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Douglas A. Palmer |
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SUMMARY
Dr. Palmer works in applied physics and information science. He specializes in solving problems requiring digital
signal processing, unconventional imaging, digital communications, system engineering, high-speed digital
networks, ASICs and real-time computer software. He has assisted in the startup and funding of many high-technology
companies. At Cal-(IT)2 he is developing innovative new technologies in embedded network processors, wireless
systems and medical instrumentation.
RESEARCH AREASTechnology for Emergency MedicineAs part of several programs, such as WIISARD (and several startups), I have been privileged to work with several excellent physicians in applying advanced technology to lifesaving medical devices for emergency departments.CalRadio - Embedded Network Processor TestbedThis is a unique 802.11b testbed. It incorporates an RF (802.11) unit, TI microprocessor and audio interface. It allows the researcher to reprogram the MAC to any protocol in 'c' language. See the CalRadio website for more information.VISAThe Virtual Instruction Set Architecture for future processors is a type of processor that has an extensible instruction set. It provides a clear migration path from software to hardware for greatly enhanced speed and code resuability.High-speed network switches and protocolsSwitches with the ability to route large volumes of video data are an area of interest. A startup I was associated with, Sistolic Inc., endeavored to build the world's fastest switches.Neural Finite Element ModelsFinite Element Modeling of systems can be greatly enhanced by utilizing the power of neural networks to emulate the physical processes in the nodes. I have used this scheme for flow models (Navier-Stokes) and found it to be very effective at increasing the speed and accuracy of modeling.EDUCATIONPh.D. Physics, Yale UniversityM. Phil. Physics, Yale University B.A. Physics, Magna Cum Laude, UCSD Revelle College BACKGROUND
Contact InformationEmail: dapalmer@soe.ucsd.eduPhone: +1(858)822-4579 Mobile: +1(858)945-3684 URL: http://www.calit2.net/ University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Dr. La Jolla, CA 92093-0436 PATENTS7,143,563 Tie and tie method for binding together adjacent support elements6,661,804 Methods and apparatus for providing quality-of-service guarantees in computer networks 6,285,481 Free-space laser communications error control system 6,246,702 Methods and apparatus for providing quality-of-service guarantees in computer networks 6,141,355 Time-synchronized multi-layer network switch for providing quality of service guarantees in computer networks 6,012,330 Method and apparatus for the artificial triggering of lightning 5,861,817 System for, and method of, displaying prices on tags in supermarkets 5,830,150 Method and apparatus for displaying data 5,435,312 Acoustic imaging device 5,417,218 Acoustic imaging device 5,357,964 Doppler imaging device 5,305,752 Acoustic imaging device 5,195,135 Automatic multivariate censorship of audio-video programming by user-selectable obscuration MY MOST FUN PROJECTS
Dennis Conner Sailing SimulatorBefore the 1992 America's Cup Race I developed a sailing simulator for the Dennis Conner team that ran on a 33MHz PC and accurately predicted and displayed the response of America's Cup class racing yachts in realistic sailing conditions. The model continuously solved the Euler equations for the vessel motion while taking into account all of the AeroHydrodynamics of the hull, rigging, fin, rudder and sails. The bottom fell out of the market for simulators at this time but the math/program is still there and could be resurrected.Adaptive OpticsWhile at Western Research, later renamed TheroElectron Technologies, I worked on the 500 element adaptive optics system with many brilliant scientists. This was in the mid to late eighties, way ahead of its time. The same systems are used today in earth-bound astronomical telescopes for atmospheric correction i.e. to remove the "twinkle" from stars.Bomb DetectionI assisted Thermedics Detection in devloping software to analyze the signals from their Egis, portable bomb detection and drug detection system. The system was a portable detection station using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to find chemical traces at the part per billion level or much better. The software utilized a neural network to not only detect the characteristic signals of the explosive but also to give a confidence level to the signal interpretation as an aid in characterizing the importance of the finding.Shelf TagThe shelf tag was a device to display the price information on a product on supermarket shelves. Normally this is done with little stickers called skew cards. As many as 10,000 of these are changed in a week in retail outlets and mistakes often occur. The shelf tag I patented with Marco Thompson utilized a solar photovoltaic power source, LCD display and optical receiver. A handheld unit beamed a laser at the tag to program it - noting location and performance. See US Pat # 5,861,817.ToyI was hired as a consultant to develop a system for wireless communications for a toy by a huge media/entertainment conglomerate! The toy had to be manufactured for less than $4 and had to include a means for communicating wirelessly in extremely diverse environments. Multi-path and fading channels were just a part of the problem - poor quality transmit and receive components had to be accomodated.In the end, a Non-orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing scheme was used.
IXA ArchitectureAt Path 1 network technologies we sought to develop a powerful video gateway capable of taking 160 channels of video into and out of a 1 Gbit IP transport stream for the cable industry. The job was complicated by sensitive timing issues, packet loss, poor QoS and rigid demands of the cable industry. We chose to use the Intel IXA architecture for this job and were eternally grateful. What appeared to be a job suited for ASICs or gatearrays was accomodated in micro-code with the ability to alter the code remotely.Ultrasonic imagingAt ThermoTrex Corp. it was decided to attempt internal ultrasonic imaging (medical) through a new process - utilizing phase! Most ultrasound machines utilize time-of-flight information to reconstruct an image. We digitized in quadrature, extracted amplitude and phase and then through a complex reconstruction process generated extremely accurate images.TRIADSTRIADS was an interactive Digital Signal Processing development environment. It ran on PCs and enabled the user to quickly develop and test complex optical processing systems. It was developed at ThermoTrex and utilized extensively to develop all forms of unconventional imaging systems such as: medical imaging, utlrasound imaging, x-ray imaging and microwave imaging systems. It was sold commercially for a number of years.Finite element Hydro CodeI was asked to develop a re-entry vehicle simulation to yield drag, IR signature, pressures and fluxes as nose-cones entered the atmosphere. This was a "Star Wars" project for sensor development. The real challenge. It had to be done in 30 days with full graphical, real-time display. I chose to do it on a PC to get fast turn-around from code modification to inspection and back. Surprisingly it only took 2000 lines of code and produced results that were comparable to the specialized super-computing hydro-code machines at Los Alamos.Eagle EyeEagle Eye was a system for detecting and tracking people and objects at great distance and for providing covert communications. The system utilized a scanning laser beam, atomic line filter and a corner-cube retroreflector. A helicopter flying over the ocean at 10,000 feet could locate a seaman or downed pilot almost instantly. The retroreflector for the person on the ground carried a price of about $1.00. For locating downed pilots, lost hikers, sailors at sea etc. the system was unexcelled. The retros could be placed in helmets, on liferafts or in emergency kits. For the military the system was designed to allow "spoiling" or modulating the retro for highly covert communications. The applications in IFF are numerous. I originated this system in 1988 at ThermoTrex and the company demonstrated it and spent five years trying to market it to the DoD, Coast Guard etc. Everyone turned it down. It has recently been re-invented at DARPA and is receiving lots of attention - 15 years later.VideoFreedomVideoFreedom is a system for allowing television viewers to control the explicit content of television programming on their own televisions. The system begins by the producers of television content encoding tiny blocks of data in their videos showing where, in each frame, there is explicit content and what the level is and then the television at home can blur that portion of the picture. Voila, producers have the freedom to film what they want and viewers can select their level of comfort. See: www.videofreedom.tv.Anesthesia MonitorWorking with Dr. N. Ty Smith, of the UCSD Medical Center I set about developing a display system that would allow anesthesiologists to view many hundreds of monitored parameters and quickly look for trouble and diagnose the system. The result was a kind of spreadsheet/strip chart that was capable of being scrolled, expaned and lumped into systems for speedy monitoring. It was awarded US Patent #5,830,150.
Printed Sheet MusicWith a group of friends (including the chairman of the UCSD music department) we created a startup to develop a musical store retrieval and printing system for music stores. Using the new CDROM medium we wanted to build kiosks for music stores that would allow enthusiasts to print any of thousands of musical scores or to put them in electronic (MIDI) form. My task was to develop the encoding and printing format. I created the format and a font in Postscript that did the trick (for examples of the printed scores see: Brahms.pdf and Scarlatti.pdf). The company was a resounding technical and marketing success but it failed because the main U.S. copyright holder would not grant us licenses for the scores!BoltBlockerBoltBlocker is a patented technique US Pat #6,012,330 for triggering lightning by shooting a jet of conductive water/salt solution a hundred meters in the air during an electrical storm. The jet is triggered by an electric field meter at just the right time before a natural bolt would occur. The lightning discharge can then be safely guided to ground. Think of it as a 300 foot tall lightning rod erected in a tenth of a second. The object of BoltBlocker is to protect people and structures from lightning. More details can be found at www.boltblocker.com.
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