I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Sharma Chakravarthy, for his guidance and support, and for providing an opportunity to work on this project. I would also like to thank Dr. Mohan Kumar and Dr. David Kung for serving on my committee. I would like to thank Nellainayagam and Ganesh Ambalavam for the valuable discussions we had during the course of my research work. I would also like to thank Pratyush Mishra for maintaining a well-administered research environment and for being helpful at times of need. I am thankful to my friends at ITLAB, Nishanth Vontela, Sreekath Thirunagari and Raman Adaikkavalan for their valuable tips and inputs during the various discussions