Final year B.Sc. projects 1999-2000
Tom Naughton, Room 2.104, tomn@cs.may.ie
Optical Correlation
Using lasers it is possible to correlate, and thus compare, several images in a single computation step. This powerful capability has been widely used to enhance real-time recognition systems when electronics alone is found to be too slow. The student will learn about the exciting field of optical correlation and build upon the findings of previous years' projects. This will involve simulating one such processor (the binary joint Fourier transform correlator) using the MATLAB programming environment.
Quantum Computing
It is predicted that quantum computers could perform certain tasks that are thought to be intractable using current computers, for example factoring large numbers in a reasonable amount of time. The name 'quantum computer' is given to those machines that utilise more effectively the same physical theory on which today's silicon chips are based. If realised, these quantum machines will have an immediate impact on computer science; it will be possible to crack public key encryption, guarantee the secrecy of communicated data, build true random number generators, and beat the best current search algorithms. In this project, the student will simulate a quantum computer using the Mathematica programming environment and implement existing quantum computing algorithms.
Models of Computation
Option 1. The machines invented by Emil Post in 1936 have been proved to be universal models of computation. The student will be required to produce a graphical simulator for Post machines and encode a limited number of rules for transforming any instance of a Post machine into an instance of a Turing machine.