The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Communication Systems

Research in Communication Systems includes mobile technologies for social and economic development; cognitive, semantic and related technologies for productivity enhancement, and network and application performance studies.

Research in new and emerging communications technologies focuses heavily on the performance analysis of wired and wireless high-speed, multiservice networks. The group is actively engaged in, for example, the evaluation of IP networks in wired and wireless environments, mobility management for wireless networks, mobile IP and the performance of TCP in wireless as well as mobile environments. This work is conducted both on simulated platforms as well as on a multiservice carrier-grade hardware platform hosted in the Nortel Networks Communications Laboratory in the Department.

The Communication Systems Group has a keen interest in technical areas, such as spectrum management and monitoring that relate to telecommunications regulation and policy.

The group has enjoyed the gracious support of industry and international organisations for a number of years. Support has been forthcoming in a variety of ways from TTNIC, Nortel Networks, Lucent Wireless Networks Group, Digidata, TSTT, The Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, Microsoft Caribbean, NGC, OAS, ICL, IBM, TTARS and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Computer Systems Engineering

Research in Computer Systems Engineering is carried out in the areas of computer architecture and organisation, advanced computer architecture, microprocessor and microcontroller based hardware and software design, design of application specific parallel architectures, embedded systems, supercomputer technologies, image processing and artificial intelligence and robotics.

Control Systems

Automation, control and instrumentation theory is crucial to measurement and product quality control. Control plays a vital role in regulating machines and processes to close tolerances. The Control Systems Group conducts research in industrial control and instrumentation systems analysis, design and implementation. This includes the application of electronic, computer and communications technologies to the programming, design and application of advanced control strategies on Real Time Embedded Controllers, Programmable Logic Controllers and Distributed Computer Control Systems.

Electronic Systems

Research in this area involves the design and testing of new analogue circuit configurations using operational amplifiers and linear integrated circuits. Other areas under investigation include the design and application of a new form of transconductance amplifier, the use of current feedback techniques in small and large signal design and the evaluation of current conveyors and their comparison with operational amplifiers in the design of voltage amplifiers, filters, multiphase oscillators and gyrators.

Energy Systems

Research in Energy Systems is related to real operating and planning problems encountered in the industry. Emphasis is placed on special problems related to peculiarities of small, isolated systems as obtained in all the Caribbean countries. The Energy Systems Group conducts research in electricity generation, with renewable and conventional sources, and its transmission and distribution. Current research activities include consideration of the effects of large loads, such as arc furnaces, on the system operation and the life span of equipment; simulation of various electromechanical and electromagnetic transient phenomena; introduction of wind energy systems to a grid; linear and non-linear optimisation problems as applied to power systems and design and simulation of power electronic drives. The Group additionally conducts research in the application of power electronics to electrical drive systems.

Research is being conducted in the electronic control of machines and drives where induction motors are being controlled using rotor field-oriented control and digital signal processing methods. Electro-magnetic interference and radio frequency interference problems are being studied as well as power factor correction in the presence of harmonics.