Baylor University Home

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

 


Section: Academics

Section: Admissions

Section: Campus Life

Section: About Baylor

Section: Alumni

Section: Athletics

Section: Gifts to BU

 

News & Events

Latest News

Events Calendar

Baylor eNews

 

 Related Links

 

• 

School of Engineering and Computer Science

• 

Department of Mathematics

 



Upcoming Events

 

• 

“Color and Diversity of Nature” Exhibit (9/01 - 9/30)

• 

25% Refund for Dropped Classes (9/13 - 9/17)

• 

Last day to Drop without a grade (9/17)

• 

Fall Premiere 2004 (9/17 - 9/18)

• 

4th Annual Balloon Glow (9/18)

 

 Top News

 

• 

Balloon Glow To Feature Free Concert By Steven Curtis Chapman

• 

Fall Enrollment Includes Record-Setting Freshman Class

• 

Off He Goes Into The Wild Blue Yonder: ROTC Commander Bids Farewell To Military Service

• 

Baylor Welcomes Home Gold Medalists

• 

Baylor Engineers Focus Talent, Interest On Needs In Developing Countries


News Archives...

 

 News Search

 

Enter a query to search our news archives from the current year:

Top of Form



[Advanced Search]
[Search Baylor Site]

Bottom of Form

 

National Science Foundation To Fund Engineering, Math Collaboration
Sept. 14, 2004
by Judy Long

  The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year $300,000 grant to a group of
Baylor University professors to fund a study of time scales, research they say could have a variety of practical applications. The professors leading the study are Dr. Ian Gravagne, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, Dr. John Davis, assistant professor of mathematics, and Dr. Robert Marks, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
 The term time scales refers to the way dynamic systems change over time. In the past, engineers and mathematicians have thought of time as a variable that either sweeps continuously like the hands of an old-fashioned clock, or changes at discrete and uniform intervals, such as what occurs with a digital clock. Time scale theory can describe systems that are “in between,” having both analog and digital characteristics.
 Gravagne said most engineering applications assume timing is either continuous or uniformly discrete, but a number of applications fall between the two—their timing may have a discrete nature without being divided into equal intervals.
 Gravagne and his colleagues are applying time scales to distributed control networks. These are found in the electronic systems that control automobiles, robots, aircraft and certain manufacturing processes. Modern automobiles, for example, are designed with a communication network that functions through wires connected to every operating part of the vehicle. Two kinds of events can occur on the network—recurring and non-recurring. The recurring events occur at regular intervals, such as the signal to the speedometer. Non-recurring events can happen at any time, such as when the driver applies the brakes.
 “These non-recurring signals push aside the recurrent signals and throw off the timing of the whole system,” Gravagne said.
 “We are studying this
phenomenon to understand ways to make the recurrent processes more tolerant to non-uniform timing. The end result will save communication bandwidth, keeping down the cost of automation in industries that use sensing and control networks.”
Davis is interested in using time scales to model other dynamic systems, such as biological plant populations, financial business cycles and stochastic (or random) time systems.
 Marks will apply time scales to improve signal processing techniques that make noisy speech more intelligible or improve the quality of a grainy
photograph.
 Gravagne said that time scale theory has been studied by mathematicians for more than 10 years, but the Baylor group is the first to publish anything on its engineering applications.
 The time scale group’s efforts have been recognized in another way, too, with the recent selection of Dr. Jeffrey DaCunha for a prestigious three-year postdoctoral fellowship jointly sponsored by the
United States Military Academy at West Point and the Army Research Lab at Aberdeen, Md. A Baylor undergraduate, DaCunha is one of the first Ph.D. recipients in the Baylor mathematics department’s new doctoral program. He was also a recipient of the Graduate Student Association's 2004 Outstanding Graduate Student Award for his work.

 

Search | Directory | Ask Baylor | Calendar | Baylor 2012 | News & Events | Libraries | Research

Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved. Trademark/DMCA Information.
Baylor University  Waco, Texas 76798  1-800-BAYLOR-U

Bottom of Form