Deployment of Digital Video and Audio Over Electrical SCADA Networks

With the arrival of new hardware and software technologies, supervisory control and data acquisition human-machine interfaces (SCADA/HMI), usually text-based, can now benefit from the advantages the inclusion of multimedia information brings. However, due to the special requirements imposed by such systems, integrating audio and video data into the SCADA interfaces is not a trivial task. In this document we analyze those special characteristics and propose solutions so this integration is possible in power systems communication.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2000-0367-P4-0

Building self-optimized communication systems based on applicative cross-layer information

This article proposes the Implicit Packet Meta Header(IPMH) as a standard method to compute and represent common QoS properties of the Application Data Units (ADU) of multimedia streams using legacy and proprietary streams’ headers (e.g. Real-time Transport Protocol headers). The use of IPMH by mechanisms located at different layers of the communication architecture will allow implementing fine per-packet selfoptimization of communication services regarding the actual application requirements. A case study showing how IPMH is used by error control mechanisms in the context of wireless networks is presented in order to demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of this approach

Integrating personal media and digital TV with QoS guarantees using virtualized set-top boxes: architecture and performance measurements

Nowadays, users consume a lot of functionality in their home coming from a service provider located in the Internet. While the home network is typically shielded off as much as possible from the `outside world', the supplied services could be greatly extended if it was possible to use local information. In this article, an extended service is presented that integrates the user's multimedia content, scattered over multiple devices in the home network, into the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) of the Digital TV. We propose to virtualize the set-top box, by migrating all functionality except user interfacing to the service provider infrastructure. The media in the home network is discovered through standard Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), of which the QoS functionality is exploited to ensure high quality playback over the home network, that basically is out of the control of the service provider. The performance of the subsystems are analysed

Optical network technologies for future digital cinema

Digital technology has transformed the information flow and support infrastructure for numerous application domains, such as cellular communications. Cinematography, traditionally, a film based medium, has embraced digital technology leading to innovative transformations in its work flow. Digital cinema supports transmission of high resolution content enabled by the latest advancements in optical communications and video compression. In this paper we provide a survey of the optical network technologies for supporting this bandwidth intensive traffic class. We also highlight the significance and benefits of the state of the art in optical technologies that support the digital cinema work flow

Study and simulation of low rate video coding schemes

The semiannual report is included. Topics covered include communication, information science, data compression, remote sensing, color mapped images, robust coding scheme for packet video, recursively indexed differential pulse code modulation, image compression technique for use on token ring networks, and joint source/channel coder design

Survey of the Use of Steganography over the Internet

This paper addressesthe use of Steganography over the Internet by terrorists. There were ru-mors in the newspapers that Steganography is being used to covert communication between terrorists, without presenting any scientific proof. Niels Provos and Peter Honeyman conducted an extensive Internet search where they analyzed over 2 million images and didn’t find a single hidden image. After this study the scientific community was divided: some believed that Niels Provos and Peter Honeyman was conclusive enough other did not. This paper describes what Steganography is and what can be used for, various Steganography techniques and also presents the studies made regarding the use of Steganography on the Internet.Steganography, Secret Communication, Information Hiding, Cryptography

Adjusting DICOM specifications when using wireless LANs: The MedLAN example

Wireless networks will become increasingly useful in point-of-care areas such as hospitals, because of their ease of use and their flexibility. A system called MedLAN has been developed by the Central Middlesex Hospital and Brunei University to take advantage of the above desirable properties of WLANs for use in accident & emergency departments to broadcast live, high quality video images and sound over a LAN or the Internet. However, in many cases, the limited available throughput of such a WLAN system makes the use of high demanding specifications, such as DICOM, problematic especially when using no compression during transmission. In this paper we will present some practical results when combining low compression with wireless LANs. We will conclude with the assessment of images and sounds by several doctors showing that the system we have devised is very useful in this setting