Erlan H. Feria

Professor and Director of ISL

Professor Feria received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in electrical engineering from the City College of New York (CCNY) of the City University of New York (CUNY). He also received the M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Graduate School of CUNY, and did postdoctoral work in control sciences at CCNY. He has been with the College of Staten Island of CUNY since 1982, becoming a Full Professor in 1996. His current research is unification work in the Cybernetics Sciences which started in the late 1970s and eventually led to his 1981 Ph.D. Thesis entitled, “Matched Processors for Optimum Control”. The offered Matched Processors control methodology was a practical parallel processing alternative to Bellman’s Dynamic Programming with its key enabling innovation being a discovered structural as well as time-certainty/space-uncertainty physical duality formed by digital communication and quantized control problems. Since then this revealed physical time/space duality perspective has led him to the formulation of several synergistic analysis and design schemes such as: the time/space minimum mean square error (MMSE) predictive-transform (PT) coding (optimally unifying universal predictive and transform coding techniques), latency theory (recently discovered as the time dual of information theory), latency-information theory which unifies information and latency theory, lingerdynamics (also recently discovered as the time dual of thermodynamics) and linger-thermo theory which unifies thermodynamics and lingerdynamics. Over the years he has successfully applied these novel formulations to: 1) the PT compression, modeling, estimation, detection and control of multidimensional signals; 2) the design of knowledge aided/unaided radar systems; and 3) the theoretical study of the lifespan of living and non-living systems as well as the study of the time-compression sensed by us as we age. Dr. Feria has several US patents in these areas.

The main current research interest of Dr. Feria is Latency Information Theory (LIT) whose development he started in 2003 to systematically address the design of a real-world intelligence system for DARPA’s 2001-2005 knowledge-aided sensor signal processing expert reasoning (KASSPER) program. In particular, LIT surfaced from his discovery of the ‘configuration of space certainty’ time-dual for the ‘passing of time uncertainty’ information theory, called by him latency theory. At a fundamental level LIT offer a performance-bound based supervisory role for the design of four different types of general systems. They are: 1) Physical signal life motion-time (life-time) compressors subjected to life-time limiting channels, e.g. an electrical communication system with multi-path routing options; 2) Mathematical signal intelligence sourced-space (intel-space) compressors subjected to intel-space limiting channels, e.g. an image compressor in an additive Gaussian noise channel environment; 3) Physical signal life retention-space (life-space) compressors subjected to life-space limiting sensors, e.g. a random access memory (RAM) with multiple user options; and 4) Mathematical signal intelligence processing-time (intel-time) compressors subjected to intel-time limiting sensors, e.g. an adaptive radar system with intel-time limiting sensors. This global supervisory role of LIT has led him to the development of simple real-world knowledge-aided radar system designs that significantly outperform standard schemes. In addition, the mathematical-physical duality exhibited by LIT has directly guided him to the discovery of a novel retainer-entropy that is anchored in Hawking’s thermal-entropy for a black-hole. This retainer-entropy, in life-space surface area units he has further linked to the pace of dark in a black-hole of 6.1123 x 10^63 seconds per cubic meter which provides an upper bound on the retention-time that any energy can be retained per cubic meter: this pace of dark he derived recently as the space-dual of the speed of light using as foundation Hawking’s thermal-entropy for a black-hole.

Professor Feria is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu.
 

Degrees

PhD - Electrical Engineering, CUNY, 1981

M.Phil - Electrical Engineering, CUNY, 1981

ME - Electrical Engineering, CCNY, 1974

BE - Electrical Engineering, CCNY, 1973

Scholarship and Publications

See additional publications in tab below  "Additional Publications"

What is the LIT Revolution?

It is the universal guidance theory for efficient system designs that has inherently surfaced from the confluence of five ideas. They are:

1) The source entropy and channel capacity performance bounds of Shannon’s mathematical theory of communication.

2) The latency time (LT) certainty of spacetime in physics.

3) The information space (IS) uncertainty of spacetime in physics.

4) The black hole Hawking radiation and its Boltzmann thermodynamics entropy S in SI J/K.

5) The 1978 conjecture of a structural-physical LT-certainty/IS-uncertainty duality formed by the "matched filters" of uncertainty detection problems and the newly discovered "matched processors" of certainty quantized control
problems [1].
 

LIT is characterized by a four quadrants revolution with two mathematical-intelligence quadrants and two physical-life ones. Each quadrant of LIT is assumed to be physically independent of the others and guides its designs with an entropy if it is IS-uncertain and an ectropy if it is LT-certain. While LIT’s physical-life quadrants I and III address the efficient use of life time by physical signal movers and of life space by physical signal retainers, respectively, its mathematical-intelligence quadrants II and IV address the efficient use of intelligence space by mathematical signal sources and of processing time by mathematical signal processors, respectively. Moreover, the system design methodologies of the LIT qradrants are guided by dualities and performance bounds, which are, in turn, bridged by statistical physics. The statistical physics methods include a newly discovered time dual for thermodynamics that has been named lingerdynamics. The theoretical and practical relevance of LIT has already been demonstrated using real-world control, adaptive radar, physics and biochemistry applications.

[1] Feria, E.H. (1981) "Matched Processors for Optimum Control" PhD Dissertation, CUNY, August 1981

Outline of the LIT Revolution

  1. The Four Quadrant 
  2. The Three Major Dualities  (broken link)

Simulations Matlab Program with Illustrations

Powerful and Fast Knowledge-Unaided Power-Centroid (KUPC) Adaptive Radar  

Introduction:

An Introduction to Origins and Characteristics of KUPC Adaptive Radar Algorithm

Matlab Simulation Program

Source Code

Illustration:

a) Source Code Inputs

          - Radar parameters

          - Input SAR

b) Source Code Outputs

          - Graphed Result

Package Download (Included):  all broken links

On the Universe’s Cybernetics Duality Behavior

Date and Time: Dec 11, 2014, 2:30-4:00pm 
Location: College of Staten Island, 2800 Victory Boulevard,  Staten Island, NY 10314
               1P-119 (Lecture Hall) 
Speaker: Prof. Erlan H. Feria, Department of Engineering Science and Physics, CSI

Abstract

On November 10th, 2014 the New York Times reported on major prizes given to scientists¹. Of the contributions leading to these prizes some physicists made use of mathematical dualities that are said to “offer physicists the chance of going around intractable problems of calculation in one system by solving the easier equations in another.” This New York Times article also reports that the use of these dualities has become “a cottage industry in physics today.” In my seminar I will be reviewing work on the universal cybernetics (UC) duality principle, which I discovered in 1978 in control theory while conducting graduate research on cybernetics² .  UC is the study of control and communications in living and non-living systems. Its duality principle states that, “synergistic physical and mathematical dualities naturally arise in efficient system designs.” The UC duality principle uses both mathematical and physical dualities for going around intractable problems of calculation not only in physics³ but also in control², radar⁴ and biological lifespan⁵. The very latest solutions derived by the UC duality principle will be reviewed, inclusive of the nascent linger thermo theory³,  which has inherently led to a sensible and straightforward relationship between biological lifespan and specific heat-capacity.

  1. Dennis Overbye, "Scientists, and Universe’s Odd Behavior, Are Recognized With $3 Million Prizes ". The New York Time. Nov 10th, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/scientists-and-universes-odd-behavior-are-recognized-with-dollar3-million-prizes.html
  2. E. H. Feria, Matched Processors for Optimum Control, CUNY Graduate Center PhD [1981], E. H. Feria,  “Mathematical Model for Central Nervous System (CNS) Mechanisms that Control Movements,” N.Y.U. Medical Center Grant, RF-CUNY, [1981], E. H. Feria, “Matched processors for quantized control: A practical parallel processing approach,” International Journal of Controls, vol. 42, issue 3, pp. 695-713, doi:10.1080/0020717850893339, [1985]
  3. E. H. Feria, “Latency information theory and applications: Part III. On the discovery of the space-dual of the laws of motion in physics,” Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 6982, pp. 698212(1-16), doi:10.1117/12.784551, [2008], E. H. Feria, “Latency information theory: Novel lingerdynamics ectropies are revealed as time-duals of thermodynamics entropies”, Proc. IEEE Int’l Conf. on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, doi:10.1109/ICSMC.2011.6084191, [2011], E. H. Feria, “Linger thermo theory, Part I: The dynamics dual of the stationary entropy/ectropy based latency information theory,” Proc. IEEE Int’l Conf. on Cybernetics, Lausanne, Switzerland, doi:10.1109/CYBConf. 2013.6617424, [2013]  http://feria.csi.cuny.edu/pubs.html
  4. E. H. Feria, “Power centroid radar and its rise from the universal cybernetics duality,” Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 9120. pp. 912007(1-29), doi.org/10.1117/12.2059153, May, [2014]. E. H. Feria, “Maximizing the efficiency and affordability of high-performance radar,” SPIE Newsroom, doi:10.1117/ 2.1201407.005429, July 7, [2014] (Both Invited Articles)  http://feria.csi.cuny.edu/pubs.html
  5. E. H. Feria, The flexible phase entropy and its rise from the universal cybernetics duality, Proc. IEEE Int’l Conf. on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, San Diego, CA, USA, Oct. 4-8, [2014], E. H. Feria, Method for setting a life insurance premium, US Patent (Number Pending)

SPIE Newsroom: Defense & Security July 7, 2014

Maximizing the Efficiency and Affordability of High-Performance Radar

Erlan H. Feria, City University of New York/CSI (United States)

 

[6] E.H.Feria, "The Latency Information Theory Revolution, Part I: Its Control Roots", Proceedings of SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing 2010, Vol 7708-29, pp. 1-8, Orlando, FI., USA, 4-6 April 2010.

[7] E.H.Feria, "The Latency Information Theory Revolution, Part II: Its Statistical Physics Bridges and the Discovery of the Time Dual of Thermodynamics", Proceedings of SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing 2010, Vol 7708-30, pp. 1-22, Orlando, FI., USA, 5-9 April 2010.

[8] E.H.Feria,"The Latency Information Theory Revolution, Part III: Knowledge-Unaided Power-Centroid Adaptive Radar", Proceedings of SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing 2010, Vol 7708-31, pp. 1-13, Orlando, FI., USA, 4-6 April 2010.

[9] E.H.Feria, "Latency Information Theory: The Mathematical-Physical Theory of Communication-Observation", IEEE Sarnoff 2010 Symposium, IEEE Catalog Number: CFP10PSS-CDR, ISBN:978-1-4244-5593-5, Library of Congress:2009910698, pp. 1-8, Princeton, New Jersey, 12-14 April 2010.

[10] E.H.Feria, "On A Nascent Mathematical-Physical Latency Information Theory, Part I: The Revelation Of Powerful And Fast Knowledge-Unaided Power-Centroid Radar", Proceedings of SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing 2009, Orlando, Florida, April 14, 2009. Radar Matlab Simulation Program

[11] E.H.Feria,"On A Nascent Mathematical-Physical Latency Informaiton Theory, Part II: The Revelation Of A Guidance Theory For Intelligence And Life System Designs", Proceedings of SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing 2009, Orlando, Florida, April 14, 2009.

[12] E.H.Feria, "Latency-Information Theory: A Novel Latency Theory Revealed as Time-Dual of Information Theory”, Proceedings of IEEE Signal Processing Society: DSP Workshop and ESP Workshop, Marco Island, Florida, 4-7 January 2009.

[13] E.H.Feria, "Latency Information Theory and Applications: Part I. On the Discovery of the Time-Dual for Information Theory", 2008 SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, vol. 6982, pp. 698210(1-10), March 2008.

[14] E.H.Feria,"Latency Information Theory and Applications: Part II. On Real-World Knowledge-Aided Radar", 2008 SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, vol. 6982, pp. 698211(1-11), March 2008.

[15] E.H.Feria, "Latency Information Theory and Applications: Part III. On the Discovery of the Space-Dual of the Laws of Motion in Physics", 2008 SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, vol. 6982, pp. 698212(1-16), March 2008.

[16] E.H.Feria,"Compression-Designs of SAR Imagery Used as Prior Knowledge, 2006 SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, April 2006

[17] E.H.Feria, "Compression-Designs for Knowledge-Aided AMTI Radar Systems", 2006 SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, April 2006.

[18] E.H.Feria and D.Licui, "A Bit-Planes Predictive-Transform Source Coder Illustrated with SAR Imagery", 2006 SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, April 2006.

[19] E.H.Feria, "Compression-Designs in Artificial and Living Systems", 2006 IEEE System, Man & Cybernetics Conference, Oct. 8-11, Taipei, Taiwan, 2006.

[20] E.H.Feria,"Predictive-Transform Source Coding with Subbands", 2006 IEEE System, Man & Cybernetics Conference, Oct. 8-11, Taipei, Taiwan, 2006.

[21] E.H.Feria, "Linear Predictive Transform of Monochrome Images", Image and Vision Computing, Vol. 5, Num. 4, pp. 267-278, Nov. 1987.

[22] E.H.Feria, "Predictive Transform Coding", Proceedings of IEEE 1986 National Aerospace Electronics Conference (NAECON), Vol.1, pp 45-52, Dayton, Ohio, USA, 19-23 May 1986.

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Contact Information

Office: Building 1N Room 234
Phone: 718.982.2814
Fax: 718.982.2830
Email Erlan H. Feria