Graduate School of
Science and Engineering

In the traditional sense, hardware (implies a rigid matter) is an electronic circuit which offers the best performance and software (implies a flexible matter) is a computer program whose functionality can be changed by re-loading another program. Our research theme concerns “reconfigurable hardware” which realizes both the high performance of electronic circuits and the flexibility of computer programs. Reconfigurable hardware would realize adaptive systems such as mobile phones, TV receivers, or wireless network appliances which could be reconfigured automatically to fit multiple standards. It would also realize evolutional hardware which would change autonomously according to the environment and usage. Furthermore, it would contribute to safety maintenance of the systems in dangerous place such as space, deep sea, nuclear facilities, by reconfiguring hardware for update or repair. It might also contribute to ecology by reconfiguring and re-using the system, i.e. reducing the waste.