Figure 1: Interaction and Integration of Sub-Projects
The Computer and Communication Research Center (CCRC) of National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) led by Professor Wen-Tsuen Chen has been carrying out a series of important research projects. Among those include the Program for Promoting Academic Excellence of Universities (PPAEU) supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE) (in which Professor Wen-Hsiang Tsai, National Chiao-Tung University (NCTU) served as a Co-PI, 2000-2004), the Phase II of PPAEU supported by National Science Council (NSC) (in which Professor Wen-Hsiang Tsai served as a Co-PI, 2004-2008), and the Top-Notch Program in NTHU supported by the MOE’s 5-year 50-billion top university development plan. Because of its research achievements, the research team led by Professor Chen is among the best of Taiwan in the fields of computer and communication, and received various well-deserved international recognitions. Furthermore, the IC Design Technology Center (DTC) led by Professors Jyuo-Min Shyu and Cheng-Wen Wu comprises a solid research team. DTC is in a leading position domestically and has a great reputation worldwide. This project directed by Professor Chen combines members of both research centers. This joint project’s major goals are accelerating the invention of communication technology and chip technology, strengthening global cooperation, and enhancing Taiwan’s international competitiveness for its related industries. We hope this research center will become one of top international research centers within five years. Professor Chen was the former president of NTHU and is currently the Distinguished Chair Professor of NTHU and the Lifelong National Chair of MOE. In view of Professor Chen’s outstanding academic research record and administrative experience, he is certainly the most suitable person to lead this project. This program includes four sub-projects as shown in Figure 1.
Professor Jang-Ping Sheu is the PI of sub-project 1, “Advanced Network Technologies and Cloud Computing.” The research topics include wireless sensor networks, mobile communication networks, vehicular networks, and cloud computing. Professor Cheng-Shang Chang is the PI of sub-subproject 2, “Fundamental Networking Issues.” The research topics include network science, high-speed switching, optical communications and optical switch. Network science is an emerging field that tries to unify various theories originally developed for the Internet, power grids, social networks, biological networks, physical science, and life science. It is expected to have profound impact on various fields. Professor Bor-Sen Chen is the PI of sub-project 3, “Wireless Communications.” The research topics include cognitive networks, cooperative wireless communications, security communications, wideband communications, coding and system optimization. Professor Youn-Long Lin is the PI of sub-project 4, “Chip Design Technology.” The main theme of this sub-project will be integration of chip design technology focusing on technologies for communication chips, 3D IC, and wireless testing for chips.
Figure 1: Interaction and Integration of Sub-Projects
In the past ten years, by executing important research programs, NTHU has nurtured many talents in the fields of communications and networking. These talents have joined industry and fostered a vigorous development of networking and communications business. The Chip Design Technology Center has done innovative research resulting in spin-off of companies. Among them, the most successful one is Global Unichip co-founded by Professor Youn-Long Lin. The company is listed in the stock market since 2006 and became the largest chip design service corporation in Taiwan. In addition, there are two newly founded companies spinned off from the Center: Tinnoteck and HOY Technologies Corporation. NTHU also cooperates with some of the world-renowned corporations in Taiwan (such as Mediatek, Novatek, Delta Electronics, etc.) through joint research centers to promote industrial technology research. Moreover, some international corporations such as Google, Microsoft, and IBM have provided a lot of resources for cloud computing research in the recent years. The research in this field will improve the competitive ability of IT industries in the world. Network/communication and chip design are both important industries in Taiwan. We believe that the research results and talents nurtured will contribute significantly to the development of industries and society in Taiwan.
The annual funding of this research team is over 150 million NT dollars in total, including about 30 millions NT dollars from industry-university cooperation with Mediatek, Novatek, and Delta Electronics, 10 millions NT dollars from cooperation with the Institute for Information Industry (III) and the Industrial Technology Research Institute, and about 45 millions NT dollars from “Technology Development Programs for Academia” supported by MOE. In the past 5 years, the research team has technology transferred more than 30 items and received more than 20 millions NT dollars in technology transfer fee. This research team has already been granted over 80 patents, and there are more than 120 pending patent applications.
Because of the proximity to NCTU and good cooperation experience in the past, our center will cooperate closely with the Microelectronics and Information Systems Research Center of NCTU. In additional to the past cooperation with NCTU through PPAEU programs, currently Professor Wen-Tsuen Chen also serves a Co-PI of the Eco-City project at NCTU. Furthermore, besides cooperation with internationally renowned companies in Taiwan such as Mediatek and Novatek as well as ITRI, our research team will also cooperate with international top research centers such as Telcordia, formerly AT&T Bell Laboratory. By cooperating with the team led by Dr. Russel Hsing (IEEE Fellow) in Telcordia, we can enhance our experience and research results in technologies and applications in the field of vehicular ad hoc networks. Dr. Philip S. Yu (an IEEE Fellow and ACM Fellow) affiliated with University of Illinois at Chicago is one of the leaders in database systems and data mining technologies. Cooperating with Professor Yu can help us enhance the analysis of wireless, sensor, or vehicular networks. As to security issues in cloud platforms, we are going to cooperate with the Research Center of Theoretical Computer Science led by Professor Chi-Chih Yao in Tsinghua University (in Beijing). Professor Yao is the only Asian who has ever won the Turing Award. He is also the leader in computing theory and information security. By cooperating with Professor Yao, we can deeply enhance the theory and analysis of security techniques on cloud platforms. We will also cooperate with Professor Cheng-Neng Huang affiliated with University of Washington, Seattle to focus on multimedia multicast in WiMAX. Finally, we will cooperate with other top universities such as UC Irvine, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as well as famous transnational corporations like Microsoft and Google for the related issues in the communications and networking fields.