Sensors used in medical instruments and imaging, wireless communications, and radar and sonar are only as good as the user’s ability to process the massive amount of data generated. Thanks to a generous gift from Carleton graduates Dipak and Tara Roy, a new advanced senor processing laboratory is enabling students and researchers to collect and study real-world sensor data to develop the next generation of radio frequency and acoustic multi-channel applications.
Carleton opened the Dipak and Tara Roy Advanced Sensor Processing Laboratory in November 2011. The lab will help focus research to take wireless communications further, to improve medical instruments and imaging, and to strengthen the intelligence and defence industries.
“My intent is more than just lab-specific. I want to create a centre of excellence,” says Dipak Roy, Chairman of D-TA Enterprises Inc. He says there’s not much research being done on sensor processing in Canada and he would love to see Carleton become a national leader in this type of engineering. “The lab is already delivering on one of its mandates—to delevop skills in a displine that has a serious shortage of skilled manpower. It is also becoming a model for how industry and academia should work together to create a win-win environment.”
Roy’s company D-TA Systems will provide financial and technical support, including the donation of the lab’s signature piece of equipment, the D-TA Systems Multi-Sensor Interface. Once connected with a computing platform and Carleton’s research-related acoustic and radio frequency sensors, students can explore a variety of advanced applications that were previously hindered by the complexities of hardware interfacing.
Roy came to Canada in 1972 to pursue his PhD in electrical engineering at Carleton. It’s where he met Tara (a BCom graduate), earned his PhD, and laid the foundation for his engineering career. “I learned a great deal from Carleton. I owe my success to Carleton,” he says. Roy started a defence electronics company called Interactive Circuits Systems Ltd. in 1978, which is now part of General Electric. Roy also founded and is currently involved with two high-technology companies in Ottawa and Washington.
“As a student, Dr. Dipak Roy was attracted to Carleton by the brilliance of internationally recognized faculty. Dr. Roy has now provided us the environment to make that excellence sustainable,” says Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton. “With such extraordinary facilities we will be able to continue offering our students the fine education and research opportunities which have established Carleton’s reputation in engineering and which have led to the highly distinguished careers of exceptional graduates such as Dr. Roy.”
