ECE DEPARTMENT STARTED ITS INAUGURAL
PROFESSORIAL LECTURE SERIES TO ENABLE NEWLY
PROMOTED FULL PROFESSORS IN ECE TO ADDRESS
A LARGE AUDIENCE OF COLLEAGUES, STUDENTS
AND INDUSTRY.
PAGE
01
THE OPTICAL
MICROSCOPE IS ONE OF
THE MOST IMPORTANT
SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE
HISTORY OF MANKIND.
PAGE
08
AN NUS ECE TEAM
CONSISTING OF
STUDENTS SUPERVISED
BY PROF BEN M CHEN AND PROF
LEE TONG HENG WON BIG TIME AT
THE SINGAPORE AMAZING FLYING
MACHINE COMPETITION 2011
(SAFMC) HELD ON 18 MARCH 2011.
PAGE
15
INAUGURAL
PROFESSORIAL LECTURE
GETS UNDER WAY
IT WAS THE YEAR
2001 WHEN NUS
ECE SELECTED A SRI
LANKAN UNDERGRADUATE WHO
HAD BEEN RANKED 5TH IN THE
GCE A-LEVEL EXAMINATION.
PAGE
12
A BI-ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERINGISSN 2010-1651 ƒ JULY 2011 ƒ ISSUE 3

Editorial Team Assoc Prof Dipti Srinivasan
Assoc Prof Teo Kie Leong
Assoc Prof Marc Andre Armand
Ms Winnie Chua
Photography Mr Abdul Jalil Bin Din
Advisor Prof Chua Kee Chaing
CONTENTS
DEPARTMENT
01 Inaugural Professorial Lecture
Gets Under Way
02 Dr Steven Zhou Honoured for
His Pioneering and Enterprising
Efforts in Mixed Reality
02 New Appointments and Promotions
03 Electronics for the Community:
Easy-to-use Innovations
for the Elderly
05 Probing the World of
Signalling and Communications
through EE1003
06 Getting to Know Dr Zhang Rui
07 A Chit-chat with
Dr Akshay Rathore
RESEARCH
08 Microsphere Nanoscope to See
Objects at 50 Nanometres
09 Enabling Components for Next-
generation Wireless Applications:
60-GHz CMOS Power Amplifier
10 Prof Wang Qing-Guo’s Paper
Won the Top Place of Citations
for Automatica 2006-2010
11 Sketch2Photo:
Convert Doodles to Pictures
ALUMNI
12 Walking Down Memory Lane
14 Pleasantly Surprised
STUDENT
15 Undergraduate Students’
Achievements
17 Graduate Students’
Achievements
ANNOUNCEMENT
18 In Appreciation of Prof MS
Leong’s Contributions
18 ECE Alumni Family Day 2011
Prof Chua Kee Chaing
Head, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, NUS
In the past six months, we have been getting new core and
elective modules that students will read in their later years of
our BEng(EE) programme ready. We have also made some
significant changes to our graduate programmes. These
changes, recently approved by the University’s Board of
Graduate Studies, included increasing the number, scope
and depth of our 6000 level modules, improving on a
number of processes in PhD student advising and training,
and consolidating our MSc module offerings. These will be
implemented in the new academic year beginning August 2011.
In research, we have increased collaboration with A*STAR’s
Institute for Microelectronics (IME) and Data Storage Institute
(DSI), participating in key thematic programmes in Future Data
Centre Technologies, GaN-on-Si, and Ruggedized Electronics.
Riding on these collaborative research efforts, we have also
started thematic PhD programmes with IME and DSI on
Power Semiconductor and Future Data Centre Technologies,
respectively. Students in these thematic PhD programmes will
be jointly supervised by ECE faculty and IME/DSI researchers,
and will present their research results to industry regularly.
Our outreach efforts continue apace, with many activities such as
the Electronics for the Community project highlighted in this issue.
We have recently started to raise funds for an ECE Scholarship
programme to offer a limited number of bond-free scholarships
to attract top local students to our programmes. So far, we have
raised more than $60,000 just from ECE colleagues alone. We will
need at least $200,000 to start the scholarship programme.
A number of our colleagues and students have done well and
won awards. Some of these are highlighted in this issue.
We are especially proud of our teaching award winners:
A/Prof Dipti Srinivasan, Prof Lian Yong and Prof Lee Tong
Heng; and our Chair Professors: Prof Lian Yong (Provost’s
Chair), A/Prof Mansoor Jalil (Dean’s Chair) and Dr Yeo Yee Chia
(Dean’s Chair). Our heartiest congratulations to them!
It is again Commencement time, and our Electrical and
Computer Engineering classes of 2011 will be graduating.
On behalf of everyone at NUS/ECE, I congratulate them on
their fine achievements. No doubt, with the economic outlook
for ECE graduates continuing to look bright with the robust
growth of the electronics industry, it is a good time to embark
on a meaningful career.
No doubt, with the
economic outlook for ECE
graduates continuing to look
bright with the robust growth of
the electronics industry, it is a
good time to embark on a
meaningful career.
HoD SPEAKS...

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INAUGURAL PROFESSORIAL LECTURE
GETS UNDER WAY
ECE Department started its Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series to enable newly promoted
full professors in ECE to address a large audience of colleagues, students and industry.
The first professorial lecture, Expanding the Frontiers of Biomedical Circuits & System,
was presented on 8 March 2011 by Professor Lian Yong.
Prof Lian Yong is a Fellow of IEEE, a Provost’s Chair
Professor and Area Director of Integrated Circuits and
Embedded Systems in the Department of Electrical
& Computer Engineering at the National University of
Singapore. His research interests include low power
circuit techniques for biomedical devices, signal
processing and biomedical system-on-chip. He has
published over 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals
and conference proceedings, and has received many
awards for his research works. Prof Lian is the Founder
of ClearBridge VitalSigns Pte Ltd, a start-up for wireless
wearable biomedical devices. He is also a recipient of the
2009 and 2010 NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Award.
In his lecture, Prof Lian presented previous works and
ongoing studies at NUS to reveal novel circuit and signal
processing techniques that can help shape future health
care. In particular, he presented a wireless Body Sensor
Network (BSN) platform, which can be used for wireless
biomedical sensors around or inside a human body to
provide personalised and prevention-oriented health
care. The BSN, combined with wearable, ingestible,
injectable, implantable biomedical devices, allows for
the continuous or intermittent monitoring of physiological
signals, and is critical for the advancement of both
diagnosis and treatment.
A friendly chat before the lecture
A man of many hats Rounding up the lecture
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DR STEVEN ZHOU HONOURED FOR
HIS PIONEERING AND ENTERPRISING
EFFORTS IN MIXED REALITY
Asst Prof Steven Zhou Zhiying received the inaugural
Outstanding NUS Innovator Award at the Enterprise
Connection Dinner. The award was an initiative by NUS
Enterprise and the NUS Society and was supported by the
National Research Foundation’s University Innovation Fund.
The judging panel was impressed not only by Dr Zhou’s
notable achievements in his research on augmented
reality but also by his entrepreneurial spirit, which he has
demonstrated in founding MXR Corporation Pte Ltd. His
company develops patented Mixed Reality products for
Next Generation Learning and provides Mixed Reality
technological solutions. By using Mixed Reality technology,
MXR Corporation successfully commercialised the world’s
first education product for children, wIzQubes™.
Dr Zhou is also Director of the Interactive Multimedia
Lab at NUS ECE. He is known for his contributions in
Mixed Reality, human–computer interaction, computer
vision, mobile computing and multimodal systems.
A Fellow of World Technology Network, his work has
garnered numerous awards, including the RTT Emerging
Technology Award 2008 and the SiTF Award 2010
in Digital Media.
Dr Steven Zhou (right) receiving the inaugural Outstanding NUS
Innovator Award from NUS President, Prof Tan Chorh Chuan
FACULTY APPOINTMENTS
We welcome the following new members into our ECE family.
ƒ DR LIM TENG JOON joined ECE Department on 1 June 2011 as Full Professor. Prior to joining ECE
Department, Prof Lim was a tenured Full Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada from 2000 to 2011.
Prof Lim obtained his PhD in 1995 from the University of Cambridge, UK. His research spans a range of topics
in communication theory and includes notably, the design and analysis of power-and bandwidth-efficient
wireless networks of multiple users.
ƒ DR AKASH KUMAR joined ECE Department on 1 June 2011 as Assistant Professor. He first joined ECE
Department on 1 July 2009 as a Visiting Fellow. He graduated in 2009 with a PhD degree jointly offered by NUS
and Eindhoven University of Technology. Dr Kumar’s research focuses on embedded systems, more specifically in
the areas of predictable multi-processor systems in terms of architecture and applications.
ƒ DR ZHAO QI joined ECE Department on 1 June 2011 as Assistant Professor. Prior to joining ECE Department,
she was a postdoctoral researcher in Computation and Neural Systems and Division of Biology at the California
Institute of Technology, USA. Dr Zhao graduated with a PhD degree from the University of Santa Cruz, USA in
2009. Her research interests are in the areas of computational visual cognition, neuromorphic visual models and
systems, computer vision and statistical learning, and computational neuroscience.
ƒ DR PANG SZE KIM joined ECE Department on 1 December 2010 as Adjunct Assistant Professor. He is a
Senior Member of Technical Staff at DSO National Laboratories. His research interests are in the areas of signal
processing and Bayesian statistics. Dr Pang obtained his PhD in 2009 from the University of Cambridge, UK.
NEW APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS
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ƒ DR GAN OON PEEN joined ECE Department on 1 February 2011 as Adjunct Associate Professor. He is Group
Manager of the Manufacturing and Execution Control (MEC) Group at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing
Technology (SIMTech), A*STAR. His research is mainly in the areas of RFID middleware, track and trace,
ad hoc networking, intelligent control, distributed networks, embedded systems, operation research and
industrial automation. Prof Gan obtained his PhD in 1997 from the National University of Singapore.
ƒ DR SUSANTO RAHARDJA joined ECE Department on 14 April 2011 as Adjunct Full Professor. He is Head of the
Signal Processing Department and also Director of Research at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), A*STAR.
His research is mainly in the areas of digital audio and signal processing. Prof Rahardja obtained his PhD in 1997
from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
TEACHING ASSISTANTS
ƒ MS CHUA DINGJUAN assumed duty as Teaching Assistant on 19 January 2011.
ƒ MS DO THI THU TRANG assumed duty as Teaching Assistant on 1 February 2011.
ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS
ƒ MS LEENA D/O NAKULAN was appointed Assistant Manager, ECE Department on 1 March 2011.
She handles the graduate (research) student admission and scholarship portfolio in the Department.
ƒ MS PANDIARASI D/O KARUPPIAH joined ECE Department as Management Assistant Officer on 9 May 2011.
ƒ MS KOH XIN AI joined ECE Department as Management Assistant Officer on 3 June 2011.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROMOTIONS (from 1 January 2011)
ƒ MS EUNICE WONG YOKE CHENG – Manager
ƒ MS HELENE YAO – Manager
ƒ MS MARSITA BTE SAIRAN – Management Assistant Officer (Grade 2)
ƒ MR ERIC POON WAI CHOONG – Lab Technologist (Grade 3)
ELECTRONICS FOR THE COMMUNITY:
EASY-TO-USE INNOVATIONS
FOR THE ELDERLY
An outreach effort by the ECE Department has resulted in innovations for
the elderly. It has proven to be meaningful as well as fun for the upper secondary
and JC students who were involved in the project.
The two-year-old programme, jointly organised with the Southwest Community Development Council (Southwest CDC),
Agilent Technologies and River Valley High School (RVHS), focuses on simple but innovative gadgets to help the elderly
in their daily lives.
A group of 60 students from different schools interviewed the elderly in rental blocks at Boon Lay to find out more about the
problems they were facing in their daily lives. They also identified those who might need help, and offered electronic solutions
for them. The students presented their efforts at a competition on 15 January 2011 and displayed their innovations at the
“Safe and Bright Home”, a community event organised by Southwest CDC, which was graced by the mayor, Dr Amy Khor.
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RVHS student Chew Yingying and her team won the
first prize with their medication reminder system, which
targeted the elderly living on their own. Said Yingying:
“Our group has benefitted from the project in many
intangible ways: we now appreciate the little things that
we are fortunate to have, we have been very motivated
and we have learnt to work with responsibility. Above all,
we now communicate better with our elders as we are
able to empathise more.” The medication reminder system
looks like a miniature version of the medicine chests you
see at traditional Chinese medicine shops.
Each tiny box contains the pills that the user needs to take
for the day. A voice will sound a reminder from the right
box when it is time for the user to take his or her medicine.
The system can be more effective and personalised, as
the “voice” could be that belonging to a loved one. RVHS
project co-ordinator, Mr Xu Weiming, said they are keen to continue with the programme: “The students thoroughly
enjoyed the experience and found meaning and significance in applying science and technology to help the greater
community. They have also learnt important life skills in communicating with people from diverse backgrounds, empathy
and key considerations in designing solutions to help the elderly. The programme has given them ample opportunities to
think critically and practically. On top of that, the exposure has demonstrated the capabilities of electronics solutions.
This is indeed an invaluable experience for the students.”
Chia Jiaying of Cedar Girls Secondary School shared: “The project has allowed every participant to grow and learn.
We have picked up skills that we can apply in daily life. The project exposed participants to the world of electrical
engineering very effectively. It has opened our eyes to the plight of the elderly in our community and strengthened our
conviction to help them. As the leader of my team, I learnt even more. Our project was not the best compared to other
teams, but I learnt that it is not just the result that counts. What matters is the progress and growth we achieved, both
as individuals and as a group.”
“All the gadgets they have invented are in ready-to-use state. The technologies behind them are not new. But the students
have thought of ingenious ways to redesign and package them so that they are really low cost, and easy and convenient to
use,” said Assoc Prof Tan Kok Kiong, ECE co-ordinator and mentor for the project.
Other prototypes resulting from the students’ ideas include the following:
The RVHS team explained the function of their medication
reminder system to Dr Amy Khor
Night lights and warning windows
Running on low voltage and using solar energy generated
from panels on the roof of HDB flats, these LED-embedded
windows become an instant light source. Red warning lights
framing the windows are activated if a house occupant falls
or is in some kind of difficulty. These windows can also be
modified to warn the occupant of other dangers such as
fire or earthquake.
Watch with hearing aid and GPS tracker
This looks like and weighs the same as a normal watch
but it comes with modular assistive functions such as
distress alert mechanics, a GPS tracker allowing the
elderly with dementia to go safely beyond the confines
of their home, and an embedded low-cost hearing aid
for those with hearing disability.
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From left: Tang Buu Vinh, Poh Wei Jin, Nguyen Anh Tuan
and Nguyen Phan Minh. They challenged themselves
and came up with various out-of-the-box concepts
EE1003 in full swing at ECE’s Digital Systems &
Applications Lab
Wei Jin already has ideas for developing a home Bluetooth
sound system, where music can be played from one
source and enjoyed by all members wherever in the house
they may be.
PROBING THE WORLD OF
SIGNALLING AND COMMUNICATIONS
THROUGH EE1003
A compulsory new module (EE1003) introduced by ECE
has very much broadened the learning experience of some
180 first-year students in the field of laser communication.
Under the guidance of three lecturers, Prof Kam Pooi Yuen,
Assoc Prof Marc Andre Armand and Dr Zhang Jianwen,
the students were divided into groups to build a system
converting analogue signals to digital signals and then
transmitting these signals by using laser links.
This sounded like a tall challenge for these first-year
students, who had never done anything like this before.
However, they tackled the problem with gusto and
enthusiasm. They were surprised to discover that a
common everyday laser pointer was the solution to one of
their biggest challenges! The module has also shown that
students without much advanced technical knowledge can
build real-world communication systems and that they can
grasp important basic communication concepts.
Dr Zhang explained: “We needed a laser beam to carry
information to the receiver and a laser pointer is excellent
for this. It has a lot of advantages in transmitting signals,
which are clearer with less interference. Laser transmission
also does away with messy wirings and cablings.”
The project not only led students into the intriguing world of
learning all about circuits, signals and communication but
also challenged each member to grow and learn as a team.
Poh Wei Jin, a group leader who was previously from
Tampines Junior College, said, “We started about one
and a half months ago. As my team has a mix of local
and international students, we needed to develop good
chemistry among ourselves so that we would accept
each other’s ideas. I also needed to know the strengths of
my members. In the end, we worked well together and,
although we were given two schemes to base our projects
on, we came up with a ‘third’ scheme, which we developed
on our own. Overall, it was a very good experience for all.”
Last year, the students successfully designed and built an
autonomous car model for the inaugural module, EE1002.
Assoc Prof Loh Ai Poh, Deputy Head for Undergraduate
Programmes at the Department, said at the introduction
of the compulsory new modules last year that they would
help motivate students to learn in a deeper way when
they eventually embarked on the core curriculum. In the
process of conceptualising, designing and completing
their projects, the students would have done a lot of
problem solving. They would also be more motivated to
learn the underlying theories after experiencing how
a communication system actually works.
Laser communication in progress, transmitting strong
and clear signals from a microphone to user point,
which for some groups is 10 metres away
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GETTING TO KNOW DR ZHANG RUI
Q Tell us about yourself.
A I was born in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin Province, in the north-eastern part of China. When
I was 16 years old, my family and I moved to Nanjing
(meaning, “south capital” of China) in Jiangsu Province.
There, I spent three years attending senior high school
at Middle School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University,
one of the most famous secondary schools in China.
Mathematics and physics have always fascinated me.
In fact, I received several awards in national competitions
in these areas, including First Prize Award at the
National Physics Competition in 1994.
My passion for the two subjects paved the way for
a promising education. In 1995, I was admitted to
Zhejiang University of China without taking the national
entrance exam. I was selected to attend the “Mixed
Class”, a special programme open to the top 5% of
all the first-year students majoring in engineering and
science. In the same year, I received a scholarship
from MOE, Singapore. Then my undergraduate study
at NUS ECE began in 1996. I was enrolled under the
Accelerated Master Programme, which allowed me
to complete my BEng (in which I received first-class
honours) and MEng degrees in just four and a half years.
After that, I worked for about one year at NUS ECE as
a full-time teaching assistant.
In 2002, I received the National Science Scholarship (NSS)
of Singapore from NSTB (now A*STAR), enabling me
to pursue my PhD study in the Department of Electrical
Engineering at Stanford University, USA, specialising in
information and communications engineering. I worked
in the Dynamic Spectrum Management Laboratory under
the supervision of Prof John M. Cioffi, who is recognised
worldwide as the “Father” of DSL technology. Besides
research, I enjoyed taking about 30 classes at Stanford,
which covered subjects ranging from communications,
signal processing and information theory to mathematics
(convex optimisation and probability theory in particular).
Dr Zhang Rui joined ECE
Department last year and readily
agreed to take this opportunity to
introduce himself to the ECE family.
After my graduation from Stanford, I returned to Singapore
in 2007 and joined the Institute for Infocomm Research
(I2R) of A*STAR. From 2007 to 2009, I worked in a research
team at I2R on cognitive radio, which is a new and promising
technology for next-generation wireless communications.
The team has made significant contributions in this area,
and our research outcomes are now widely recognised in
the community.
Q Do you have any memorable experiences to share from your BEng and/or MEng days at ECE?
A I enjoyed my studies at NUS ECE very much. I benefitted from attending many excellent classes
conducted by immensely knowledgeable and responsible
professors. I can still remember how I struggled as a
third-year undergraduate student in Prof Kam Pooi Yuen’s
EE4 class on digital communication. But the experience
was rewarding. Later, what I learnt from his class proved
to be extremely useful in my research career. Among many
others, I am particularly grateful to the late Prof Tjhung
Tjeng Thiang for his invaluable guidance. He acted as
main adviser of my theses in both final and master years.
Sincere gratitude is also due to Prof Yeo Swee Ping, who
encouraged me to apply for an NSS scholarship. It made
my dream of studying at Stanford a reality.
Q Multiple paths are available to A*STAR scholars. Was choosing the Academia Pathway an easy
decision? Who influenced you to choose this path?
A Becoming a successful academician in a world-renowned university such as NUS has been my
dream for many years. This motivated me to start my
academic career in 2010 under the A*STAR-NUS Joint
Appointment Scheme. But being one of the very first
to try out a new scheme, I experienced moments of
uncertainty. However, strong encouragement from Prof
Chua Kee Chaing (HoD, ECE) and Prof Lye Kin Mun
(ED, I2R) dissipated any doubt and hesitation that I felt
in taking the course.
Q What are your research interests? What projects are you currently working on?
A I have a wide range of interests in communications, signal processing, convex optimisation and
information theory. Over the past several years, my
research has focused on the design and performance
optimisation of wireless communication systems
(e.g. cellular networks) with advanced physical-layer
transmission technologies, such as multi-antenna signal
processing, cooperative communication and cognitive
radio. To date, my research outputs have been published
in more than 100 internationally refereed journals and
conference papers. Currently, I am continuing my research
in these areas, exploring new promising areas of wireless
communications research related to energy issues, such as
energy efficiency and energy harvesting.
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A CHIT-CHAT WITH
DR AKSHAY RATHORE
Q Tell us about yourself.
A I was born to a family of teachers and was brought up in India. I received my schooling and Bachelor’s
degree in Electrical Engineering in Rajasthan, a northern
state that is well known for its rich culture and history.
My undergraduate years saw my avid involvement
in student politics. I was College President of the
Engineering Students Association and Chairman of
the Electrical Engineering Students Society. In addition,
I organised several cultural functions, youth festivals,
entrepreneurship camp and IT workshops, to name a few.
I obtained my Master’s degree in Technology (MTech)
with specialisation in Electrical Machines and Drives from
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. There, I immersed
myself in modelling, analysing and controlling linear
induction motors. I also participated in IET (UK) and
IEEE (USA) chapter activities, organising national-level
paper presentations and technical-project competitions.
My hard work paid off when I was awarded a gold medal
for achieving the highest academic standing among all
electrical engineering students. Then, after the course,
I spent a year and a half as a lecturer in India.
I finished my PhD in power electronics at the University
of Victoria, BC, the most beautiful area in the island of
Victoria, Canada. In addition to education and research,
the institution is recognised for its green campus and
great summer activities. During those years, I worked
on a high-frequency soft-switching DC/DC converter and
an inverter for fuel cell-based applications, particularly
single-phase grid interface and residential functions.
The 13 publications on the analyses, design and control
of power converters from my PhD research were testament
to my work’s progress. After the course, I lectured in two
undergraduate classes for two semesters.
Q Why did you choose Singapore and NUS ECE?
A I chose Singapore not only because it is a beautiful and developed country but also because it is a place
close to home. ECE@NUS, on the other hand, is world
renowned and highly ranked for its innovative research
contributions in broad areas of engineering. I was always
inspired by ECE@NUS, and I consider it my work location
of choice.
Q How are you settling in Singapore?
A Quite fast! The country offers the same facilities, prompt services and fast life as North America.
However, I do miss the brand of shopping and customer
service in the United States and Canada.
Q Please share your research.
A I enjoy designing and developing converter topologies and their hardware implementation.
My PhD research project entitled “High-frequency
Transformer Isolated Power Conditioning System for
Fuel Cells to Utility Interface” was sponsored by the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada. Within four years of PhD study, I worked
on the interfacing schemes for connecting PV/Fuel
cells to single-phase utility lines; the analysis and
design of soft-switching, current-fed topologies;
the small-signal analysis and closed-loop control of
current-fed converters; and a multistage inverter for
residential applications. I developed the hardware of
1-kW, current-fed converters and three-stage inverters
and tested these in a research lab, along with closed-loop
controllers, at a switching frequency of 100 kHz.
WEG, Brazil, a leading multinational drives company,
supported my first postdoctoral research in Germany,
entitled “Optimal Modulation of Multilevel Inverters”.
Through this research, I developed a software programme
generating optimal switching angles resulting in low
harmonic distortion and high efficiency at low switching
frequency. WEG successfully tested this new technology
for a 5-kV, MW drive at a switching frequency of 200 Hz.
The National Science Foundation and the Department
of Energy sponsored my second postdoctoral study
in the United States. This gave me the opportunity
to work on three-phase inverters for PV and fuel cell
applications. Further, I gained sufficient exposure to the
hardware of silicon carbide MOSFETs, nanocrystalline-
core transformers, silicon carbide schottky diodes,
and low-resistance semiconductor devices such as
OptiMos and DirectFET.
At present, I am working on a smart, hybrid residential
energy system. However, I also see myself venturing
into the areas of electric and fuel cell vehicles and
energy storage in the future.
Q What are your hobbies?
A I enjoy watching Bollywood movies and cricket, listening to Hindi and folk music and songs,
playing chess and cricket, and engaging in online
social networking activities.
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RESEARC
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The optical microscope is one of the most important scientific achievements in
the history of mankind. It has revolutionised the life sciences and still remains
indispensable in many areas of scientific research today. However, due to the
optical diffraction limit, the imaging resolution of a classical optical microscope
is limited to around 1 micrometre. In nanotechnology and biology research,
viewing objects in nanoscale is pursued consistently by researchers.
Microsphere nanoscope imaging in transmission mode Microsphere nanoscope imaging in reflection mode
A research team from the National University of Singapore (Assoc Prof Hong Minghui, Mr Chen Zaichun), Data Storage
Institute (Prof Boris Luk’yanchuk) and Manchester University (Dr Wang Zengbo, Mr Guo Wei, Mr Ashfaq Khan,
Prof Li Lin and Prof Liu Zhu) envision “microsphere nanoscope”, which can see 50 nanometres (20 times smaller than the
conventional microscope) under white light. The invention breaks the theoretical limit of an optical microscope. The research
results were published in Nature Communications (http://www.nature.com/ncomms/archive/date/2011/03/index.html)
in March 2011.
The microsphere nanoscope, combining microspheres into a conventional microscope, provides a way to flexibly modify
the microscope to achieve a resolution at 50 nanometres. Firstly, the technique makes use of the dielectric microspheres
on top of the samples to collect “evanescent waves” in near field and refocuses them into a virtual image. The virtual
image is then amplified by a standard optical microscope into a far field, which breaks the optical diffraction. Secondly, the
microsphere nanoscope can operate in white light across the whole visible spectrum. Thirdly, the microsphere nanoscope
can work in both transmission and reflection modes.
The microsphere nanoscope provides new opportunities to see cells, bacteria and even viruses in real time. If successfully
commercialised, it would be a low-cost component in enhancing the performance of existing microscopes.
MICROSPHERE NANOSCOPE TO
SEE OBJECTS AT 50 NANOMETRES
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ENABLING COMPONENTS FOR NEXT-GENERATION
WIRELESS APPLICATIONS:
60-GHZ CMOS POWER AMPLIFIER
Millimetre-wave wireless technologies are very promising for multi-gigabit communication systems,
high-resolution imaging, sensing and detection. The worldwide opening of unlicensed spectrum of around
60 GHz in massive amounts has triggered great interest in developing affordable 60-GHz radios. A team
led by Asst Prof Guo Yongxin has been developing novel techniques to solve the issues in CMOS power
amplifier for 60-GHz radios. The team’s work has received an international Best Student Paper Award.
Figure 1: The applications of 60-GHz radios include
(a) consumer electronics: HDTV and video streaming,
(b) PC and peripherals: WUSB, (c) gaming and mobile
phones: video download, and (d) bulk file transfer
A power amplifier dominates the transceiver’s performance
in terms of its output power, gain and efficiency. The high
frequency applied and the low voltage supplied by the
submicron CMOS process have become obstacles to
achieving high gain and output swing. Dr Guo’s team
has been doing research in silicon-based, millimetre-wave
power amplifiers.
The 60-GHz unilateralised CMOS differential amplifier by
Xiaojun Bi, Yongxin Guo, James Brinkhoff, Mook-Seng
Leong and Fujiang Lin won the Best Student Paper
award in the International Conference on Microwave and
Millimeter-Wave Technology 2010, China. Jointly with
Institute of Microelectronics (IME, A*STAR), Dr Guo’s team
created a general criterion for judging unilateralisation
in a differential amplifier and developed a unilateralised,
60-GHz CMOS power amplifier in a 90-nm CMOS, as
shown in Figure 2. By using a four-port feedback network,
the amplifier can simultaneously obtain gain and stability
improvement within a millimetre-wave band. The amplifier
achieves an output 1dB compression point of +5.1 dBm,
Psat of +8.5 dBm and 7.7% peak PAE while drawing
53 mA from a 1-V supply, as shown in Figure 3.
(a)
(b)
Figure 3: Measured S-parameter and power performance
Figure 2: 60-GHz power amplifier in CMOS
Besides the work mentioned above, Dr Guo’s team
has also been working on (a) high-efficiency chip
and package-level integrated antennas for wireless
communications and biomedical applications, and
(b) modelling, characterisation and design of high-
efficiency, high-power microwave and millimetre-wave
devices based on GaAs and GaN on SiC. His proposal
on integrated antenna systems received the 2009
NUS Young Investigator Award.
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PROF WANG QING-GUO’S PAPER
WON THE TOP PLACE OF CITATIONS FOR
AUTOMATICA 2006-2010
Prof Wang Qing-Guo and his research fellows’ research article entitled “Delay-range-dependent stability
for systems with time-varying delay”, published in Automatica, Vol 43, No. 2, 2007, won the top place in
terms of citations among all the papers published in the journal during 2006–2010. Christopher Greenwell,
Publisher for Control and Signal Processing, Elsevier Ltd, says, “The citation data was taken from Elsevier’s
citation and bibliographic database SCOPUS (www.scopus.com). I have looked at the top 10 articles in
terms of citations, and your article is indeed the top one for the years 2006–2010”. Automatica is one of the
two best journals in the control area. The other is IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.
This most-cited paper investigated the stability analysis
of systems with time-varying delay in a range. Its key
contribution is a novel construction of a new type of
Lyapunov functional. The authors estimate the upper
bound of the derivative of the Lyapunov functional without
ignoring some useful terms, and introduce additional terms
into the Lyapunov functional, which take into account the
range of delay. This enables them to establish improved
stability conditions that are delay dependent and much
less conservative than the existing ones, which are
based on standard or other Lyapunov functionals and
are more conservative. Numerical examples are given
to demonstrate the effectiveness and the benefits of the
proposed method. Their work also motivates others to use
their construction to develop new results for other cases.
Time delay is commonly encountered in natural systems
and in man-made systems such as communication
networks, transportation and chemical, biological,
mechanical and electronic manufacturing processes.
The inclusion of time-delay dynamics is inevitable in
modelling them. The presence of significant time delay
is likely to pose a great difficulty for feedback control
and deteriorate system performance. Thus, stability and
stabilisation of delay systems is fundamentally important
in both theory and applications, and is probably the
hottest topic in control field. In fact, five out of the top
10 most-cited papers of Automatica in 2006–2010 are
on this topic. Stability criteria for time-delay systems can
be classified into two categories: delay-dependent and
delay-independent criteria. Since delay-dependent criteria
make use of information on the size of delays, they are
less conservative than delay-independent ones in general.
During the last decade, considerable attention has been
devoted to the problem of delay-dependent stability
analysis and controller design for delay systems. Fixed
model transformations are the main methods dealing
with delay-dependent stability problems. Among them,
the descriptor model transformation method combined
with Park’s or Moon et al’s inequalities is very efficient.
Prof Wang’s group, in collaboration with Prof Hang Chang
Chieh and Prof Lee Tong Heng, has been active in delay
systems research over the last two decades.
With PhD students Bi Qiang, Zou Biao, Zhang Yu,
Zhang Yong, Liu Min, Ye Zhen and Nie Zhuyun, both
FFT-based frequency domain and integral-based time
domain methods are developed to model delay systems
effectively and efficiently from relay or step tests, and
relevant controller auto tuning techniques are also proposed,
which form a number of patents. With the
help of outstanding research fellows, Dr Zheng Feng,
Dr Lin Chong, Dr He Yong and Dr Hua Changchun,
significant contributions are made on stability and
stabilisation of delay systems. In order to reduce
conservatism, a free-weighting matrix method is proposed
to study the delay-dependent stability for delay systems,
in which the bounding techniques on some cross-product
terms are not involved. On the other hand, although some
delay-dependent stability criteria are presented for systems
with multiple delays, they do not take the relationship among
the delays into account. A new development is provided
to reduce conservatism for multiple time-delay cases by
making use of much information of the time delays. Based
on respective stability analysis results, various stabilising
control design methods via state feedback have been
given. Besides, stabilisation of delay unstable processes
is addressed in great detail with necessary and sufficient
conditions. Loop gain and phase margins for multivariable
feedback systems are defined and computed.
Prof Wang’s research interests are mainly in modelling,
estimation, prediction, control, optimisation and
automation for complex systems, including but not limited
to industrial and environmental processes, new energy
devices, medical engineering and financial markets. He has
published over 300 technical papers, of which nearly 200
are in international journals, and received over 3,000 cross
citations with h-index of 30. He has authored or
co-authored six books entitled Finite Spectrum Assignment
for Time Delay Systems (1999), Advances in PID Control
(1999), Relay Feedback: Analysis, Identification and
Control (2003), Decoupling Control (2003), LMI Approach
to Analysis and Control of Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Systems
with Time Delay (2007) and PID Control for Multivariable
Processes (2008), all published by Springer-Verlag. He
co-holds six patents in the USA and Singapore, two of
which have been licensed in the USA.
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Take Figure 1 as an example. A matchstick figure is shown in (a). By using the Sketch2Photo system, the figure is
automatically converted into the realistic pictures, as shown in (b) and (c). Sketch2Photo, a programme developed by
Asst Prof Tan Ping and his collaborators in Tsinghua University, China, works by searching and analysing thousands of
online images and combining the most suitable ones.
Figure 2 shows the pipeline of the Sketch2Photo system. The input is a user-drawn sketch giving a text label for
each scene item. The system first searches the Internet with the provided text labels. Among returned images, it only
considers “algorithm-friendly” ones, where automatic image analyses tend to succeed. It then cuts out the main object
from these images and optimises the combination of image components to generate a consistent composition.
A paper describing this method was published in the prestigious SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 conference held in Japan.
The Sketch2Photo system was described as “mind blowing”, “coolest” and “most innovative” by several mass media,
including the UK newspaper, the Daily Telegraph as well as Spiegel and many other technique websites. The video demo at
vimeo.com attracted more than one million clicks in the first six months. In addition, Sketch2Photo was recognised as one of
the “10 Netexplorateurs of the Year 2010” (ten most promising digital initiatives in 2010) by Netexplorateurs. Netexplorateur is
a new digital practice observatory that gives out ten awards annually. It operates under the aegis of the offices of Secretary of
State for Strategic Studies, Development of the Digital Economy and the French Senate.
SKETCH2PHOTO:
CONVERT DOODLES TO PICTURES
Many software packages, such as Adobe Photoshop and Pixel Image Editor, exist for photo
editing. However, most of us have very limited skills in manipulating images using high-technology
programmes. But imagine the infinite possibilities we can achieve if we could turn a simple doodle
into a realistic picture.
Figure 1: A freehand sketch is converted into a photo-realistic picture by seamlessly combining multiple image components
retrieved online. The input sketch plus overlaid text labels is shown in (a). Composed pictures are shown in (b) and (c).
Images used in composition are shown in (d)
Figure 2: System pipeline of our preliminary work
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Visit to Golden Gate Bridge during Postdoctoral
attachment at MIT Media Lab
I was nominated for the undergraduate scholarship
programme. But one of the requirements was a
written English essay on any topic. My English writing
skills were very basic and I could barely scribble two
paragraphs about my mother. I could have poured
my heart out for an essay on my mom, but that was
all I could manage in an essay in English. In the end,
surprisingly, I won the scholarship! It gave me the extra
motivation I needed to aim higher.
The first semester at NUS gave me a rather bumpy
start. It was not the cultural shock or the homesickness
that was unbearable. The computers and mode of
communication were. Computers and the English
language were completely new to my world. Most of the
terms used in lectures were beyond my vocabulary and,
as a result, I had a hard time surviving my first semester.
Friends had to help me install software applications. They
even taught me how to use MSN messenger! I knew I had
to do something before it was too late. I started sitting
in the front row in lectures and made it a point never to
skip any. I even carried a small cassette recorder with me
to record the whole lecture. Then I would sit down with
dictionaries to make sense out of the recording. It was
a tiring process, but I enjoyed the challenge.
It was the year 2001 when NUS ECE selected a Sri Lankan undergraduate
who had been ranked 5th in the GCE A-Level examination. Nine years down the
road, on 7 June 2010, this same student stood in front of the NUS community
as Dr Suranga Nanayakkara. This narrative unfolds his story.
WALKING DOWN MEMORY LANE
Looking towards the MIT from the other side of the Charles River
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The “F” I got for my computer programming practical
exam was my wake-up call. I failed because I couldn’t
type the code in time. But I didn’t give up. On the
contrary, I put in a lot of effort not just to pass but to
excel. Finally, all my hard work paid off when I received
all A’s, along with two A* distinctions by the end of the
semester. I was glad that I sailed smoothly through the
rest of the semesters once I got the hang of it. I also
successfully completed a semester at the University of
Birmingham, United Kingdom, on a student exchange
programme. I managed to get involved in extracurricular
activities in addition to the academic subjects I had
taken. It gave me pride to represent TeamNUS cricket for
eight years and to be recognised as “The Most Valuable
Player” in 2007.
Graduating in 2005 with first-class honours, I decided
to pursue my PhD with NUS. I was blessed with three
outstanding research faculty members: Dr Elizabeth
Taylor from TMSI, Prof Lonce Wyse from IDMI and
Assoc Prof Ong Sim Heng from ECE. They supervised
and guided me over the four years of my graduate
studies. They were friendly, approachable and supportive
all the way through. Most importantly, they believed
in me, giving me extra confidence to go through very
difficult situations.
During my four-year doctoral research, I developed a cross-modal sensory system to enhance the musical experience of
the hearing-impaired. Part of this research was carried out in California and Sri Lanka. The system received exceptional
feedback; many hearing-impaired users confirmed that using the system improved their ability to hear music. Our work
was featured in print and electronic media, including NUS research gallery, The Straits Times newspaper in Singapore and
the national television channel in Sri Lanka. We published our work in CHI’09, which was the first-ever full paper by an all-
NUS team accepted for this premier conference.
Presenting my work at CHI’09 was a memorable experience. I got the chance to interact with renowned researchers in the
field of Human Computer Interaction. The CHI experience helped me secure a postdoctoral attachment at MIT Media Lab,
where I am currently working as Postdoctoral Associate.
Overall I had nine wonderful years at NUS. I am grateful that they gave me the opportunity to excel. Looking back,
I am happy to have made the best out of what NUS has given me. I thank all my friends, colleagues and my family for
being there for me all those years. Without them, I wouldn’t have survived.
Visit to Hollywood during student attachment at
University of Southern California
Me and my PhD supervisors – Dr Elizabeth Taylor,
Prof Lonce Wyse, Assoc Prof Ong Sim Heng Beginning of a new journey – PhD commencement
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The year 2000 was special for me.
Not only was it the beginning of a new
millennium but it was also the second
year of my undergraduate life and I
felt a desire to be actively involved in
a campus society. Naturally, I looked
into the Engineering Club. However,
the recruitment period had finished by
the time I got round to it. Seemingly
unfortunate, I was left with only one
choice – the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) student
branch. I went for the election and, by
one vote, became Vice-President of the
branch. The rest was an exciting ride.
My journey with IEEE as an active volunteer was a
humbling experience. The involvement exposed me
at an early age to matters that I would face in a global
organisation. I learnt to work in teams, understand
issues, recommend solutions, listen, speak up only when
required, recover from missed goals, persist forward, and
so on. Volunteering in IEEE gave me the taste of positions
that I later learnt that I needed to hold with wisdom and
humility. It put me in positions that I learnt not to lust after.
It presented opportunities that taught me more about
life and working with people, but it also contradicted
my previously held beliefs (why volunteer when you can
get paid for doing something else in your free time).
While I did get shaken at times with an overload of
responsibilities, I was fortunate to have had the entire
learning experience. One thing that I am sure
is that IEEE is like an open field. It allowed me to do all
I wanted that was good for an institute and for humanity
in general. It is borderless. It allowed my creativity to run
free and wild like an unleashed horse.
The highlight of my experience began at the 1st Asia-
Pacific Student Congress that took place in Singapore
in 2002, which became a biennial congress for Region
10 to be later held in Hong Kong, Beijing, Madras, and,
soon, Auckland. In 2004, a global student award was
implemented after I put up a concept paper. In 2006, the
first global online seminar was launched to serve young
engineering professionals. Today, this has become a
formalised service of IEEE GOLD. In 2008, a humanitarian
fellowship as well as the first humanitarian workshop
was implemented in Boston with a team of committed
volunteers from the USA.
PLEASANTLY SURPRISED
SHARING BY DR DARREL CHONG
Dr Darrel Chong (bottom left) and Prof Lawrence Wong
(top right) at the 2005 IEEE Section Congress
Certainly, I enjoyed the openness that the institute
offered, which gave me space to try out my judgement
and the ability to pull off a project. With this experience
behind me, I am certainly more confident to do similar
tasks in my workplace. I have seen that has happened in
my PhD journey and now my work as Asia & Middle East
Marketing Manager for a global supply chain company.
In a way, I surprised myself. A decade down the road,
I was nominated in 2011 as the Chair to oversee student
activities worldwide. This responsibility requires me to
lead a team of nearly 30 volunteers from all over the
world, supported by capable staff to govern policies,
and run products and programmes to serve more than
100,000 student members globally.
Currently, I am also secretary of IEEE Region 10,
supporting Prof Lawrence Wong, IEEE R10 Director,
to lead the 87,000-member-strong Asia-Pacific.
How do I cope? I let my passion, commitment and
friendships take me as far as I can go.
What motivates you? Try looking out for open fields
and opportunities that will give you space to try out
new ideas to take you away, at least for a while, from
the usual academic pursuit. You might discover a
new side to yourself. More importantly, you might also
find yourself pleasantly surprised to stumble upon an
undiscovered corner of your life.
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Also, they were able to control the aircraft’s movement
using the iPad, on top of the autopilot flight mode.
This iPad design won them the Most Creative award
in the same competition.
An impressive panel of experts from the defence
industry and professors of different disciplines judged
the entries in this event.
(Clockwise from top): Wang Yuxiang, Li Shiyi, Lee Sing Jie, Ang Mei Ling Sharon, Tan Yi Ling and
Phang Swee King (Team advisor)
SAFMC 2011 - ECE TEAM BAGS OVERALL CHAMPION AND MOST CREATIVE
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’
ACHIEVEMENTS
An NUS ECE team consisting of students supervised
by Prof Ben M Chen and Prof Lee Tong Heng won
big time at the Singapore Amazing Flying Machine
Competition 2011 (SAFMC) held on 18 March 2011.
They clinched the Overall Champion rank in Category
D, a category for all universities, polytechnics and junior
colleges in Singapore. The team also bagged the Most
Creative (Gold) and Best Presentation (Silver) awards.
The Championship prize comprised $5,000 cash and five
iPads, while the Creativity prize came with $2,000 cash.
The competition involved a self-designed aircraft that
had to complete a series of tasks including flying through
a doorway, identifying symbols and flying over a beam.
The NUS ECE team was the only team that designed the
aircraft with full autopilot capabilities, which enabled it to
complete the circuit and tasks autonomously.
Another innovation, the iPad controller, was also a major
contribution to the team’s overall achievement. The team
had designed an iPad application, which had various
functions such as live video display from the camera
mounted on the aircraft.
Apple iPad - Ground Control Station, Aircraft and Medals
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TERAHERTZ METAMATERIALS
A Final Year Project (FYP) thesis on terahertz metamaterials by
Han Ningren, an EE4 student, was selected to represent the
Faculty of Engineering for the university-level Outstanding
Undergraduate Researcher (OUR) Prize 2011. A paper entitled
“Broadband Multi-layer Terahertz Metamaterials Fabrication and
Characterization on Flexible Substrates” arising from his thesis
and for which he is the first author, was published in Optics
Express Volume 19, Issue 8, 2011 (http://www.opticsinfobase.
org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-19-8-6990). Ningren’s paper was
also featured under research highlights in the May issue of Nature
Photonics (www.nature.com/naturephotonics), a leading journal
in the field of optics and photonics.
In his work, Ningren employed a multilayer metamaterial scheme
to extend the operating region of terahertz metamaterials
based on split-ring resonators (SRRs) from narrowband to
broadband. The terahertz metamaterials were fabricated by using
femtosecond laser micro-lens array lithography on 100-µm-
thick polyethylene naphthalate films. By stacking up differently
designed, single-layer terahertz metamaterials into a multilayer
configuration, the bandwidth of the resonance response increases
by up to four times that of traditional single-layer metamaterials.
Numerical simulations reveal that the broadband response is
due to a selective excitation of SRR layers inside the multilayer
metamaterials towards certain frequencies within the broadband
response. This work can potentially be applied to broadband
terahertz devices in, for example, biomedical imaging systems.
Ningren was supervised by Assoc Prof Hong Minghui from the
ECE Department and Dr Lim Chin Seong from the Data Storage
Institute (DSI, A*STAR).
The NUS ECE team comprised
five final-year students: Lee Sing
Jie majors in Computer Engineering
while the rest, Ang Mei Ling Sharon,
Li Shiyi, Tan Yi Ling and Wang
Yuxiang, are Electrical Engineering
students. Team advisor, Phang
Swee King, is a PhD student
from the NUS Graduate School
for Integrative Sciences
and Engineering.
SAFMC is organised by Defence
Science Organisation National
Laboratories and Science Centre
Singapore. The winning project is
partially supported by Prof Chen
and Prof Lee’s research projects
funded by Temasek Defence Systems
Institute and Temasek Laboratories.
Team members at the prize presentation ceremony
Han Ningren
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LIQUID INTERFACES – A NEW
CREATIVE ENTERTAINMENT
TECHNOLOGY
In November 2010, a team of students and research
staff from the Mixed Reality Lab led by Assoc
Prof Adrian Cheok walked away with the Creative
Showcase Golden Award at the 7th International
Advances in Computers and Entertainment
Conference, a premier forum for interactive
entertainment, held in Taiwan. The team’s winning
entry was their liquid interface system.
A liquid interface is a tangible, malleable, 3-D, multi touch interface where actuation, representation and
self-configuration occur through the morphing of ferromagnetic fluids, combined with Hall sensing technology.
When the system is configured to act as a xylophone, for example, the liquid interface enables the user to
create 3-D musical sculptures that can be morphed in real time through the user’s direct interaction with the
ferromagnetic fluid. Further, the mallets used to play the “instrument” are fitted with rare-earth magnets that
are repelled by the electromagnets actuating the ferromagnetic fluids, thereby providing resistance and vibration
similar to those experienced when playing a real xylophone.
Prof Cheok’s team members include PhD students Kasun Karunanayaka and Jeffrey Tzu Kwan Valino Koh,
undergraduate students Heng Zhi Wei Jeremy, Liu Yi Jiang and Eishem Bilal Naik, research intern Manoj
Krishnan, and research fellows Dr Mili John Tharakan and Dr Jose R. Sepulveda.
CONFUCIUS CHAT
Wang Xuan, a second-year PhD student, received the Best Oral and Poster
Presentation award for the Communication Technologies and Interface track
at the Young Researchers and PhD Workshop for Research on Innovative
Solutions for Elderly at the 2010 Ambient Assisted Living Forum in Denmark.
She was also ranked third overall at the workshop.
Her winning entry, entitled “Confucius Chat: Mediating Cultural
Communication between Elderly and Children Using New Media”, showcases
an online platform that enables the elderly and the young to “chat” with a
virtual reconstruction of a well-known Chinese social philosopher, Confucius.
Dubbed “Confucius Chat”, this platform represents a new form of cultural
computing aimed at preserving Chinese cultural heritage. To give users a
meaningful chat experience, Confucius Chat is driven by a complex algorithm
utilising advanced natural language processing techniques to accurately
interpret user queries and match them to appropriate entries in a knowledge
database of Confucianism. Building this database required Wang Xuan to
collaborate with Confucian scholars from the Department of Chinese Studies
at NUS, thus making her research interdisciplinary in nature. As an extension of
this work, Wang Xuan is now developing an application to bring Confucius Chat
to users of the Apple iPhone, iPad and iTouch to enable more people to learn
and understand one facet of Asian cultural heritage.
Wang Xuan is supervised by Assoc Prof Adrian Cheok.
GRADUATE STUDENTS’
ACHIEVEMENTS
Wang Xuan
The Liquid Interface System
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If you have any comments on this issue or would like to contribute an article for subsequent ones, please email to e.connect@nus.edu.sg.
Snapshots from last year’s ECE Alumni Family Day
IN APPRECIATION OF
PROF MS LEONG’S CONTRIBUTIONS
The history of the ECE Department may be traced to 1969 when the Faculty of
Engineering (comprising three departments in electrical, mechanical and civil
engineering) was constituted in Prince Edward campus under the then University
of Singapore. After joining the fledgling department in 1973, Dr Leong Mook Seng
contributed to the development of the microwave-related curriculum and facilities
(including the major restructuring that took place in 1977 during the relocation to its
current site on the Kent Ridge campus). Active in building up research programmes
in microwaves and semiconductors, he was promoted to full Professor in 1989.
Following the establishment of the Postgraduate School of Engineering in 1990,
Prof Leong served as Deputy Director (until 1992) and Acting Director (until 1993).
After succeeding Prof Kooi Pang Shyan in 1996 as Head of the Microwave & RF
Group, he led a wide array of research projects with funding provided by external
sponsors. One such project (which he recently handed over to two new colleagues
prior to his retirement) is the multinational collaboration with researchers in Chile,
the United States, Canada, Australia and Bulgaria.
A Fellow of both Electromagnetics Academy (Boston, USA) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (London,
UK), Prof Leong has also been active in the international microwave community. He served as Associate Editor of IEEE
Transactions on Antennas & Propagation (2004–2010) and is on the editorial boards of IET Proceedings on Microwaves,
Antennas & Propagation and Microwave & Optical Technology Letters. In addition, he chaired the organising committees
for Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference and Progress in Electromagnetic Research Symposium when Singapore hosted
these conferences (1999, 2003 and 2009).
His sterling contributions over a career spanning some 40 years are well appreciated by ECE staff, alumni and students,
who collectively wish him a happy retirement.
Prof Leong
Block out the date in your calendar for the
Department’s alumni homecoming! Enjoy a
fun-filled, yet educational, ECE alumni family
day packed with activities and events for
the whole family. Highlights include a magic
and puppet show for the kids, a guided tour
of selected ECE labs, Henna art, caricature
drawing, face painting, balloon twisting,
a sumptuous buffet lunch and a lucky draw.
Admission is free!
Date : 6 August 2011 (Saturday)
Time : 10:30 am to 2:30 pm
Venue : Block EA,
Engineering Auditorium
ECE ALUMNI
FAMILY DAY 2011
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