Eric's Master's Thesis
I have spent the last year working at the Tulsa campus of the University of Oklahoma. My professor Hazem Refai moved up here from Norman last year, and at the end of last year I moved to Tulsa as well. I am currently on my third project. The first project involved creating a Bluetooth device which would allow a mobile headset to talk to multiple devices in an area, such as mobile phones, computers, toasters, or any other Bluetooth compatible device. The software aspect seemed to be working, however, I was never able to overcome the hurdle of the hardware. When it became obvious that the issue surrounding the hardware could go on indefinitely, my professor and I moved me to another project that he felt could be completed quickly. I was to use a software system, Opnet, to measure interference between 80211B devices and Bluetooth devices. It would have allowed me to use my Bluetooth knowledge, and also complete a project relatively quickly. However, the Opnet had used shortcuts in its radio package to get around certain interference issues. These work arounds worked around the exact sort of testing that I was attempting to do. With little input from Opnet, I was attempting to reprogram their software to incorporate the kind of interference I needed. After finally getting ahold of the right person in the company, I found out the changes I was trying to implement were exactly what they were dealing with in the next version of Opnet and they were anything but trivial. Currently I am using MatLab in order to simulate freespace optics in a foggy environment, and attempting to enhance the data rate in certain conditions. I will then write a thesis containing my findings and defend it to my committee. I will then look for a job, preferably in robotics or digital image processing.
