Hey all,
I wanted your help on writing SOP for graduate admissions, let me know your take on the SOP and I want you guys to be brutally honest.
Thanks a lot
Here is the draft of the sop
Embedded systems are specialized systems,they are so well incorporated into human lives that life as we know it would be impossible without it. We use them daily without realizing it, right from the coffee maker that we use to get that perfect cup of coffee to kick start our day to the cars we use to drive down. It's everywhere and it makes our lives easier. This is exactly why I'm so passionate about it, I want to come up with the next thing that can get integrated into the everyday life and help people make their lives easier. I want to do my post graduation in embedded systems. I have had a keen interest in the field and the projects I have done so far vouch for it.
The first project I worked on was building a portable oscilloscope using PSoC 3. PSoC is programmable system on chip, it belongs to the fifth generation of controllers and proves that big things do come in small packages. The chip contains configurable analog and digital blocks using which a number of different components can be realized like amplifiers, switched capacitors. I used this controller to build a sampling circuit, which sampled the input signal and communicated the samples over to the PC using I2C protocol. Bridge control panel was used to plot the samples to generate the signal. The problem I faced was the lack of materials available on the net for the device. I resorted to help from college alumni who are currently working in Cypress and discussion forums to understand the workings of the chip. I later guided another student who was working on PSoC from my experience.
The second project I worked on was in the construction of remote controlled land rover. I made use of the two different approaches to programming a controller, the operating system based approach and closed loop approach. The remote controller was programmed using the operating system based approach so that the controller will take the values from the land rover only when there is change in the gas concentration using wait for signal task and in the meanwhile will be engaged in other work. The land rover controller was programmed using the super loop approach and was responsible for the measurement of gas concentration and sending of the values to the remote controller. The remote controller regulated the movement of the land rover.
During my pre-final year summer break, I got a golden opportunity to work as a summer research intern in Indian Academy of Sciences. I was one of the 4% of applicants picked for the research fellowship. I'm still working under the guidance of Prof. Vijayalakshmi as I got the fellowship extended. I worked on the impact of 3D stacking on multi-core architecture, it was realized that 3D stacking would be advantageous for memory intensive applications because of the shorter delay resulting from stacking the memory on top of the processors. I am currently working on finding the optimal pipeline length for multi-core architectures. With the help of simulative platforms, we have found it to be 8 tentatively. We are working on a paper for the same.
I worked on Home Automation for the Elderly and Disabled using voice commands. This project got selected for the Atmel India Embedded Design Contest. We built a design which included a reminder for medicines to the elderly and disabled people living alone. It had voice activated doors and windows, sensors were placed at potential break-in points around the house and when an intruder entered, a siren would be activated which would alert the neighbors and a call would be placed to the concerned authorities as well as the family members. An emergency call can be activated using a phrase which was precoded into the system.
As part of my 7th semester coursework, I'm working on Iris Recognition system under the guidance of my college professor. We are working on sparse representation for iris recognition, which I read about in an IEEE paper. We want to take it up a notch by coding the features that are extracted from the iris for security reasons.
Apart from this I wanted to work on Creating a Black Box for automobiles. Currently automobiles have data recorders. I wanted to utilize audio and video to record what happened just minutes before the crash. Privacy is a major concern and hence I decided to record video and audio for 5 minutes and rewrite on the previous recordings. I wanted to integrate a SOS button, to alert the police and the ambulance for assistance. I also wanted to monitor the engine and alert the driver in case of any faults, requesting him to take the automobile to service. But I could not carry it out because of lack of funds.
I want to pursue my MS in your highly reputed college because I feel that there will be a number of opportunities for me to realize my ideas. I also feel, I have to build on my current foundation so that it enables me to pursue research in the embedded systems field and MS would be a step in the right direction.
Well the professors that have handled the subjects are not really well-known, should I still include the subjects and the professors ?? Well the first paragraph is about the passionate hook, what do you think about it ?? Are you convinced im passionate about the field after reading the SOP ??
I think this is general knowledge and they may not be interested in them. They are more interest in knowing about you as a person. You display your passion in the field, but in my view it is not adequate. This the best opportunity for you to say as much about you as a person, your proudest accomplishments alongside your fondest hopes and dreams. So, have your passionate hook more focused on you.
