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Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Buchanan Engineering
Room 213
PO Box 441023
Moscow, Idaho
83844-1023

phone: 208-885-6554
fax: 208-885-7579

info@ece.uidaho.edu








Research

Research Programs
Center for Advanced Microelectronics and Biomolecular Research (CAMBR)
The NASA Institute of Advanced Microelectronics, under the umbrella of CAMBR, formerly the Microelectronics Research Center (MRC), was established by NASA in 1995. In 1988, the former MRC was named one of nine national Space Engineering Research Centers by the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology. Through CAMBR, the institute will continue work done previously at the Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Idaho.

Our goal is to advance special purpose Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) processors and VLSI electronics. This center conducts state-of-the-art electronic research by designing special purpose computers that benefit the electronics industry and the nation. Industrial needs are addressed through close interaction with major electronics companies and national needs through involvement with national research laboratories in NASA, DOD and DOE.

Microelectronics Research and Communications Institute (MRCI), was established in 1983 as one of the university's first strategic research initiatives for the design of high performance application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The MRCI was designated as one of nine NASA space engineering research centers in 1988. One of the MRCI's early projects was the Reed-Solomon decoder chip used on the Hubble space telescope. In recent years, the MRCI has broadened its mission to include communications, real-time software, electromagnetics, and intelligent control.

The National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technologies (NIATT), was established in 1991 to develop technologies that will improve the design and operation of transportation vehicles and systems. Research in NIATT includes projects in traffic control, electric and hybrid vehicles, clean vehicle technology, and construction materials for highway infrastructure.

The Power Applications Research Group (PARG), a collection of faculty members and graduate students exploring new applications in the fields of power and power-electronics.

The Laboratory for Advanced Communications Research (LACR), a leading-edge research effort concentrating on communications theory, neural networks, and magnetic recording.

Center for Intelligent Systems Research (CISR), The Center for Intelligent Systems Research (CISR) is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the advancement of intelligent control of autonomous systems. The center supports faculty and students from electrical, computer, mechanical, and agricultural engineering. Recent projects funded by NASA, NSF, and USDA include active structural noise control, passive vibration suppression, an autonomous log-skidder, and intelligent vision-based navigation for Mars Rover type vehicles.

Laser Electrophotography Lab (LEL), was established in December 1999, within the MRCI. The laboratory carries out research in physical modeling of electrophotographic processes, and in signal processing related to image quality enhancement in laser printers. Current research activities in the LEL include analysis and modeling of the toner development process in laser printing, the development of computationally-efficient printer models for half-toning applications, and computational intelligence research looking into the possibility of automatic generation of laser pulse width modulation templates for image enhancement. Past research activities have included the application of neural networks to character recognition and image compression.