Graduate Projects

The most successful graduate projects are often those proposed by students themselves. Everyone is interested in something. What would you really like to spend the next year working on?

When I do propose topics, they usually have something to do with aviation. The windshear project is an example of this. Other aviation projects have dealt with cockpit instrumentation. There are some new possibilities for avionics instrumentation now being developed. Projects may include high level ASIC conceptual design, mixed signal (analog and digital modules) ASIC development with follow through to actual chip production. One or more purely software projects may also be open.

Sensing and autonomous UAV development projects are or may be in the works.This includes but is not limited to algorithm development and real time image processing for target recognition and obstacle avoidance. 

The most fundamental rule of a graduate project is that it cannot be a bad copy of an existing commercial product. There always needs to be some new contribution.

Verilog/SystemVerilog is a tool, not a project. Proposing to do a Verilog project with no more specificity than that is akin to saying you want to build something using a hammer. First figure out what you want to build. Then pick a suitable set of tools. Due to the long lag between behavioral coding completion and hardware production, it is rarely practical to make an ASIC as part of a master's project. Often using a processor is more appropriate, despite the efficiency advantages of custom integrated circuits.

Students wishing me to supervise their projects should start by sending a project proposal, a resume and transcripts. In the absence of an idea for a project, a statement of interests may be substituted.

Regrettably, there is no possibility whatsoever of financial support for incoming graduate students.