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\title{iWarp Group Has Cool Project For Two EE Or CS Undergraduates}
\author{ Contact Peter A. Dinda (pdinda@cs.cmu.edu) }
\begin{document}

\maketitle

The iWarp group is looking for two EE or CS undergraduates to implement
an iWarp-based system to demonstrate the newly discovered phase
rotation FFT in a unique and fun way.  The phase rotation FFT is a new
way of computing the discrete Fourier transform which is easy to
pipeline.  The current iWarp implementation works at a rate of five
million samples per second, regardless of the size of the input data
set.

The idea for this project is to combine iWarp's sophisticated A/D and
D/A, the FFT, and demodulation techniques to build an AM radio.
Although it may seem perverse to use $1/2$ million dollars of
equipment to emulate a \$3 radio, the result will be a very effective
and easy-to-grasp demonstration of the pipelined phase rotation FFT.
We call the project ``iWarp Radio.'' iWarp Radio divides naturally
into two parts.  The first part seems perfect for a junior or senior
EE student and consists of:

\begin{enumerate}
 \item{Designing and building an antenna}
 \item{Designing or adapting an RF preamplifier}
 \item{Modifying an iWarp video board to sample the pre-amped antenna and
          produce a suitable sample stream}
 \item{Interfacing with the FFT implementation}
 \item{Writing code to do digital demodulation in frequency domain given
       tuning information (see below)}
 \item{Possibly modifying an iWarp output board for audio output directly on 
       the iWarp}
\end{enumerate}

The second part of the project seems perfect for a junior or senior
CS student and consists of:

\begin{enumerate}
 \item{Writing code to communicate audio samples from the iWarp back to
       its Sun host and to send tuning information from the host to the iWarp}
 \item{Writing a TCP/IP socket-based server for the Sun host that will
       forward clients' tuning requests to the iWarp and iWarp-generated
       audio samples to clients}
 \item{Writing an X-based client application that will mimic a radio
       interface and play the server-forwarded audio samples.}
 \item{Possibly creating a WWW page/server to allow people from all over 
       the world to try iWarp Radio}
\end{enumerate}

Because the two parts of the project can proceed pretty much
independently, we feel that two motivated students should be able to
get iWarp Radio up and running in a semester of (part time) work.  If
this seems daunting, keep in mind that the iWarp group wants you to
succeed and will help you through any difficulties - we {\em don't}
expect you to accomplish everything entirely on your own.

The project is an excellent opportunity to work in a research
environment.  In addition to exercising your hardware/software design
and implementation knowledge, you will also gain valuable experience
in programming a parallel and systolic computer, a strong
understanding of Fourier analysis and modulation techniques, and
experience in client-server computing.  

We would be happy to work within the context of an honors thesis or
other research requirement you may have. We do expect a serious 
commitment to working regularly and completing the project.

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