In Pictures: The iCoSMoS Lab

Inside the University of Maryland lab where researchers explore how signals such as sound and wireless waves can help machines better understand the physical world.
March 04, 2026

At the University of Maryland’s Department of Computer Science, the Intelligent Connected Secure Mobile Systems (iCoSMoS) Lab explores how machines can sense and interpret the environments around them. Led by Associate Professor of Computer Science Nirupam Roy, the lab studies how signals, such as sound and wireless reflections, can reveal information about space, movement and materials. Researchers combine sensing hardware, signal processing and machine learning to build systems that can operate on low-power devices.

Among them is Ph.D. student Harshvardhan Chaturdas Takawale, whose work examines how machines can learn from the physical behavior of signals as they move through real environments. The following portrait highlights the lab’s research and the people advancing it.

—Portrait Article by Samuel Malede Zewdu, CS Communications 

The Department welcomes comments, suggestions and corrections.  Send email to editor [-at-] cs [dot] umd [dot] edu.