In a room filled with faculty, students and representatives from Texas Instruments (TI) Rafik Goubran, Carleton’s dean of engineering and design, officially opened the Texas Instruments Embedded Processing Lab, Nov. 18.
The new lab, located on the fifth floor of the Canal Building, will see students completing research related to digital signal processing (DSP) in the fields of “telecommunications, medical devices . . . and embedded computing,” Goubran said.
One of the goals of the new lab is to encourage the crossbreeding of ideas between different departments that share the space, according to a pamphlet.
Digital signal processing involves the conversion of analog signals to digital ones, while measuring and compressing the signal, as well as filtering out digital noise, the handout stated. The processing chips can be found in everything from microwaves and “smart” appliances.
Dan Otell, one of the TI representatives present at the opening, said there were all kinds of unexpected applications for their chips.
“One of our [processors] can run off of vibrations,” he said. “So engineers have taken them and planted them in bridges to help run stress-monitoring devices.”
On display were a number of devices that came from TI’s massive catalogue. Programmable touchpads and vibration monitors jockeyed for space next to wireless medical devices, digital car dashboards, and development platforms for a variety of smartphones.
“DSP is one of the unsung heroes of modern technology,” said Robert Nelson, a computer systems engineering student.
“It’s everywhere around us, but it’s often overlooked,” he said. “This lab will give us the opportunity to [use] the most up-to-date types of DSP, with the next best thing to industry experience.”
The opening of the lab is the latest event in a long relationship between Texas Instruments and Carleton. During the 1980s, they co-operated on a series of microprocessors that have since found their way into a wide variety of consumer electronics, according to a press release.
In 1999, another partnership was formed when the only Canadian branch of the TI “elite” level laboratories was opened at the university. This lab was only one of five in the world, and focused on digital signal processing for telecommunications, according to the release.
It continues to be used for both upper-year undergraduate work and postgraduate programs.
Howard Schwartz, chair of the department of systems and computer engineering, said the lab draws 30 PhD candidates a year to the campus.
