On the other hand, many engineers have become so specialized that two workers, chosen at random, are unlikely to be able to communicate. For example, a signal processing specialist may know little about electromagnetics, even though he or she often deals with signals communicated by electromagnetic waves and containing noise generated by electromagnetic sources. Every engineering subfield has developed its own concepts, language, notation, acronyms, and simplified or schematic world view. Such inbreeding not only presents a barrier to outsiders; it also limits insiders by giving them the illusion of complete understanding and discouraging the exploration of ideas from other disciplines. During this time of rapid transitions, many assumptions underlying the traditional methods fail, and it becomes necessary to return to fundamental scientific principles, often rooted in physics.

The Center for Signals and Waves is based, in part, on the conviction that a deeper understanding of the physical nature of signals and noise, as well as the processes by which they are generated, propagated and detected, can be of substantial value. This is a physics-based, first-principles approach to signal analysis and processing.

• Editor in Chief (with Anne Boutet de Monvel), Progress in Mathematical Physics book series, Birkhauser, Boston
• Books, research papers, lectures and short courses on theory and applications of physical wavelets

A Friendly Guide to Wavelets
by Gerald Kaiser
Birkhauser-Boston, 1994 (sixth printing, 1999)
A 1995 Library of Science Book of the Month

Recent progress:

Physical wavelets and their sources:
Real physics in complex spacetime

Topical Review:
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General

Short courses in applied wavelet analysis

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