Kevin Short

Capitalizing on Chaos          

Sound blasts from the computer's speaker like water from a fireman's hose. Within the onslaught there are flashes of the familiar -- a heavy rain, air escaping from a balloon, the rhythmic whine of old windshield wipers, the rumbling of a heavy truck.  Kevin Short has constructed this sound file as an example of what he calls "raw chaos."

Next, the speaker emits the courtly sound of a 16th-century harpsichord piece, complete with counterpoint, four-part harmony, 32nd notes, and trills. This, too, is the sound of chaos -- tamed by Short. An associate professor of applied mathematics, he has discovered how to master the mathematics of chaos theory for a broad range of purposes that could have a major impact on the networking and telecommunications fields. The university has set up its first spin out company, Chaoticom, to develop and market the new technology.

Using mathematical equations, Short can produce patterns that replicate the wave forms in a piece of music, pixels in an image, or letters in text. Audio, video, and text files files produced in this way are drastically compressed. That's because the mathematical information needed to produce an image, for example, takes up much less space than the bits and bytes currently used to specify every pixel on a computer screen. Imagine being able to download a feature-length film from the Web in a few minutes or being able to fit 1,000 hours of music on a CD.

Chaos theory, with its reliance on differential equations and nonlinear math, can be difficult for laypeople to fathom. Mathematicians define chaos as behavior that falls somewhere between the periodic (with repeating cycles) and the truly random. "Chaotic systems -- like the weather -- are predictable in the short term, not the long term," explains Short.

Perhaps the most famous part of chaos theory is the Butterfly Effect, which illustrates how a small change will produce great differences in the future. Theoretically, a butterfly flaps its wings today in China, and a major storm occurs a year later in the United States.   "In our work," explains Short, "we have had to walk a tight line between controlling and reducing long-term big changes, but allowing the system to produce wildly varying waveforms."

Short began this line of research when he received grants from the National Security Agency to test encryption systems based on chaos theory. He broke every code he tested but realized that the security flaws could be fixed. He then worked with mathematics graduate student Andy Parker to devise a more-secure encryption.

Short also involved undergrads in his research. Kimo Johnson, a dual major in math and music, says Short "saw a few of us who wanted to put in extra work and found ways of challenging us." Johnson and physics major Dan Hussey got a lot of strange "bleeps and blurps" from their computer, but they ultimately succeeded in producing a system for synthesizing music.

Next Short tackled reproduction of music, beginning with harpsichord piece, in part because the harpsichord's timbre is more difficult to imitate than many other instruments. Late one night when he thought he had it, he called his parents in New York state and held the telephone receiver to his computer speaker. They easily recognized the sound of a harpsichord.   

"That's when I knew that this was not just a limited project, but something that could have profound effects," recalls Short.

The university and Chaoticom investors have high hopes that Short's invention could be very profitable. The university, Short, and his former students will share any profits that are produced. Whatever the results are, Short looks forward to returning to the classroom after taking a leave of absence to start the company. No doubt he will find more students who might want to be challenged.

For more information, visit www.chaoticom.com

by Virginia Stuart
UNH Science Writer