Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric US Holdings, Inc., which, in its turn, is the principal subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric in the United States. MERL is the North American arm of the Corporate R&D organization of Mitsubishi Electric. It is located in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, United States. MERL engages in application-motivated basic research and advanced development in areas of importance to Mitsubishi Electric. More than 50 PhDs pursue research and advanced development in a wide range of areas including digital signal processing, digital audio and video processing, wired and wireless digital communications, spoken language interfaces, computer vision, mechatronics and fundamental algorithms. Since 1991, MERL has been awarded more than 700 patents.

History

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1991 by the Mitsubishi Electric CR&D organization. In the late 1990s, MERL merged with two other laboratories that were part of Mitsubishi Electric. This consolidated all of Mitsubishi Electric’s North American research into one organization, creating the MERL that exists today. Richard C. Waters, was a founding member of MERL and has been president since 1999.Richard C. Waters profile.
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories web site. Retrieved 21 March 2013.

László Bélády László "Les" Bélády (born April 29, 1928, in Budapest; died November 6, 2021) was a Hungarian computer scientist notable for devising the Bélády's Min theoretical memory caching algorithm in 1966 while working at IBM Research. He also dem ...

was the head of MERL from 1991 to 1998,[Belady, Laszlo (2002)
"Oral history interview with Laszlo A. Belady."
Charles Babbage Institute. Retrieved October 28, 2012. James D. Foley, who co-authored several of the most widely used university textbooks on computer graphics, was the president from 1998 to 1999.

Research areas

MERL conducts application motivated basic research and advanced development in • Electronics & Communications:

Wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

and

optical communications Optical communication, also known as optical telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light to carry information. It can be performed visually or by using electronic devices. The earliest basic forms of optical communication date ...

, advanced

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as sound, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniques are used to optimize transmissions, ...

, optical and

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

devices, and electro-magnetics, RF& Power •

Multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

: Efficient acquisition, representation, processing, security, and interaction of multimedia. •

Data Analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...

Predictive analytics Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of statistical techniques from data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future or otherwise unknown events. In busine ...

, decision analytics, modeling,

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

, and

optimization Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfi ...

. •

Spatial Analysis Spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which studies entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques, many still in their early deve ...

: Processing data from across space and time to extract meaning and build representations of objects and events in the world. •

Mechatronics Mechatronics engineering also called mechatronics, is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the integration of mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering systems, and also includes a combination of robotics, electronics, ...

: Advanced control. An Algorithms group supports all five sectors, developing fundamental

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

Products, projects, and technology

MERL generates new technology and intellectual property, and has been involved in numerous products and projects, including: * Generalized Belief Propagation *

Human–computer interaction Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design te ...

via the Multi-touch DiamondTouch surface *

Saffron Type System The Saffron Type System is a system for rendering high-quality scalable type on digital displays. It was developed by Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, and is built on a core of adaptively-sampled distance field (ADF) technology. Saffron ...

Multiview Video Coding Multi view Video Coding (MVC, also known as MVC 3D) is a stereoscopic video coding standard for video compression that allows for the efficient encoding of video sequences captured simultaneously from multiple camera angles in a single video str ...

Ultra-wideband Ultra-wideband (UWB, ultra wideband, ultra-wide band and ultraband) is a radio technology that can use a very low energy level for short-range, high-bandwidth communications over a large portion of the radio spectrum. UWB has traditional applicati ...

network technology using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing *

Seam carving Seam carving (or liquid rescaling) is an algorithm for content-aware image resizing, developed by Shai Avidan, of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL), and Ariel Shamir, of the Interdisciplinary Center and MERL. It functions by e ...

References

External links

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Mitsubishi Electric US
{{Authority control Mitsubishi Electric Research organizations in the United States Companies based in Cambridge, Massachusetts Design companies established in 1991 Electronics companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in Massachusetts