Undergraduate Catalog
- All majors
- All minors
- Arts and Sciences
- Business
- Biomedical Engineering
- Education
- Engineering
- Information Science
  and Technology
- Media Arts & Design
- Nursing and Health
  Professions
- Professional Studies
- ROTC
Graduate Catalog
- All degree programs
- Arts and Sciences
- Business
- Biomedical Engineering
- Education
- Engineering
- Information Science
  and Technology
- Law
- Media Arts & Design
- Medicine
- Nursing and Health
  Professions
- Professional Studies
- Public Health
Catalog Home
- All Course Descriptions
- Certificate programs
- Schedule

ECE Computer Operations and Services Center
The department's major computing facility houses two SunFire v880s, one for undergraduate work, and one for graduate and research work. Licenses are run off Sun v100’s in a redundant configuration to provide reliable services. The facility also houses several PC servers, including Dell PowerEdge models 4300, 2500, 2400 and 2200. Residing on the servers are:

• Licensing for different software packages
• Software installers for faculty and students
• Storage space for senior design teams
• A RAS Server: Remote Access Server for dialing into the Drexel network via a modem for faculty and staff
• Data-sharing space for faculty members to share data with one another

Various software packages are available for graduate and undergraduate student use, including Cadence, MATLAB, Maple, Mentor Graphics, and C and Fortran compilers. These applications are also available to research labs in the ECE department. An X-terminal facility is available for students to access these UNIX-controlled applications, as well as several PC labs for access to the Windows versions of the software.

Public Computer Labs
The department has both Windows NT and Macintosh computer facilities available for use by ECE students. These facilities can be accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the security system built into the student ID card. The computer systems have a broad assortment of applications used for class or lab work, as well as the common applications used for general computing projects.

Research and Teaching Laboratories

 Adaptive Signal Processing and Information Theory Research Group
Dr. John Walsh
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/walsh/aspitrg/home.html

The Adaptive Signal Processing and Information Theory Research Group conducts research in the area of signal processing and information theory. Our main interests are belief/expectation propagation, turbo decoding and composite adaptive system theory.  We are currently doing projects on the following topics: i) Delay mitigating codes for network coded systems, ii) Distributed estimation in sensor networks via expectation propagation, iii) Turbo speaker identification, iv) Performance and convergence of expectation propagation, v) Investigating bounds for SINR performance of autocorrelation based channel shorteners.

 The Applied Communications and Information Networking Center
The ACIN Camden Center, Camden, NJ
Dr. William Regli, Dr. Kapil Dandekar, Dr. Moshe Kam
http://www.acincenter.org/

The focus of the ACIN Camden Center is on the creation and demonstration of innovative telecommunications and information networking technologies; and the demonstration of proofs-of-concept for: secure, reliable, user-centered, wireless communication and networking platforms that leverage these technologies. These platforms will support network-based end user applications that end users can depend upon, in critical missions and operations... where these networking platforms may be severely stressed or limited by environmental factors; and where these networks may be under attack by adversaries, including criminals and terrorists. Current projects focus on wireless communication in non-line-of-sight environments using various advanced technologies that employ relaying and multipath diversity; and the creation of secure, wireless networks to support teams of users conducting emergency operations.

Applied Networking Research Lab
Dr. Jaudelice Cavalcante de Oliveira
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/anrl/ANRL/index.html

Applied Networking Research Lab (ANRL) projects focus on modeling and simulation as well as experimentation in wired, wireless and sensor networks. ANRL is the home of MuTANT, a Multi-Protocol Label Switched Traffic Engineering and Analysis Testbed composed of 10 high-end Cisco routers and several PC-routers, also used to study other protocols in data networks as well as automated network configuration and management. The lab also houses a sensor network testbed.

Biochemical Signal Processing Laboratory
Dr. Gail Rosen
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/gailr/group/

The Biochemical Signal Processing Laboratory (BCSPL) seeks to solve problems in high-throughput genomics and engineer better solutions for biochemical applications.  The lab's primary thrust is to enhance the use of high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies with pattern recognition and signal processing techniques.  Applications include assessing the organism content of an environmental sample, recognizing/classifying potential and functional genes, and inferring microbial evolutionary relationships from short-read fragments.  The lab also investigates higher-level biological systems such as modeling and controlling chemotaxis, the movement of cells, through optical and magnetic techniques.  Also, the lab has interests in chemical location and tracking through circuit implementations of biological models.

Center for Electric Power Engineering
Dr. Chika Nwankpa
http://power.ece.drexel.edu/

The Power Electronics Research Laboratory (PERL) is involved in circuit and design simulation, device modeling and simulation, and experimental testing and fabrication of power electronic circuits. The research and development activities include electrical terminations, power quality, solar photovoltaic systems, GTO modeling, protection and relay coordination, and solid-state circuit breakers. The analysis tools include EMPT, SPICE, and others, which have been modified to incorporate models of such controllable solid-state switches as SCRs, GTOs, and MOSFETs. These programs have a wide variety and range of modeling capabilities used to model electromagnetics and electromechanical transients ranging from microseconds to seconds in duration. The PERL is a fully equipped laboratory with 42 kVA AC and 70 kVA DC power sources and data acquisition systems, which have the ability to display and store data for detailed analysis. Some of the equipment available is a distribution and HV transformer and three phase rectifiers for power sources and digital oscilloscopes for data measuring and experimental analysis. Some of the recent studies performed by the PERL include static VAR compensators, power quality of motor controllers, solid-state circuit breakers, and power device modeling which have been supported by PECO, GE, Gould, and EPRI.

 Cleanroom Microfabrication Facility
Dr. Adam Fontecchio
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/fontecchio/

The ECE Department Cleanroom facility is used to develop novel microelectronic materials, processes, and devices. It encompasses an area of 1,800 square feet with a rating of Class 10,000. The cleanroom contains a variety of thin film manufacturing and diagnostic equipment, such as thin film evaporators, a diffusion furnace, photoresist spinner, mask aligners, wafer scribing and dicing equipment, and an ellipsometer. Additional equipment suitable for the manufacture and packaging of hybrid circuits is also available. Device characterization and testing equipment is also available and includes a computerized station with femto-Farad and pico-Amp resolution. Faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students use the facility in their research and education programs.

Communications and Signal Processing Laboratory (CSPL)
Dr. Athina P. Petropulu
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/CSPL/

The lab focuses on research in statistical signal processing for wireless communications, networking and biomedical engineering. Current research projects include, blind MIMO system estimation, blind multiuser separation, cooperative approaches for wireless communications, cooperative beamforming, cooperative cross-layer approaches for collision resolution in wireless communication networks, physical layer-based network security, distributed MIMO radar, signal processing for tissue characterization. CSPL’s research has been funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Army, the National Institute of Health and the Whitaker Foundation. Details on CSPL research and publications can be found at www.ece.drexel.edu/CSPL.

The NSF and U.S Army funded Wireless Communications Testbed at CSPL consists of two mobile base receiver station and six transmitters. Its goal is to create a realistic wireless communications environment by providing remote, multi-point signal transmission of various formats such as voice, video, and data as well as providing for signal reception and analysis. It includes: Five signal generators (HP- E4431B 250kHz - 2GHz), ESG Vector Signal Generator (Agilent E4438C), PC-based waveform generator (HP-E2747A Option 001), Two Vector Signal Analyzers (Agilent 89610A dc-40 MHz, Agilent 89605A dc-39 MHz), Agilent 89610A dc-40 MHz, and Agilent 89605A dc-39MHz.

Data Fusion Laboratory
Dr. Moshe Kam, Dr. Kapil Dandekar, Dr. Leonid Hrebein
http://www.datafusionlab.org/

The Data Fusion Laboratory investigates problems in multisensory detection and estimation, with applications in robotics, digital communications, radar, and target tracking. Among the projects in progress: computationally efficient parallel distributed detection architectures, data fusion for robot navigation, modulation recognition and RF scene analysis in time-varying environments, pattern recognition in biological data sequences and large arrays, and hardware realizations of data fusion architectures for target detection and target tracking.

Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Facility
Dr. Prawat Nagvajara
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/faculty/nagvajara/

Industrial-grade electronic design automation software suite for digital, analog and mixed-signal systems development. Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development hardware. Printed circuit board production facility.

Electric Power Engineering Center
Dr. Karen Miu, Dr. Dagmar Niebur, Dr. Chika Nwankpa
http://power.ece.drexel.edu/

This newly established facility makes possible state-of-the-art research in a wide variety of areas, ranging from detailed theoretical model study to experimental investigation in its high voltage laboratories. The mission is to advance and apply scientific and engineering knowledge associated with the generation, transmission, distribution, use, and conservation of electric power. In pursuing these goals, this center works with electric utilities, state and federal agencies, private industries, nonprofit organizations and other universities on a wide spectrum of projects. Research efforts, both theoretical and experimental, focus on the solution of those problems currently faced by the electric power industry. Advanced concepts for electric power generation are also under investigation to ensure that electric power needs will be met at the present and in the future.

Microwave Photonics Center
Dr. Peter Herczfeld
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/CMLE/index.html

The Center for Microwave Photonics was established twenty-five years ago (originally called the Center for Microwave-lightwave Engineering). It is a premier research and education enterprise for the advancement of microwaves and photonics technologies, which are among the fastest growing disciplines in engineering. Current projects focus on the chip level integration of photonic and monolithic microwave integrated circuits, on high dynamic range coherent fiber-optic links, on optical domain signal processing of microwave signals, on fiber-radio and on the application of microwave photonics to biology and medicine. The center has produced over three hundred publications, received numerous research and teaching awards and graduated forty doctoral students (seven of them are Fellows of the IEEE). The Centers enjoys close collaboration with Universities in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Microwave-Photonics Device Laboratories
Dr. Afshin Daryoush
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/faculty/daryoush

The laboratory is equipped with test and measurement equipment for high-speed analog and digital electronics and fiber optic systems. The test equipment includes network analyzers from Agilent (100kHz- 1.3 GHz and 45 Mhz-40 GHz), and Anritsu (45 MHz-6 GHz); spectrum analyzers from Tektronix, HP, and Agilent with measurement capability of DC to 40 GHz and up to 90 GHz using external mixers; signal generators and communication channel modulators from HP, Rhode-Schwartz, Systron Donner, and Agilent; microwave power meter and sensor heads, assortment of passive and active microwave components up to 40 GHz ; data pattern generator and BER tester up to 3Gb/s; optical spectrum analyzer from Anritsu and power meters from HP; single and multimode fiber optic based optical transmitter and receiver boards covering ITU channels at data rates up to 10Gb/s; passive optical components such as isolator, filter, couplers, optical connectors and fusion splicer; LPKF milling machine for fabrication of printed circuit boards; wire-bonding and Cascade probe stations; Intercontinental test fixtures for testing of MMIC circuits and solid-state transistors; state-of-the-art microwave and electromagnetic CAD packages such as Agilent ADS, ANSYS HFSS, and COMSOL multi-physics module.

Music and Entertainment Technology Laboratory (MET-lab)
Dr. Youngmoo Kim
http://music.ece.drexel.edu/

The Music and Entertainment Technology Laboratory (MET-lab) is devoted to research in digital media technologies that will shape the future of entertainment, especially in the areas of sound and music. We employ digital signal processing and machine learning to pursue novel applications in music information retrieval, music production and processing technology, and new music interfaces. The MET-lab is also heavily involved in outreach programs for K-12 students and hosts the Summer Music Technology program, a one-week learning experience for high school students. Lab facilities include a sound isolation booth for audio and music recording, a digital audio workstation running ProTools, two large multi-touch display interfaces of our own design, and a small computing cluster for distributed processing.

NanoPhotonics Laboratory
Dr. Adam Fontecchio
http://nanophotonics.ece.drexel.edu/

Our research in the area of nanophotonics is focus on the nanoscale interaction of light with matter. This includes liquid crystal/polymer composites for gratings, lenses and HOEs; liquid crystal interactions with surfaces and in confined nanospaces; and alternative energy generation through novel photon interactions.

Network Modeling Laboratory
Dr. Steven Weber
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/weber/

The Drexel Network Modeling Laboratory investigates problems in the mathematical modeling of communication networks, with specific focus on wireless ad hoc networks, wireless sensor networks, and supporting guaranteed delivery service models on best effort and multipath routed networks.  Typical methodologies employed in our research include mathematical modeling, computer simulation, and performance optimization, often with the end goal of obtaining meaningful insights into network design principles and fundamental performance tradeoffs.

Opto-Electro-Mechanical Laboratory
Dr. Timothy P. Kurzweg
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/opticslab/

This lab concentrates on the system integration on optics, electronics, and mechanical components and systems, for applications in imaging, communication, and biomedical research.  Research areas include:
Programmable Imaging with Optical Micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS), in which microscopic mirrors are used to image light into a single photodetector; Pre-Cancerous Detection using White Light Spectroscopy, which performs a cellular size analysis of nuclei in tissue;  Free-space Optical Communication using Space Time Coding, which consists of diffused light for computer-to-computer communications, and also tiny lasers and detectors for chip-to-chip communication; Magnetic Particle Locomotion, which showed that particles could swim in a uniform field; and Transparent Antennas using Polymer, which enables antennas to be printed through an ink-jet printer.   

Plasma and Magnetics Laboratory
Dr. Gary Friedman                 
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/friedman/

Research is focused on applications of electrical and magnetic technologies to biology and medicine. This includes the subjects of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma for medicine, magnetic manipulation of particles for drug delivery and bio-separation, development of miniature NMR sensors for cellular imaging and carbon nanotube cellular probes.

Supervisory Control Laboratory
Dr. Moshe Kam
http://www.datafusionlab.org/

The Supervisory Control Laboratory investigates large-scale dynamic systems and robotic plants, applying modeling and control techniques that were developed at the interface of control theory and computer science. Studied methods include discrete event systems and Petri Nets, and applications are studied in power systems, large-scale control systems, and manufacturing. Experiments are designed to investigate the implications of replacing centralized control schemes by distributed counterparts. Several multisensor robotic and process control platforms are used for concept demonstration and algorithm verification.  These include hoping, wheeled, and crawling robots.

Testbed for power/performance management of enterprise computing systems
Dr. Naga Kandasamy
http://www.ece.drexel.edu/faculty/kandasamy/

This computing testbed is used to validate techniques and algorithms aimed at managing the performance and power consumption of enterprise computing systems. The testbed comprises a rack of Dell 2950 and Dell 1950 PowerEdge servers, as well as assorted desktop machines, networked via a gigabit switch. Virtualization of this cluster is enabled by VMWare's ESX Server running the Linux RedHat kernel. It also comprises of a rack of ten Apple Xserve machines networked via a gigabit switch. These servers run the OS X Leopard operating systems and have access to a RAID with TBs of total disk capacity.

Wireless Systems Laboratory
Dr. Kapil Dandekar
http://wireless.ece.drexel.edu/

The Drexel Wireless Systems Laboratory (DWSL) contains an extensive suite of equipment for constructing, debugging, and testing prototype wireless communications systems.  Major equipment within DWSL includes i.) three software defined radio network testbeds (HYDRA, USRP, and WARP) for rapidly prototyping radio, optical and ultrasonic communications systems, ii.) an anechoic chamber and robotic antenna positioners from TDK RF Solutions,  iii.) a materials printer and printed circuit board milling machine for fabricating conformal antennas and iv.) wireless protocol conformance testing equipment from Aeroflex.  The lab is also equipped with network analyzers, high speed signal generators, oscilloscopes, and spectrum analyzers as well as several Zigbee development platforms for rapidly prototyping sensor networks. 

For more information, visit the Electrical and Computer engineering department at http://www.ece.drexel.edu.