Fall 2005 Special Topics Courses

ENG BE/SC 700 A1 Advanced Optical Microscopy and Biological Imaging (Mertz)
Tu, Th 2-4 PM

This course will present a rigorous and detailed overview of the theory of optical microscopy starting from basic notions in light propagation and covering advanced concepts in imaging theory such as Fourier optics and partial coherence. Topics will include basic geometric optics, photometry, diffraction, optical transfer functions, phase contrast microscopy, 3-d imaging theory, basic scattering and fluorescence theory, imaging in turbid media, confocal microscopy, optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET), and nonlinear-optics based techniques such as two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. Biological applications such as calcium and membrane-potential imaging will be discussed. A background in optics is preferable though not absolutely necessary. A background in signals and analysis is indispensable. In particular, the student should be comfortable with Fourier transforms, complex analysis, and transfer functions. 4 credits. Instructor: Mertz. Does not meet any elective requirements for undergraduates.

ENG MN/SC500 A1and MFNetworking the Physical World (Little)
Tu, Th 12-2 PM

This course considers the evolution of embedded computing systems with the introduction of network connectivity. Key themes will be computing optimized for resource constrained (cost, energy, memory and storage space) computers to interface with the physical world. The course will study current technology for networked embedded network sensors including evolving standards. A laboratory component of the course will introduce students to the unique characteristics of distributed sensor motes including programming, reliable communications, sensing modalites, calibration, and application development using the Crossbow mote and sensor platform.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of microprocessors, computer networking, operating systems. The course will require programming using nesC a variant of C.

This is a new course and the breadth of topics will be refined prior to the Fall semester.

Tentative Topics
1. Overview of sensor networks and potential applications
2. TinyOS fundamentals and Radio Stack
3. nesC programming
4. Instrumentation computation and control fundamentals: duty cycle, scheduling, energy budgets, processor characteristics
5. Programming fundamentals: task-oriented programming, interrupts, events, real-time requirements, deadlines, scheduling, latency, periodic tasks, state-based models.
6. Wireless communication fundamentals: MAC, physical layer, hidden terminals, addressing, service discovery, multi-hop protocols.
7. Sensing fundamentals: A/D conversion, sensor characteristics, calibration, modalities
8. Real-time system fundamentals: Network communication paradigms for SNETs, peer-to-peer, multicast, real-time performance.
9. Distributed system fundamentals: sychronous vs. asynchronous systems, dealock, failure recovery and timeouts, caching, self-configuration
10. State of the art: review of current sensor network hardware and characteristics