2006 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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National University of Ireland, Maynooth
S�amus McLoone, John Ringwood and Se�n McLoone
Faculty of Engineering

Since its inception in 2000, the Department of Electronic Engineering has worked steadily to develop its research effort and a measure of the success achieved is evidenced by the current scale of research activity. Over the past year, department staff secured over �5m in research funding over a number of projects ranging from biomedical engineering to microelectronics, with an associated increase in postgraduate student numbers to over 30, along with the addition of a number of full-time senior researchers. Funding sources include SFI, EU, Enterprise Ireland and industrial sources. The topics below indicate some of current research activity within the faculty.


Distributed Applications Research

The Distributed Interactive Applications Group (DIAG) at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth was formed in 2002. Their key role is to explore the issue of latency in distributed applications such as networked computer games and virtual networked environments. Latency is the time it takes packets of information to get from one computer to another across a network and is a function of the paths travelled by the packets. The construction of high speed networks will not eliminate this problem. Hence we must concentrate our efforts on providing users with a quality interactive experience in the presence of latency, essentially combating the effects of latency by concentrating on the end user's perceptual capabilities.

We intend to use knowledge of player psycho-perception to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted between users in distributed games. This psycho-perceptual measure can be determined in a variety of fashions, ranging from simple feedback questionnaires to more complex measurements such as eye gaze data.


Using eye gaze data to determine user perception in a virtual environment.


Dynamics and Control Systems Research

Research in the Dynamics and Control Research Group, led by Prof. John Ringwood and Dr. Se�n McLoone, currently focuses on areas ranging from analysis and control of semiconductor manufacturing processes to the modelling of the cardiovascular system. Semiconductor manufacturing, which is a high value process, is still largely recipe based, relying on years of experience in producing high quality processed weafers with as high a yield as possible. Current research at NUI Maynooth investigates the possibility of applying mathematical modelling and feedback control techniques to actively control the manufacturing processes, in an attempt to better cater for inter-weafer variability and any other disturbances in the system. This research is funded by both SFI (in conjunction with DCU) and Intel.

A further control application deals with the area of wave energy devices. With an enviable wave climate and a number of wave energy device developers, Ireland is poised to make a serious impact in this area. Research at NUI Maynooth focuses on the design of controllers which can optimise the performance of wave energy converters. In particular, a new controller which allows the efficient production of potable water from wave energy devices has been developed and attention is now focussed on a controller to optimise electricity generation. Research funding in this area is from Enterprise Ireland.

For further information: Contact: Dr. Bob Lawlor,
Department of Electronic Engineering,
NUI Maynooth, Co. Kildare.
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.eeng.nuim.ie