James A. Bucklew Professor Address/E-mail Program Affiliations Education Fields of Interest Summary >>> Extended Homepage <<<

Contact Information

3417 Engineering Hall 1415 Engineering Drive Madison, WI 53706

Tel: 608/262-3760 Fax: E-mail: bucklew@engr.wisc.edu

Program Affiliations

• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Mathematics

Education

• PhD 1979, Purdue University

Fields of Interest

• Simulation of communication systems and networks; rare event simulation; digital and wireless communication systems

Summary

In digital communication systems the probability of a bit error is usually on the order of 10^-6 or so. To simulate an event in order to find its probability, you need to "hit" that event several times in order to get a good estimate of it. Typically then, for rare events, one might need to generate 10⁸ to 10⁹ independent random variables. This imposes severe if not impossible constraints on the random number generators commonly available. We are studying methodologies whereby the probabilistic systems under consideration are "twisted" into new ones where the events under study are much more likely to occur. One then "retwists" the estimates obtained here to derive the desired estimate for the original system. Orders of magnitude of better performance can be obtained from these twisted simulations.

Date last modified: 19-Aug-2011 Content by: bucklew@engr.wisc.edu Accessibility Web services Send an update request. Copyright 2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System