASCAL). He graduated with a B.S. from Cornell University in 1990, and a Ph.D. in Control Systems from UCLA in 1996. From 1991-1994 and 1996-2000, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Guidance and Control Analysis Group. While at JPL, he participated in several NASA programs including NASA's Deep Space I (which tested deep space Ion Propulsion and took photographs of a comet's core), NASA's Topex/Poseidon Mission (which measures the height of the world's oceans for meteorological study of Earth), the NASA Origins Program (next generation telescopes), and the Mars Robotics Program (in cooperating autonomous rovers). From 2000-2001, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Engineering at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. He is a Senior Member of the AIAA and a Member of the IEEE. From 1999-2003, he served on the Conference Editorial Board of the IEEE Control Systems Society. Currently, he is a member of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Technical Committee (-2010).
November 9	“making Sense Out of Variability in Scaled CMOS”
	Borivoje (Bora) Nikolic, Electrical Engineering Division Operations, University of California, Berkeley
	Abstract:
	This talk describes sources of variability in sub-100nm CMOS and methods for its characterization. Test chip measurements show that systematic, process-induced variations dominate in 90nm CMOS. Methods for modeling and mitigating the variations in the design will be presented as well, focusing on compensating for systematic variations and exploiting spatial correlations.
	Bio:
	Borivoje Nikolic received the Dipl.Ing. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1992 and 1994, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Davis in 1999. He is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, at the University of California at Berkeley. His research activities include digital and analog integrated circuits and VLSI implementation of communications and signal processing algorithms.
November 16	“GaN Nanowires: Growth, Optical, and Electronics Properties”
	Alec Talin, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California
	Abstract:
	Interest in group III-N nanowires is motivated by the high crystalline quality, the attractive optoelectronic properties of the material system, and the potential of integrating these nanostructures with a Si platform. Possible device applications include vertical arrays of nanoscale lasers and high electron mobility transistors. Despite numerous reports on the growth, however, few studies have systematically investigated the optical and electrical properties of GaN nanowires, and how these relate to growth conditions. In my talk, I will describe the properties of GaN nanowires synthesized by either metal catalyzed or lithographically directed growth techniques, using a platform optimized for combined electrical and optical characterization of nanostructures. I will show how conductivity, photoluminescence, and Raman scattering can be correlated with the growth conditions, and the implications that these results have for practical device realization as well as for fundamental understanding of defects in GaN. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company for the United States Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
	Bio:
	Dr. Talin received his Ph.D. in Materials Science at UCLA under Prof. Stan Williams in 1995 working on ballistic electron transport. In 1996 he joined Motorola Corporate Labs in Phoenix, AZ, in 1996, where he worked on flat panel display technology, thin film growth, and managed the materials characterization laboratory. Since 2002 he has been a principal member of technical staff at Sandia. Dr. Talin has co-authored over 60 refereed papers and has been awarded 18 US patents, on subject ranging from display technology, contact metallurgy, heteroepitaxy, and advanced lithography.
November 30	“Oversampling Analog-to-Digital Conversion”
	Bruce Wooley, Electrical Engineering - Integrated Circuits Laboratory, Stanford University, California
	Abstract:
	Through the exchange of resolution in time for that in amplitude, oversampling methods can be used to facilitate the realization of programmable high-resolution analog-to-digital converters in scaled CMOS VLSI technologies. So-called oversampling modulators combine coarse quantization at sampling rates well above the Nyquist rate with feedback and subsequent digital filtering to avoid the need for precision analog circuits. Such modulators were originally conceived in the mid-twentieth century as a means of digitizing the rate of change of a signal, rather than the signal itself. However, noise-shaping modulators that directly encode the signal proved to be a more robust approach and have subsequently come into widespread use. In particular, cascades of inherently stable noise shaping modulators are an effective approach to extending the dynamic range of oversampling converters that is largely immune to both analog circuit imperfections and fundamental stability concerns. This presentation begins with an overview of both architectural and circuit issues that attend the design of oversampling modulators, and then presents some recent examples of their implementation under increasingly severe constraints on power dissipation and supply voltage.
	Bio:
	Bruce A. Wooley is the Robert L. and Audrey S. Hancock Professor of Engineering and the Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966, 1968 and 1970, respectively. From 1970 to 1984 he was a member of the research staff at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ, and he joined the faculty at Stanford in 1984. At Stanford he has also served as the Senior Associate Dean of Engineering and the Director of the Integrated Circuits Laboratory. His research is in the field of integrated circuit design, where his interests include low-power mixed-signal circuit design, oversampling A/D and D/A conversion, circuit design techniques for video and image data acquisition, high-speed embedded memory, noise in mixed-signal integrated circuits, and circuits for wireless and wire line communications. Prof. Wooley is a Fellow of the IEEE and the Past President of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society. He has served as the Editor of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits and as the Chairman of both the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) and the Symposium on VLSI Circuits. Among the awards he has received are the University Medal from the University of California Berkeley, the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits 2002 Best Paper Award, recognition for his Outstanding Contributions to the Technical Papers of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, an IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the EECS Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Technical Field Award.
December 7	“Technology Directions in Fiber-Optic Communication”
	Chris Cole, Finisar Corporation
	Abstract:
	The lecture will first summarize standard communication system limitations, including symbol rate, channel capacity, modulation format, and distortion. Several communication system examples will be described including voice-band datacom, computer datacom, and optical datacom. Several examples of today's fiber-optic communication modules will be described. With this background, new technology directions in fiber-optic communication will be presented. These are multiple channels, complex modulation, distortion compensation, and single channel full-duplex.
	Bio:
	Chris Cole is a director at Finisar Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif. He received a B.S. in aeronautics and astronautics, and B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At Hughes Aircraft Co. (now Boeing SDC,) and then M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory, Chris contributed to multiple imaging and communication satellite programs. Later, he consulted on telecom ICs for Texas Instruments' DSP Group and Silicon Systems Inc. (now Teridian.) At Acuson Corp. (now Siemens Ultrasound,) Chris was one of the architects of the Sequoia coherent imaging ultrasound platform, where he was also director of hardware and software development groups. As a principal consultant with the Parallax Group, he carried out signal processing analysis and product definition for several imaging and communication systems. Chris is now managing the development of 40-Gb/s and 100-Gb/s LAN and WAN optical transceivers at Finisar (which acquired his previous company, Big Bear Networks.) He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.