The University of Utah College of Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

C O M M U N I C A T O R

A

CHAIRfrom the

As the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah kicks off another academic year dedicated to excellence in teaching and research, we are also laying the groundwork for the educational and technologi-cal grand challenges our society will face in the years ahead.

ECE is growing and improving in many critical metrics, from student and faculty size to gradu-ates entering the workforce. Our electrical en-gineering and computer engineering programs are ranked #44 and #38, respectively, and in the last five years we have doubled the number of students in our graduate program.

This fall, our undergraduate enrollment is the largest in nine years. We are strengthening the investment in our undergraduate program through a “structure of support” designed to train our students to become technical innova-tors and leaders. These highly qualified gradu-ates supply our nation’s technological work-

force and increase the ability of companies to start and grow in Utah and beyond.

Utah’s investments from the Engineering Initia-tive and the Utah Science Technology and Re-search (USTAR) initiative have helped acceler-ate ECE’s rate of growth in student and faculty size. Of our 31 tenured or tenure-track faculty members, seven are USTAR faculty who are ex-ceptionally active in commercialization efforts. Indeed, ECE faculty members have launched fifteen companies based on their research.

We are also pleased to announce the new Cen-ter for Engineering Innovation, which will aid researchers in academia and industry alike in facilitating the transition to commercialization.

I hope you will enjoy reading this year’s news-letter. The breadth and diversity of the people and research in our department continues to generate enthusiasm for where we are now and what the future holds.

Gianluca lazzi, USTAR Professor and Chair Electrical and Computer Engineering

Blackrock Microsystems, a neural device company led by ECE faculty member Florian Solzbacher, opened its new Utah headquarters in the U’s Research Park this summer. Governor Gary Herbert, USTAR Chair Dr. Dinesh Patel, and U President David Pershing addressed the approximately 200 attendees at the build-ing opening ceremony held June 7, 2013. The new $12 million, 60,000-square-foot facility includes cleanroom and incubation space for promising life-science startup companies.

“Our new headquarters facility represents the absolute state of the art in its utilization of space, energy efficiency and technological capabilities,” said Solzbacher, chairman and president of Blackrock Microsystems. “This building and location will accommodate our core business growth for the next 15-plus years, while providing excellent strategic partner-ship and economic development opportunities through our incubation space.”

The new facility features a cleanroom facility to facilitate product development along with the manufacturing needs of the residents of Blackrock’s incubator space. This cleanroom will comprise approximately half of the facil-ity’s physical space.

“The completion of this most advanced new fa-cility is a tremendous addition to the University

of Utah community,” said David W. Pershing, president of the University of Utah. “Blackrock Microsystems is at the strategic nexus of what is best about both the University and industry—world-class applications that drive key advance-ments in both research and patient care.”

Since its founding in 2008, Blackrock Microsys-tems has become a key provider of tools and systems—from micro-electrodes to intelligent microsystems and complex enabling algo-rithms—that expand frontiers of research and development, commercialization and patient care.

Recently, for example, the company’s technol-ogy provided the neural interface that enabled the creation of the first artificial arm with sen-sory feedback through the DARPA Revolutioniz-ing Prosthetics Program, RP 2009.

“We are honored and grateful to be at the epicenter of some of the most exciting things happening in medical R&D and patient care,” said Solzbacher. “This is technology that for a change will help not only better patient out-comes, but reduce health care costs. Our ex-traordinary new facility will help to realize this vision, and to make the world a better place for people around the world.”

BlAckrock MicrosysteMs lAunches in reseArch PArk

WIRELESSLYdetecting falls

eECE researchers have developed a three-di-mensional network of sensors that can detect a person falling. This technology could help provide care for the elderly without requiring an individual to wear a monitoring device.

For people age 65 and older, falling is a lead-ing cause of injury-related death. Most fall detection devices monitor a person’s posture or require a person to push a button to call for help. However, these devices must be worn at all times. A 2008 study in the British Medical Journal showed 80 percent of elderly adults who owned call buttons didn’t use the device when they had a serious fall, largely because they hadn’t worn it at the time of the fall. U electrical engineers Brad Mager and Neal Patwari have constructed a fall detection sys-tem using a two-level array of radio frequency sensors placed around the perimeter of a room. These sensors are similar to those used in home wireless networks. As each sensor in the array transmits to another, anyone stand-ing—or falling—inside the network alters the path of signals sent between each pair of sen-sors. Mager presented this work recently at the 24th Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Symposium on Person-al, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications in London. The basis of his findings also earned him the Outstanding Individual Presentation at the department’s technical open house earlier this spring. “The idea of ‘aging-in-place’, in which someone can avoid moving to a nursing home and live in their own home, is growing,” says Patwari, senior author of the study and associate pro-fessor of electrical and computer engineering at the U. “Ideally, the environment itself would be able to detect a fall and send an alert to a caregiver. What’s remarkable about our system is that a person doesn’t need to remember to wear a device.” By measuring the signal strength between each link in the network—similar to the number of “bars” on your cell phone—an image is gener-

ated to show the approximate location of a person in the room with a resolution of about six inches. This imaging technique, called radio tomography, uses the one-dimensional link measurements from the sensor network to build up a three-dimensional image. “With this detection system, a person’s location in a room or building can be pinpointed with high accuracy, eliminating the need to wear a device,” says Mager, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering at the U and lead author of this study. “This technology can also indicate whether a person is standing up or lying down.” What’s more, this system is programmed to de-tect whether a fall was indeed a dangerous one, rather than someone simply lying down on the floor. By conducting a series of experiments measuring the amount of time that elapsed when a person fell, sat down, or lied down on the ground, the researchers determined a time threshold for accurately detecting a fall. This information was fed back into algorithms used to determine whether a given event was a fall or one of the other benign activities. The team plans to develop this proof-of-concept technology into a commercial product through Patwari’s Utah-based startup company, Xan-dem Technology.

iIn the early years of computer engineering, a computer’s entire environment was encom-passed in its hardware and software. These days, computer engineers build a variety of devices including wireless and biological systems for ever-growing applications in personalized medi-cine, business and entertainment.

“In my years of industry experience, I’ve found people who know both circuits and software are head and shoulders above others in the job mar-ket,” said Ken Stevens, director of the computer engineering program and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Utah.

The U’s computer engineering program was ranked number 38 in “America’s Best Grad Schools 2014,” published by U.S. News & World Report, up nine spots from last year. This unique program addresses three main areas—circuits, software engineering and algorithms—that teach students to build and design integrated systems.

The U’s computer engineering program couples principles from electrical engineering and com-puter science to provide students with an inte-grated education in the field. Five years ago, 48 undergraduates were in the program; now, 95 students are majoring in computer engineering.

Stevens and his colleagues emphasize to stu-dents the need to adapt in their careers. “We teach and study what the trends and restrictions

are so we can better adapt designs,” Stevens says. “Things are changing so fast. Our students need to be experts in one area, but they must also understand related areas if they want to succeed in the long-term. Change is part of the equation.”

After a long career with semiconductor industry giants Fairchild Semiconductor, Hewlett-Packard and Intel, Stevens came to the U in 2005. Since then, his research group is striving to commer-cialize a high-performance computer circuit that can use one-tenth the power of a traditional computer chip yet deliver the same performance. Stevens says that the semiconductor industry has reached a saturation point in how much pow-er electronics can expend—a so-called “power wall” that has been exacerbated by mobile and wireless devices.

“In the past, physicists developed new circuits to provide higher-performance, smaller, lower-power transistors. This is getting increasingly difficult,” said Stevens. “The onus is now on the design community to create different circuit designs, because at this point there is really no current solution to physically build a better class of transistor.”

ENGINEERINGintegrated

Stevens’ potential solution to this roadblock is called asynchronous design, a technique that changes the way timing works on a computer chip. This technology is the basis of Granite Mountain Technologies, a recently launched startup company that plans to commercialize this asynchronous technology for a broad spec-trum of markets.

“Right now, it’s pretty easy to build components in the semiconductor industry, but it’s pretty hard to build systems. What our technology does is make it simpler to build systems,” said Ste-vens. “The real secret sauce is that we don’t have clocks in the chips that we build; instead, we compose things together just like with Legos. By doing this we can optimize for different frequen-cies, which gives us both a performance and power advantage.”

Stevens says this technology could significantly impact the semiconductor industry, whether it’s a high performance server, such as the Google server farms, or the smaller power supply in a cell phone.

“I can’t stress how much the semiconductor industry has changed the world. Computer en-gineering has been the driver behind this revolu-tion,” said Stevens. “It’s been amazing to see us go from black and white televisions when I was a kid to cell phones with more computing power than there was in the entire U.S. 45 years ago. The value we have at the U and in the computer engineering program is to bring people together, brainstorm and build things that really make a difference in the world.”

EYEbuilding a bionic

GGianluca Lazzi, professor and chair of ECE, was part of the multi-institution team to create the first bionic eye earlier this spring. Lazzi’s group was responsible for figuring out how to keep the artificial retina from getting too hot while operating.

By optimizing component design, placement of components, and getting the device to run on just the right amount of power, Lazzi’s group was able to keep the artificial eye from getting too hot while operating.

“We have been trying to keep the tempera-ture increase below three degrees Celsius,” he says. “You need to realize that this is es-sentially a computer working full steam and full time. There is no fan that can cool this device.” Keeping temperatures in check re-quired optimizing component design, place-ment of components, and getting the device to run on just the right amount of power.

Retinitis pigmentosa is not a common disease, but it is a debilitating one. It kills cells in the eye, often first leading to tunnel vision, or loss of night vision. In some cases, patients lose central vision, and can become totally blind.

“There is no cure for the disease,” says Lazzi.

Patients with Retinitis pigmentosa have lost their photoreceptor cells - light sensing cells in the eye - but other cell types remain. The artificial retina works by bypassing the pho-toreceptors altogether. The goal, says Lazzi,

is to “replace the function of the photore-ceptor cells and therefore provide an electri-cal pulse that could stimulate the surviving ganglion and bipolar cells.”

The Argus II artificial retina device, a product of Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., con-sists of a pair of glasses that has a camera to visualize the world. Pixilated images from the camera are relayed to an iPod-sized box worn by the patient that processes the infor-mation and sends it back to the glasses. The information is then wirelessly transmitted to a receiver transplanted under the skin of the eye and then to an electrode array implanted into the retina. The delicate, flexible array stimulates the remaining cells to convey rudi-mentary visual information to the brain, and contains 60 microelectrode pads in a grid.

Approximately fifty people around the world have undergone the two-hour surgery to implant the receiver and electrode array, and are now using the Argus II. The research team is already working on a 200-electrode device, and hopes to eventually push the technology even further. This project was pri-marily funded by the United States Depart-ment of Energy.

Lazzi says their hope is that the brain will learn how to better use the device and “start associating the perceived images with what the brain knows. These people all had vision before, so they have a real idea of what a door should look like or a window should look like.”

Cynthia Furse received the Student Choice Award from the Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU) this spring for her contributions to the teaching profession. The ASUU Academic Affairs board has presented Student Choice Awards annually for more than 10 years to outstanding teachers nominated by their students.

V. John Mathews will be a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Sig-nal Processing Society for 2013 and 2014. Mathews will lecture on several topics, including signal processing for health monitor-ing of aerospace structures and diagnostic medicine.

Chris Myers was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, or IEEE. Myers was recognized for his contributions in designing and testing for asynchronous, analog and genetic circuits.

Tolga Tasdizen was awarded a five-year research grant of more than $400,000 from the National Science Foundation to research pattern rec-ognition and image processing for neuroscience applications. Tasdizen said this award would give him the freedom to investigate new high-risk, high-payoff techniques, adding “without research and innovation, this type of analysis would likely be several decades of full-time work for a single neuroscientist using manual techniques.”

TolGa Tasdizen

cynThia Furse

V. John MaThews

chris Myers

HONORSawards &

There are so many ways to stay in touch with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah.

Visit our alumni resources website to learn how you can get involved:

• Join the Engineering Alumni Association

• Network with fellow alumni

• Update your contact information

• Receive communications about faculty research, alumni events and professional

development activities

• Volunteer with our outreach group

• Support ECE in its fundraising efforts

We thank you for your continual support and your incredible commitment to higher education in Utah.

CONNECTEDstay

Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez joins the ECE faculty this fall as an assistant professor. His research interests emphasize terahertz technology, high frequency electronics, plasmonics, and nanopho-tonics. He received a Ph.D. in electrical engineer-ing from the University of Notre Dame.

FACULTYnewBerardi sensale-rodriGuez

learn more at http://www.ece.utah.edu/alumni

The U’s College of Engineering is one of 14 U.S. universities selected by the National Academy of Engineering to launch a Grand Challenge Scholars Program, or GCSP, this fall. The program is designed to prepare undergraduate engineering students to be “world changers” by building a portfolio of activities to create a signature experience. Students completing their portfolio and graduating from the program will be designated ‘Grand Challenge Scholars’ by the National Academy of Engineering.

“By creating a Grand Challenge Scholars Program, the University of Utah’s College of Engineering has joined a cohort of 14 dynamic engineering schools across the nation,” says Jamesina Simpson, associ-ate professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the GCSP program at the U. “Each university will offer its own unique version of a Grand Challenge Scholars Program endorsed by the National Academy of Engineering. Students and fac-ulty participating in this program will gain nontra-ditional, broad, and challenging experiences to help guide them toward becoming ‘world changers’.”

coMponenTs in The Gcsp porTFolio include:

• Researchexperience:ProjectorindependentresearchrelatedtoaGrandChallenge.

• Interdisciplinarycurriculum:Preparingengineer-ingstudentstoworkattheoverlapwithpublicpolicy,business,law,ethics,humanbehavior,riskaswellasmedicineandthesciences.

• Entrepreneurship:Preparingstudentstotranslateinventiontoinnovation;todevelopmarketven-turesthatscaletoglobalsolutionsinthepublicinterest.

• Globaldimension:Developingthestudents’globalperspectivenecessarytoaddresschallengesthatareinherentlyglobalaswellastoleadinnovationinaglobaleconomy.

• Servicelearning:Developinganddeepeningstudents’socialconsciousnessandtheirmotiva-tiontobringtheirtechnicalexpertisetobearonsocietalproblems.

elecTrical and coMpuTer enGineerinG50 S. Central Campus DriveMEB Room 3280Salt Lake City Utah, 84112

nAe endorses u GrAnd chAllenGe scholArs ProGrAM