This project is for the support of Communications, Signal Processing Expert Systems and the Application Specific Integrated Circuit Design (CSA) Laboratory in the Departments of Electronics and Computer Technology, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at North Carolina A&T State University. This Laboratory is an integration of three ongoing research programs at NC A&T: i) the Communication Methods Research Laboratory, ii) the VLSI Design Laboratory and ii) the Signal Processing Laboratory which support a total of 7 faculty members 20 graduate (MS) students and 25 undergraduate students in the departments. This project will support an integrated facility of which algorithm development, computer modeling and simulation, and application specific VLSI design can take place in the aforementioned research areas. The facility will consist of 2 image processing/graphics workstations, 5 VLSI CAD workstations, 4 AI expert system workstations, dedicated file and computational servers, data acquisition equipment, image I/O devices, a high speed IC packaged chip tester, several application software packages, and networking capabilities to SURNet. The new facility will not only expand and enhance current research projects but will also create an environment which can initiate new projects in communication, expert systems, and ASIC design. Another byproduct of the proposed facility is the support of computing activities for the entire university, showing by example the impact that a dedicated research laboratory can have at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU).
