The dynamic range processor is a DSP function which does as it says on the tin; it compresses the dynamic range of the incoming signal. This is used most commonly in the music industry for its effects on the perceived loudness of audio. It is also used extensively in hearing aids to compensate for the user’s reduced dynamic range of hearing. In this project a hardware accelerator is developed for the purpose of dynamic range compression of digital audio. This accelerator will be implemented in a mixed-signal infrastructure.

The integration of the DMA350 into the nanosoc re-usable SoC architecture will improve the transfer bandwidth on DMA channels within the SoC.  This project integrates the DMA 350 into nanosoc, validates the integration and functionality of the DMA 350, and compares the performance of the DMA 350 to the PL230, that was the initial DMA controller integrated into nanosoc.

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have been proven useful for smart factories and have the potential to revolutionize critical missions, such as disaster rescue. AMRs can perceive the environment, plan for assigned tasks, and act on the plan. Motion control is critical to the robot's action, which is accomplished through trajectory optimization to refine the robot's states using a physics model. However, the high computational complexity of trajectory optimization poses significant challenges for AMRs with limited power and computing resources.

Performing system-level verification on a System-on-Chip (SoC) design is crucial for ensuring the correct function and overall performance of the entire system, rather than individual components. With NanoSoC, there are multiple options for performing system-level verification.

This project focuses on developing a plant growth monitoring system for space exploration missions using the ARM Cortex-M0 microcontroller core. The projects aim to develop a SOC based on ARM M0 core for interactive plant monitoring by interfacing AHB lite, GPIO, timers, and communication protocols such as UART, I2C, SPI, and co-processors.  This project also proposes two co-processors for interactive plant monitoring and control. One AI co-processor for classification and prediction of plant and environmental data.

CMOS image sensors (CIS) play a crucial role in the imaging industry. CIS produces low-quality images in low-light conditions. Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) is a device used for low-light imaging because of its ability to detect single photons of light. To detect a single light photon, SPAD is biased above its breakdown voltage (Gieger mode). When the photon hits the active area during Geiger mode, a significant reverse current (avalanche current) is observed.

Efficiency in hardware is vital as neural network models become more complex to tackle challenging problems, and optimizing ML hardware architectures has become a crucial research area. Scientists around the world, such as particle physicists at CERN need to accelerate their ML models in FPGA or custom ASICs for various applications including compressing the gigantic amount of data generated by the detectors at Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Neural networks have enabled state-of-the-art approaches to achieve impressive results on many image processing and analysis tasks. However, while gigapixel images are gaining ground in domains like satellite imaging and digital pathology, feeding neural networks directly with these ultra-high-resolution images is still computationally challenging. With a growing number of high-resolution computer vision applications being proposed, the need for an efficient and powerful AI acceleration system targeting gigapixel images rises.

Modern Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are known to be computationally and memory costly owing to the deep structure that is constantly growing. A reconfigurable design is crucial in tackling this difficulty since neural network requirements are always evolving. The suggested architecture is adaptable to the needs of the neural network.