This doctoral work cannot be done without the help, support and dedication of numerous people. First of all, I will give my great thanks to my... Show moreThis doctoral work cannot be done without the help, support and dedication of numerous people. First of all, I will give my great thanks to my advisor Dr. Jafar Saniie, who is patient, fundamental and knowledgeable in providing advices, suggestions and guidance to all my six years' study. I would like to express my sincere thanks for his encouragement and nancial support during my study. I will never forget the days and nights he spent with me doing research work in the ECASP research lab. His spirit of carefully searching, friendly talking and knowledgeably thinking stays in my mind forever. My gratitude extends to my committee members, Dr. Anjali, Dr. Moderes and Dr. Oruklu. Also, I would like to give my thanks to my colleagues and friends, especially the people in ECASP research lab, Won-Jae, Sufeng, Thomas, Spenser and Pramod. Their kindness and powerful knowledge in di erent elds help me enhance my work so much. I will never forget the days debugging programs with them and the days we cheered for our success. I would like to dedicate this thesis to my family, especially to my grandfather who just passed away but gave me nancial support and advices from childhood till now, my father who is not able to speak after an accident during my study, my mother who is taking care of my father herself during the past six years, and my wife Wenhui Liu, who encouraged and helped me living in the United States. I promise that I will use what I learned from here to change the world and their constant support of my academic ventures from the beginning to the present would be valuable. Thank you Grandpa, rest in peace in heaven. PH.D in Electrical Engineering, July 2013 Show less