Thomas L. Harman
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10657.1/881
Dr. Thomas L. Harman is the chair of the Engineering College at the University of Houston Clear Lake (UHCL). Dr. Harman began his full-time career at UHCL in 1979. Before that he was a staff engineer in the Controls System Department of Lockheed Engineering. His Ph.D. was granted by Rice University in Electrical Engineering. He is also the Director of the Center for Robotics Software recently formed at UHCL.
His research interests are control systems and applications of robotics and microprocessors. Several of his research papers with colleagues involved robot and laser applications to medicine.
His laboratory at UHCL has a Baxter two-armed robot and several mobile TurtleBots, flying drones, and other robots. UHCL students have participated in several robotic contests including the NASA Swarmathon held at KSC. He has been a judge and a safety advisor in the FIRST robotic contests in Houston.
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Item Switching phenomena in Lithium Drifted Silicon p i n Diodes(Rice University, 1971-10) Harman, Thomas L.Abstract not available.Item Numerical Computation of the External Potential Field of the Isolated Active Purkinge Strand in a Volume Conductor(SWIEECO Proceedings, 1973) Harman, Thomas L.Abstract not available.Item Effects of Intrinsic Region Width in SI(Li) p i n Diodes(Solid State Electronics, 1974) Harman, Thomas L.Description of certain effects related to the width of the intrinsic region produced in a silicon p-i-n diode by lithium ion drifting. It is found that for wider intrinsic regions at large forward biases there is a larger ohmic drop across the region and a correspondingly smaller current. Moreover, the recovery time decreases with increasing intrinsic region width. Conversely, the decay phase time increases with increasing intrinsic region width and with increasing current levels.Item A Comparison of Two Methods of Determining the Extracellular Potential Field of an Isolated Purkinge Strand in a Volume Conductor(IEEE Transactions, 1975-05) Harman, Thomas L.; Harman, Thomas L.The models considered in this study are those of Spach et al., [1], and Clark and Plonsey [6], [7]. Both assume circular cylindrical geometry for the isolated Purkinje strand and input information to the models consists mainly of the recorded transmembrane action potential, the ratio of conductivities of the intra- and extracellular media, the conduction velocity of the action potential, and the radius of the strand. In general the extracellular potentials computed using both methods agree with measured potential data and with each other. However, the Clark-Plonsey method provides a more accurate prediction of both the peak-to-peak magnitude and the separation between peaks of the bipolar extracellular potential waveform, particularly at field points close to the strand.Item Item Volume Conductor Fields of the Isolated Axon(Elsevier B.V., 1977) Greco, E. C.; Clark, J. W.; Harman, Thomas L.A solution of Laplace's equation relating the transmembrane potential distribution of an active fiber in a volume conductor to its extracellular field distribution utilizing a Fourier-transform method [4] has been reformulated as a one-dimensional linear filtering problem. Formulation of the solution in this manner allows the application of well-known techniques in linear system theory and optimal linear filtering, thereby facilitating the solution for both the forward (from transmembrane to field potential distribution) and inverse (from field to transmembrane potential distribution) problems. The forward problem is shown to be a simple two-stage filtering process composed of a membrane and medium filter. In the inverse case, the field potential distribution is considered in the presence of additive measurement noise, and the best estimate in the least-mean-square sense is obtained for the transmembrane potential distribution. Discrete Fourier-transform techniques are applied to this reformulated Fourier-transform method, resulting in a fast, efficient algorithm for solution of the forward and inverse field problems.Item Experience with a Fourier Method for Determining the Extracellular Potential Fields of Excitable Cells with Cylindrical Geometry(CRC Press, Inc., 1978) Clark, J. W.; Harman, Thomas L.; Greco, E. C.In this chapter, well-known solutions that utilize a Fourier transform method for determining the extracellular, volume-conductor potential distribution surrounding elongated excitable cells of cylindrical geometry are reformulated as a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) problem, which subsequently permits the volume-conductor problem to be viewed as an equivalent linear-filtering problem. This DFT formulation is fast and computationally efficient. In addition, it lends itself to the application of some rather well-known techniques in linear systems theory (e.g., the DFT for convolution and least mean-square (Wiener) filtering for optimal prediction of a signal in random noise). Two specific examples are employed to demonstrate the utility of this discrete Fourier method: (1) the single, isolated, active nerve fiber in an essentially infinite volume conductor and (2) the isolated, active nerve trunk in a similar type of extracellular medium. In each of these, our DFT method is employed to obtain both the classical "forward" and "inverse" potential solutions for each volume conductor problem. In the case where the single, active nerve fiber is the bioelectric source in the volume conductor, simulated action-potential data from an invertebrate giant axon is utilized, and potentials at various points in the extracellular medium are calculated. The calculated potential distributions in axial distance z, at various radial distances r, are consistent with well-known experimental fact. When the active nerve trunk acts as the bioelectric source, the DFT method provides calculated potential distributions that are fairly consistent with experimental data under a variety of experimental conditions. For example, in these experiments, a special, isolated frog spinal cord preparation is used that permits separate or combined stimulation of the motor and sensory nerve fiber components of the attached sciatic nerve trunk. By manipulating the stimulus intensity applied to the motor (ventral) or appropriate sensory (dorsal) roots of the spinal cord, a variety of multiphasic extracellular volume-conductor potentials can be recorded from the sciatic nerve. The excellent agreement of model-generated and experimental data, regardless of the complexity of surface potential waveform, tends to validate the modeling assumptions and offer encouragement that this computationally efficient DFT method may be usefully employed in volume-conductor problems where both the bioelectric source, and the surrounding volume conductor, are of a much more complicated nature.Item Trends in Computer Based Energy Management Systems(University of Houston Clear Lake, 1980-12) Harman, Thomas L.Abstract not available.Item Item The Design of a Microprogrammed Controller Using the AM29116 Bipolar Microprocessor(University of Houston Clear Lake, 1982-11) Harman, Thomas L.; Kadri, R.Abstract not available.Item Real Time Multi Tasking Operating Systems for 16 bit Microcomputers(University of Houston Clear Lake, 1982-11) Harman, Thomas L.; Lawson, B.Abstract not available.Item Designing with a 16 bit Micro-programmable Processors - the AM 29116(University of Houston, 1983) Harman, Thomas L.Abstract not available.Item The Automated Office(University of Houston Clear Lake, 1983) Harman, Thomas L.Abstract not available.Item Design with the Motorola MC68010(University of Houston Clear Lake, 1983-11) Harman, Thomas L.Abstract not available.Item Potential Field From an Active Nerve in an Inhomogeneous Anisotropic Volume Conductor: The Inverse Problem(IEEE, 1985-12) Harman, Thomas L.; Harman, Thomas L.; Harman, Thomas L.A previously described, forward solution for the problem of determining surface potentials on a long circular limb arising from electrical nerve activity within the limb is used to solve the inverse problem, namely, the recovery of source nerve potentials from limb surface potentials. The inverse problem is solved by means of a two-dimensional (2-D) digital filter which has the advantages of simplicity, speed, and ease of implementation compared to any other solution method.Item Potential Field From an Active Nerve in an Inhomogeneous Anisotropic Conductor: The Forward Problem(IEEE, 1985-12) Harman, Thomas L.This paper presents an analytic method for determining the potential distribution within an idealized cylindrical limb that contains an active nerve trunk. The limb also contains a major inhomogeneity (a bone) and skeletal muscle, both of which are assumed to be anisotropic.Item Item Introduction to Robotics Book Review(IEEE EXPERT, 1986-05) Harman, Thomas L.Abstract not available.Item The Motorola MC68020 and MC68030 Microprocessors(Prentice-Hall, 1989) Harman, Thomas LThis book is organized into five parts, as indicated in the Chapter Descriptions in this preface. The first four chapters present the MC68020 family to the reader. These chapters also introduce microcomputers and computer arithmetic. Chapters 5 through 9 treat assembly-language programming techniques. Chapters 10 through 12 are concerned with system design and development for MC68020-based computers. Chapters 13 and 14 treat hardware aspects of the MC68020, including the VMEbus. Chapter 15 describes the MC68030 processor. Selected answers to problems in the chapters are included before the appendices. The appendices summarize pertinent material useful to a programmer, including the assembly language and machine language for the MC68020 family. Finally, both an instruction index and a genral index are given at the end of the bookItem Microprocessori, 68020/68030(Prentice Hall International, 1990) Harman, Thomas L."68020-68030 - Programmazione interfacciamento e progettazione", sui microprocessori Motorola 68020 e 68030. Traduzione dall'originale "The Motorola MC68020 and MC68030 Microprocessors: Assembly Language, Interfacing and Design", Prentice-Hall lnternational 1989