New Purdue centers shaping the future

Stock photo of a drone flying in the air. The background in a blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds.
The Center for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems aims to develop new advanced control systems. (iStock)

ECE leading the way in autonomous UAS research and development, the future beyond 5G, and cutting-edge AI and HPC tools

Elmore Center for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems

The Elmore Center for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) will conduct research on advanced control algorithms and develop prototypes for safe, trustable, and economic autonomous UAS. This center is a multidisciplinary effort led by faculty from the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Yung-Hsiang Lu, professor of electrical and computer engineering, is the center lead. Shreyas Sundaram, Marie Gordon Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering is the co-lead. The center will provide a tiered approach to create and evaluate commercially viable UAS technologies. The first tier uses simulation to evaluate control algorithms and artificial intelligence for situational understanding. The second tier builds miniature cities and conducts experiments in natural and controlled environments at Purdue UAS Research and Test Facility (PURT). PURT houses the largest indoor motion-capture environment in the world with an area of 20,000 sq ft and a ceiling 30 ft high. The motion-capture system provides ground truth data for algorithm development and enables virtual and augmented reality. The third tier conducts outdoor experiments with line of sight between the UAV and the researchers. The fourth tier launches experiments beyond line of sight.

Professor David Love poses for a portrait. He is wearing a white button up shirt and a black suit jacket.
David J. Love, Nick Trbovich Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Purdue University photo/Christine Petkov)

XGC Center Looks at 5G and Beyond

The overall question driving the research of Purdue Universitys NEXT G Center (XGC) for Communications and Sensing is “What comes after 5G?” The team for the center is primarily made up of faculty from the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. David J. Love, Nick Trbovich Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is director of the center. 

The centers research includes the following thrusts:

  • Advanced broadband connectivity with the goal of achieving higher data rates, lower latencies, and improved reliability that would serve as the foundation for emerging applications, such as autonomous vehicles, advanced gaming, AR/VR, and telemedicine.
  • Wireless research impacting agriculture and rural activities. James V. Krogmeier, professor of electrical and computer engineering, says this involves wireless capabilities far from traditional infrastructure.

XGC is also partnering with the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program, which provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to earn academic credit while engaging in research and design projects related to active research areas of Purdue faculty members and national, international, and industry-sponsored design challenges.

Professor Lu poses for a portrait in the atrium of the MSEE building. He is wearing a light shirt with a red tie.
Yung-Hsiang Lu, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Purdue University photo/Christine Petkov)

oneAPI Center of Excellence to Advance AI and HPC Teaching in the US

oneAPI is an open, multiarchitecture, multivendor programming model for CPUs and accelerator architectures, such as graphics processing units and field programmable gate arrays. Milind Kulkarni, Interim Head of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of ECE, is the director of the center. Based on standards, oneAPI simplifies software development and delivers uncompromised performance for accelerated computing without proprietary lock-in. This is accomplished while enabling the integration of existing code. oneAPI allows developers to choose the best accelerator architecture for the specific problem they are trying to solve without needing to rewrite software for the next architecture and platform.
 
The oneAPI Center of Excellence is building oneAPI multiarchitecture programming concepts into the ECE curriculum; Purdue faculty will use curated content from Intel, including teaching kits and certified instructor courses. Faculty and students will be provided access to the latest Intel hardware and oneAPI software tools via Intels Developer Cloud. David Inouye, assistant professor of ECE, will teach the pilot course in which oneAPI curriculum will be incorporated.
 
The collaboration also will connect Purdue students and researchers with Intel engineers, providing opportunities to discuss new innovations and developments in accelerator research, said Timothy Rogers, associate professor of ECE and the Purdue-Intel liaison.