Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.
Course Overview
This page focuses on the 8-lecture course D4M Signal Processing on Databases as it was taught by Dr. Jeremy Kepner in Fall 2012.
Search, social media, ad placement, mapping, tracking, spam filtering, fraud detection, wireless communication, drug discovery, and bioinformatics all attempt to find items of interest in vast quantities of data. This course teaches a signal processing approach to these problems by combining linear algebraic graph algorithms, group theory, and database design. The class begins with a number of practical problems, offers an introduction to the appropriate theory and then demonstrates how to apply the theory to the aforementioned problems. Students apply these ideas in a final project of their choosing. The course contains a number of smaller assignments which provide students with appropriate software infrastructure for completing their final projects.
Course Outcomes
Course Goals for Students
- Gain an awareness of D4M: Dynamic Distributed Dimensional Data Model, a breakthrough in computer programming that combines the advantages of five distinct processing technologies to provide a database and computation system that addresses the problems associated with Big Data
- Become facile with D4M, such that participants can begin applying it to their own problems
- Understand the new mathematical concepts that have emerged as a result of bringing together signal processing and Big Data concepts
Instructor Insights
In the following pages, Jeremy Kepner describes various aspects of how he taught D4M: Signal Processing on Databases.
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
Linear algebra and familiarity with MATLAB®
Requirements Satisfied
None
Offered
This course was offered at MIT Lincoln Laboratory once during Fall 2012.
Assessment
Grade Breakdown
Homework assignments were optional and not graded.
Instructor Insights on Assessment
Jeremy Kepner shares his insights about Homework Assignments that Spotlight Application.
Student Information
Typical Student Background
Participants were all affiliated with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and held master’s and bachelor’s degrees in a wide range of fields.