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RLE Professor Rahul Sarpeshkar
named recipient of the 2002 Office of Naval Research Young
Investigator Program Award
Cambridge, MA 2.28.2002
 Professor
Rahul Sarpeshkar of the Research
Laboratory of Electronics and the Department
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has been
named a recipient of the prestigious Office
of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award.
The objectives of the ONR
Young Investigator Program (YIP) are to attract to naval
research outstanding new faculty members at institutions of
higher education, to support their research, and to encourage
their teaching and research careers. Professor Sarpeshkar
is one of only 26 winners of this career development award
this year nationwide.
Professor Sarpeshkar's program, "Bio-Inspired VLSI Sensory
Processing: Silicon Cochleas, Motion Sensors, and Hybrid Computers,"
will investigate processing spike outputs from the auditory
and optic nerves in a spike-based hybrid computer that operates
in a fashion that is neither purely analog nor digital.
An important building block in such computers is a hybrid
state machine (HSM), that allows powerful computational primitives
for pattern recognition, learning, sequence recognition, analog-to-digital
conversion, reconfigurable processing, and intelligent decision
making to be implemented in hardware. Professor Sarpeshkar's
group will develop a novel interface between sensory nerve
inputs and the hybrid computer that will extract information
from every spike through simple sample-and-hold synaptic circuits.
Professor Sarpeshkar's
research group in RLE focuses on low-power analog Very
Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) systems. Their current
emphasis is on building bionic systems for the deaf and blind,
and biologically-inspired sensor and mixed signal computing
systems. Professor Sarpeshkar's work on the silicon
cochlea was inspired by the biophysics of the human cochlea
and is now regarded as the state of the art in the field.
It is being investigated for use in bionic implants for the
deaf, both in his laboratory and by researchers worldwide.
Professor Sarpeshkar has also pioneered the field of spike-based
analog-digital computing, assembling numerous patents in this
area. His work on visual motion sensors resulted in
the widest dynamic range analog VLSI velocity sensor to date.
ONR sponsors science and technology support of the U.S. Navy
and Marine Corps. Founded in 1946, ONR today funds work at
more than 450 universities, laboratories, and other organizations.
From oceanography, advanced materials, sensors, and
robotics to biomedical science and technology; from electronics,
surveillance, and neurotechnology to manufacturing technology
and information science; from advanced combat systems to other
technologies for ships, submarines, aircraft, and ground vehicles.
The Research Laboratory of Electronics is one of MIT's premier
research units. Founded in 1946 as successor to MIT's famous
wartime Radiation Laboratory, RLE has grown to become one
of the Institute's largest and most diverse centers of scientific
and educational activity, with interests spanning a broad
interpretation of electronics.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a coeducational,
privately endowed research university. It is dedicated to
advancing knowledge and educating students in science, technology,
and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation
and the world in the 21st century.
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