East Midlands Branch

THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS

AND ITS APPLICATIONS

IMA Presidential Address 2002

Mathematics and Signal Processing

Prof J G McWhirter FRS FREng C.Math FIMA

Thursday 5th December, 2002

starting at 7.15 pm

The Nottingham Trent University

Clifton Site, Main Building, Room GE004

Abstract

I will start this address with a brief introduction, the purpose of which is to say a little bit about my own background and why I believe so passionately that mathematics works.

I will then describe in very general terms, how mathematics has been exploited with great success in the area of adaptive beamforming. This is a very interesting topic to which I have devoted much of my own research over the last 20 years or so. It exploits very well established mathematical techniques and serves to highlight the fact that new mathematics is not always essential for innovative applications in science and engineering.

I will then go on to introduce the concept of blind signal separation. This is a much newer technique which, despite some notable success, is based on more advanced and less well developed mathematical ideas. It has highlighted the need for some fundamental mathematical research with a very practical engineering motivation.

Finally, I will say a little bit about the public perception of mathematics and outline some of my own thoughts on that subject.

No charge is made to attend meetings, non-IMA members are welcome

For further details of this event or other East Midlands Branch activities consult the Web Site http://science.ntu.ac.uk/msor/ccb/ima.html or by contacting the Branch General Secretary:

Dr Stephen Hibberd, Division of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Tel. (0115) 9513841 or email: Stephen.Hibberd@nottingham.ac.uk