July 28, 2010
School of Engineering, Coimbatore
 

Seven faculty members from the Amrita Schools of Arts and Sciences, Biotechnology, Business and Engineering will be in Europe for upto 18 months in selected universities to work on research projects of their choice.
 

Dr. E. P. Sumesh from Amrita School of Engineering at Coimbatore will spend 10 months in Helsinki (Finland) working on digital signal processing. Below is a report filed by him of his experiences abroad.
 

I am working in Aalto (formerly TKK) University, Helsinki, Finland as a post-doc researcher as part of the India4EU program. My guide is Prof. Risto Wichman, Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics. In fact, Prof. Wichman started guiding me in my work when I applied for the program, and six months before the actual start date.
 

The department here provides excellent opportunities in diversified areas in Electronics and Communications Engineering. Major areas of research in the department include wireless communication and signal processing.
 

My research work explores the applicability of wavelets and multi-wavelets in multi-carrier communication techniques in a wireless environment. Currently, Fourier transform based techniques are commonly used. Wavelets and multi-wavelets have proved to be better than conventional techniques in a non-stationary environment.
 

Applicability of multi-wavelets in this field is a research topic that attracting a lot of interest and is the topic of my research work here.
 

During the first week of my stay in TKK, I had the opportunity to participate in an event organized by the department. Over half a day, some games were organized followed by a sauna bath and dinner. Right from the professor to the secretary of the department, everyone participated. All faces were new to me and I was really confused regarding who was a student and who was staff.
 

Some more of my observations and experiences in Finland are as follows. The work culture here is very different. Everyone is focused and dedicated to work, regardless of position. Even in a bus, the driver greets every person with the same enthusiasm, regardless of whether it is morning or evening.
 

Another point I observed is the helping mentality of the Finnish people. Many times when I asked for help, I would not only get the answer or solution, but also, the person would willingly accompany me and participate with me to get the job done.
 

The Erasmus Mundus team in Amrita is really doing a marvelous job by providing an excellent opportunity for study and research in European countries. I wish to express my thanks to everyone in the team. Specifically the help and support rendered by Prof. Krishnashree Achuthan, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Ms. Jenni Tulensalo, Aalto University and Mr. Pradeep Kumar Nair, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is remarkable.

I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to Brahmachari Abhayamrita Chaithanya, Pro Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham for his constant support and encouragement. I am thankful to Dr. M. P. Chandrasekharan, Dr. S. Krishnamoorthy and Dr. V. P. Mohandas for providing me with the required support and documents during the entire process.