Is It The Right Path To Pursue PhD Research?

PhD research is the highest level of academic research conducted in universities and institutes throughout the World. The methods used to conduct Ph.D. research are sound and the data that results from the research must be unique. There are many techniques has been created such as scientific methodologies have been created to ensure the soundness and uniqueness of doctoral research and to secure continuity in research results. The most often employed methodologies are quantitative methods, qualitative methods, comparative methods and clinical trials.

The world is producing a large number of PhD holders and their number is increasing every year. Therefore in this era how can a normal PhD holder can survive? World’s most population countries India and China producing more than 40,000 PhD every year. Most of the PhD has completed their research in a short duration which results in the quality of the graduates is not consistent. And Most of the PhD remains unemployed.

In our research whenever we think of doing the research we always think of  doing something innovative  which can change the world but when we come for real implementation of the idea we found only few things have done in our PhD research. The few things which done usually during PhD seems to be unique. What should we do? And, how to do? It depends on one’s circumstances but the research should contribute something new in the specific domain. 

Silicon Mentor is a place where many new researchers are working together to make something innovative and unique. These young researchers help the research students to pursue their research with some of the unique methodologies. Silicon Mentor have Expertise in different Domain such as Computer vision , Biomedical Research, Digital Signal Processing, Machine Learning , Low Power VLSI , Mixed Signal VLSI , FPGA implementation.

Hardware Co-simulation for Non Memory Mapped Ports using Simulink and System Generator

Hardware or FPGA is a primary requirement for any real time implementation of mathematical algorithms. The main drawback of the process is the limited resources and the interfaces available on the FPGA for the co-simulation process. One of the main highlighted concern is the mapping of the peripheral ports on the FPGA with the algorithm. 

Co-simulation is the best process to use for the real time implementation of the algorithms because the process facilitates the features of the two tools simultaneously. MATLAB is known as the best tool for the implementation of the mathematical algorithms for a number of applications. The other tool System Generator from by the Xilinx is known best for the hardware implementation of the algorithms. 

Both the tools work together simultaneously to real time implementation of the mathematical algorithms on the FPGAs. The complications are their when you want to use the LEDs, Buttons or other output devices. To resolve these problems we manually create the Non Memory Mapped Ports according to the steps given below.

To manually create NMM we need these different Simulink and system generator block sets.

1.       In1

2.       Convert

3.       Gateway In

4.       Out1

5.       Terminator

To generate the library subsystem we have to put these block as in the given fig:1

Fig: 1

The work is almost done we just need to run the given three command on the MATLAB command window after selecting the “Gateway Out” block

>>xlSetNonMemMap(gcbh, 'Xilinx', 'ethernetcosim'); 

>>xlSetPortParams(gcbh, 'IOConstraint', 'NET "pmod0" LOC = U18;');

This command is to map output of the design to the LED of the FPGA. “U18” is the pin location of the LED<0> in our case and can be changed on the basis of different pin location of the FPGAs.

>>dump(xlGetPortParams(gcbh));

This command is to confirm the pin mapping.

To use these blocks, right click after selecting all the blocks and make subsystem of them and put the subsystem wherever you want to use with any Simulink model. 

The block is now ready to use for the NMM.

Hardware Implementation of Image Processing Algorithms

Digital image processing is done to improve the quality of images. The images are processed and enhanced in order to obtain the required information from it. It is an ever expanding field with a number of applications in medicine, space, art, meteorology, etc. Hardware implementation of digital image processing techniques is very commonly done using Verilog-HDL or VHDL gives a logical explanation of any circuit which can be further developed and tested. The main advantage of using HDLs is that any logical input can be simulated on FPGA (Hardware implementation).Application specific hardware implementation offers much greater speed than a software implementation.

Advancements in VLSI technology have made this hardware implementation an attractive, feasible and less time consuming task to undergo.  FPGA is one of the best technologies available for hardware design  because their structure is able to exploit spatial and temporal parallelism .FPGAs are ideal in many embedded systems applications because of their small size, low power consumption ,a number of input-output  ports and logic blocks. Also FPGAs are reprogrammable chips, hence are very versatile to be used.

Algorithms can be implemented in Verilog HDL using Xilinx ISE, MATLAB and MODEL SIM. Hardware implementation of Verilog codes provides us with the ability to verify the logical codes simulated using software. Hardware implementation helps in the co-simulation of the already simulated logic. It helps the designer to reformulate the algorithm.

It provides us an overlook of the way the respective logical circuit will work when brought to real life applications. Also, an idea of the market need of the circuit and how it will actually work, is provided by hardware implementation. The use of reconfigurable hardware to implement algorithms for image processing minimizes the time-to-market cost, provides prototyping and debugging.

Therefore, the reconfigurable devices like FPGA seem to be the ideal choice for implementation of image processing algorithms. SiliconMentor is a team with expertise in the fields both software implementation and hardware prototyping. The team focuses to provide a shared platform for the researchers and innovators by providing guidance in the specified areas.

Importance of Research Paper Publication in Your PhD Research

On internet you can find a million of research papers on different topics of the world. The topics can be related to different research areas such as Engineering, Science, arts or any other topic which can contribute in the advancement of the world in respective areas. Whenever a student enters in Second year or third year of their bachelor education, their mentors start to suggest them to publish their work. In the same scenario Master and PhD level students also publish research papers. Therefore the question arise why should we publish our research? This article is focused on importance of research paper publication in PhD and concludes pint wise the importance of research paper publication in PhD. PhD students usually begin their course to earn title ‘Dr’ in front of their name but after some time they realize that to earn a PhD degree they all need to publish more and more high quality research papers at national as well as international level.

This Research publication during PhD helps them in following ways:

•          Research paper publication is important if somebody wants to remain in academia after completion of the PhD.

•          Every university has their unique procedure to award PhD to their students. The usual process is to submit thesis but in some of the universities PhD students can submit few good quality published research papers instead of PhD thesis.

•          The high quality research papers during PhD helps recruiters to select the best PhD scholars for future academic or researcher position.

•          A high quality research paper helps PhD scholars to stand out from the group of ordinary researchers.

The importance of research paper publication can also be understood using an example. Let us suppose an academic or industrial organization want to test or measure the researcher reputation in national as well as international level for hiring or funding purpose. 

In that case the organization may pursue the following procedure.

•          The number of research papers and the quality.

•          The impact of research in terms of number of citations.

•          National and international level research papers.

•          National and international level research funding received.

There are many more factors for which a PhD scholar should publish a research paper anybody can explore it at Silicon Mentor.